Electric Railroad Gazette
Jan, 2000
Hello, and welcome to the new millennium. The riots and millennium bug failed to appear, so I spent most of my spare time over the holidays working on the railroad. Let's see, where did we leave off?
Oh yeah, I was making rubber molds of brick retaining walls back in October 99. Well, I used up an entire gallon of rubber (from Hastings Plastics in Santa Monica for $99) making molds of tunnel portals and walls and cool building fronts (for downtown area). The molds came out fine, except for minor things, like mixing Dow rubber with Hastings rubber making the mold warped, and like the Hastings plastic gives off a terrible smell whereas the Brandon Enterprises plastic is oder free. (it costs a little more) I kept getting the plastic (resin) on my hands till I got the (100 rubber gloves for $10). Other wise, the only thing that will remove this stuff is Acetone, but the guy at the plastic store told me acetone just dilutes the resin letting it go right through you skin. I've been using the gloves ever since.
I try to fit the newly cast rock face into it's location before it's completely hard, letting me bend it to a perfect fit, and cut it with a pair of sissors. When the castings are hardened, I cut them with a small saber saw or dremel tool cutter for perfect cuts. The dremel tool makes a lot of dust, so get a dust mask.
I finally finished the rocky mountain/grand canyon rocks and tunnel portals and retaining walls in November 99, spending a few months, and now my company, Rock City News, was planning a big awards show, along with a special band issue. All this on top of our starting Rock City Records and releasing 2 compilations CDs in the last part of 99. This involved signing some 29 bands along with everything else records complanies do. I was working round the clock now and had no time for trains. I gave up on getting them running for Christmas, and just tinkered around here and there whenever I got time to visit the train room. I did manage to modify the control panels a little , and organize some of the boxes of stuff.
Christmas time was now here in mid December, and I had some time to work on the railroad again. Finally. I went to 2 huge swap meets in one day, and hit the mall afterwards, and got most of my shopping done in one day, leaving some time for building.
I also attended the great Gats Railroad festival at the Orange County fairgrounds, and got just what I'd been looking for, a Z turntable and roundhouse. I also picked up 6 more remote switches, all for only $300. Love those train swap meets.
I positioned the roundhouse and turntable to the exact spots that had been reserved for them, and cut the hole to sink the turntable. I got it installed, but not yet wired, and moved on to the Z yard, where I replaced those curved turnouts with straight ones. (anyone want the curved ones?)
I then began expanding the Hollywood Z scale loop to include extra loops around the two closer mountains. This brings the Z over top and closer than the N, which doesn't follow the "forced perspective" rules, but since it's higher, it's acceptable. It also looks amazing. after seeing it in cardboard first, I knew I had to do it. It puts a complete fantasy atmosphere to the layout and practically adds another dimension. It's probably the most amazing looking part of the railroad now, and it's still under construction. The Z bridges over the N lines look nice, and these new loops around the mountain tops will include a turnout spur at the main castle and another on the other moutain top, where I'll someday build a Z mine.
After getting the Z mountain loops going, I decided to put the rock faces in the St. Louis loop. It was still cardboard front and was long overdue for finishing. I pulled out my latest Brandon Enterprises molds and chemicals and began casting rocks again. I decided to finish everything in resin and completely forget plaster, leaving a 100 pound bag of hydrocal untouched in the garage. (anyone want it? It's probably still there)
I used a rock mold with more rounded rocks for St. Louis area HO to N area. It looks a lot different from the other rock faces in the California loop or the Rocky Mountains, which adds character to the entire layout. It's mellower.
It's Holiday season now, and St. Louis is finally getting it's mountains. It's also the 4 year anniversary of the layout, though there are no celebrations. We'll have an openhouse party whenever it get's all up and running again, probably spring or summer, 2000. There's still a lot of work ahead.
The good spirits of the holidays inspired me to add a fantasy loop to the St. Louis layout in the Z scale similiar to the new Hollywood loops. St. Louis didn't have a mountain to loop around, though, so I had to build one, meaning making even more rock castings. I also had to give up a little of the N circus space to make room for the mountain. say la vee. This Z mountain loop also makes the St. Louis loop match the California loop, adding symytry (is that how you spell it?).
After seeing the Tiny Trains 1:900 scale (about half of Z scale) at the Gats train meet, I knew it had to be included on my "multiscale" layout. I remember how awesome the N looked when put behind the HO, and how even more awesome the Z looked when placed behind the N, the odds were good. I emailed the guy who builds the "Tiny Trains" from somewhere in Colorado, and he sent a catalogue. After communicating I have been finalizing plans to add custom built "Tiny Trains" layouts in each corner. Using a standard 4" x 24" layout and adding custom sections, they will be interlaced into the background of the Z layouts, making the entire layout now a 4 scale layout. Click here for the Tiny Train plans and photos. Further construction on the installation of the Tiny Trains and the finishing of the landscping on the Z layouts next issue, stay tuned.
Meanwhile I'm also working on finishing the rocks and tunnels & retaining walls on the St. Louis side, and when it's done, the painting begins. Let's look on the bright side, painting brings fast visual results. Can't wait!
Stay tuned