Finished one end of the harbour background.

Finished the right hand end of the harbour scene. Pictures of different types of buildings, 4 in all, were painted into the scenery by carefully matching colours and trees around them. First I find suitable pictures and cut them out of magazines. Of course smaller pictures are at the back and larger ones to the front. The scenery must be painted below each picture before it is added and then scenery is repainted to match each picture as you paint toward the bottom of the scene. A much larger picture frames the end of the scene with a background building flat added over the right part of the picture to finish off the scene.

  

Start of harbour background.

 

Started by painting the sky and the lake. Then I added the surrounding scenery with buildings in the background and trees. Forground trees and fences were added last.

Coal bunker

 A coal pit built in Simcoe. Had to cut out some of the table top and tile to create the pit.

Mill construction

Start of mill construction. The tower encloses a wall stud.

Mill tower and shed structure put together and loading doors added. Spray painted with two shades of tan, for a weathered look. 
  

Lucky picture placement?

 Trying out picture cutouts on my backdrop and set this one in Woodstock. 

Just have to make some track adjustments! Train is coming from London (well  Franklin on George Sellios layout Franklin and South Manchester RR).

Backdrop

 Installed last of the hardbord and painted it blue.

Block Control Panel

 Started building one of two of my control panels. This one controls the blocks in Otterville and Simcoe. The rotary switches, one for each block, select what throttle powers each block. Each town on my layout has four blocks. The mainline coming into town, each of the two passing sidings and the mainline leaving town. Industry sidings are wired to whatever track they are connected to. I will post a picture of the completed wiring.

There will also be throttle plug ins, on or near the control panel. Looking at the above picture you can see that the top half controls Otterville and the bottom half controls Simcoe. The panel front is white masonite and black marker.

Port Dover

 

The town of Port Dover. Industries from the top, Harbour Transfer, small fishing buildings, a Pier (which may have a Cannery on it), Boat Repair and Fish head Fertilizer. The track on the right is not part of this town, it is the track from Otterville to Norwich, but 2 tracks, left of this track, at the bottom go to a turntable and to Woodstock for continuous running.  

The Woodstock junction.

 

This is the Junction end of Woodstock. From the left, the coaling tower and turntable sidings. The Woodstock yards 2 tracks are next. Then we have the 2 CN tracks and station, with the tracks disappearing, around the curve, in the distance. Just as they do in real life. You may think that this is a lot of real estate for a little visual context, but these 2 tracks will be visible staging for cars being exchanged with the Harbour Junction railroad. The CN tracks connect to the runaround for Woodstock.  The track on the far right is in the town of  Norwich, and continues around a loop to arrive in Woodstock. Yes I got ahead of myself and missed mudding in the tile joints, oops.

Latest layout plan

 

Using the Port Dover & Lake Huron Railroad to give my layout a sense of place, the harbour will be Port Dover. Heading north, the top of the plan, is the city of Simcoe. Continuing along the walls of the room you reach Woodstock at the bottom of the plan. Woodstock is where the PD & LH has a junction with the CNR. A track curving off into a corner will simulate the CNR.

Added the Junction

 The Junction part of the layout was added. It is about 33 x 100 inches. The track was loosely laid out to see if everything fit. A Team Track, Massey Harris and a sawmill are a some of the industries in this town.

At the other end there will be a yard, and turntable . The turntable will serve both ends of the railroad when it is operated as a point to point layout. There is also a connection for continuous running. 

The Junction

 

Concept plan, and ideas for the Junction.

 First thing the sawmill buildings and log pond need to be flipped end for end. May have a stationary crane instead of the log pond.

May not put in the  creek, and move Monsanto Chemicals to the out side of the curve, like in the picture.

First section wired

 The first section, which is centered on the town of Forest, was wired for block control. After joining all the blocks together, a train was run to check for problems. One track problem was corrected and there was one dead spot was identified. 

The port

                                         THE PORT

The port buildings are being test fit until I decide on their final location. Once decided some changes to the ground contour will have to be made to to get them to fit properly.  After that the background will be planned out marking roads or building flats. Then all the builds will be removed and the background painted and feeder wires will be added. The track has already been tested by running a string of cars over them.

Track laying

The siding placement in the closet has not been finalized yet, but there maybe 2 or 3 industries there. On the right you can see 2 sidings along the background. Two building flats will be located there. A scratch built old time grain elevator on the left. On the left another factory. 

Looking at the rest of this leg, you can see, on the right a turnout, leading to a spar tree. Picking up logs there, the train has to go all the way around the loop to get to the sawmill. The sidings there are isolated so the engine can be held there.

 

Over center springs

 

Making over center springs for my turnouts. Mounting the spring under the track keeps them from lifting up. 

To make these I use piano wire which is very stiff. Make the first right angle bend, just long enough to pass through the throw tie. At about the same distance from the bend, make about a 90 degree bend and again bend down another leg, to stick through the tie. Cut the second leg the same length as the first one.  Holding the spring's legs over the two holes they should be just a little wider than the holes. Now the fun is forcing the legs in the holes. If done correctly the switch should snap closed in both directions. 

Oops

Made a radius marker to draw some curves and found my benchwork was too narrow, so a piece of wood and a couple of screws and problem solved. The radius marker was has a hole for a pencil and tiny holes, at 1 inch increments, at the other end for the axis.

Backdrop and tile installed

Ceiling tiles laid out on top of the 5/8 inch plywood  and the pattern of the harbor was transferred to them. The tiles were then cut on my bandsaw. The tiles and the 16 inch high backdrop were then nailed into place with my nail gun.

 

Benchwork

The first section of the benchwork is in place. I have chosen my favorite base material for the layout,  that being ceiling tiles. I will be using the 1 foot square ones as they have a firm, non-dusty backing which holds track nails quite well. The folded paper on the left is a full size drawing of the harbour to act as a cutting guide for the ceiling tiles. The backdrop will be 16 inches high.

First layout plan

 This first plan has the basic concept of the railroad. The area to the right will be the last section built, the harbour is at the top and an industrial town is to the left.

Bench plan

 

This is the benchwork plan for the first stage of the Harbour Junction railroad.  The rectangle on the right is actually the top of a bench/cabinet. The illustrated loop and yard is a temporary end section for the first stage of the layout, to the left.