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Larry G Registered 
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My Dutch Valley Terminal Railroad once filled a 14' x 16' room in our previous home. Then we downsized to a twin home. This thread will cover the rebuilding of the Dutch Valley layout in my new 13' x 18' train room. My interests have always included narrow gauge railroads, notably, any thing with a gauge smaller than 2'. I decided to reduce the Dutch Valley to only fill half the room and build a Gn15 layout (APPETITE MINE) to fill the remaining space. The Dutch Valley will be 24"x5' along one wall and 12"x12' along another wall then 16"x4' along a third wall. A 3'x 8' peninsula coming off the 5' wall completes the layout. The downtown retail section, 3'x8', seen in this picture, is the only part of the old layout I was able to save. The remainder of the layout will be new construction, already under way. Larry Gant Attachment: DSC03260.jpg (Downloaded 93 times) Last edited on Wed Oct 19th, 2016 05:48 pm by Larry G |
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pipopak Moderator 
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I love street canyons!. Jose. |
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Larry G Registered
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This is the opposite side of the downtown retail area. Bradly's Department Store is replacing a older building and needs finishing and a basement wall treatment. Larry G Attachment: DSC00430.jpg (Downloaded 82 times) Last edited on Tue Oct 11th, 2016 05:12 am by Larry G |
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Larry G Registered
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Looking the other direction. Larry G Attachment: DSC00423.jpg (Downloaded 82 times) |
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Larry G Registered
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The rebuilding process started with mounting the two 3'x4' sections of the downtown area on legs. Each leg has leveling bolts in the bottom. The sections were bolted together. The framing is made of 1"x4" boards with 1/2" plywood along each side for track work. Then 3 1/2" of extruded foam insulation was used to build up the street level area. Plastic sheet was glued in place over the entire building area. Then, plastic locating blocks and sidewalks were glued in place for each building. This creates a sort of plugin system to keep each building in proper alignment. Notice the pencil lines in the street. These represent future streetcar tracks. Larry Gant Attachment: DSC00144.jpg (Downloaded 66 times) Last edited on Wed Oct 12th, 2016 10:13 pm by Larry G |
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Larry G Registered
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Another view of the downtown sections before buildings were installed. Larry Attachment: DSC00149.jpg (Downloaded 64 times) |
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Larry G Registered
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Extensive remodeling is necessary at this end of the downtown modules. Larry Attachment: DSC00424.jpg (Downloaded 60 times) |
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Larry G Registered
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A higher view of the remodel area... Larry Attachment: DSC00422.jpg (Downloaded 62 times) |
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Si. Moderator 
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Hi Larry. My jaw is a couple of inches off the carpet ! Streetcars as well ! AWESOME !!  Si. |
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Herb Kephart Moderator 
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Larry, you seem to be moving right along! Keep up the good work! Herb |
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Larry G Registered
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I do not use any powered turnouts (points) on my layouts. This can cause problems with access to a ground throw switch stand. To get around this predicament I instal plastic pipe from the turnout, under tracks and other obstructions, then to the edge of the layout. A stiff wire is bent to engage the turnout throw bar at one end. Insert the wire into the pipe then the turnout. Next, bend the wire to engage the ground throw switch stand at the other end. Set the points in a half way open position. Set the ground throw with the handle straight up. Now, temporarily fix all the components in place. Once the ideal position for proper control is found, fix all components in place permanently. Larry PS, the ground throw in this picture should have it's handle in a straight up position. Also note, the handle of the ground throw is painted green, the other side is painted red. This is a visual indication of the direction the turnout is thrown. Green for main line, red for side track. Attachment: DSC00428.jpg (Downloaded 78 times) Last edited on Sun Oct 16th, 2016 06:20 am by Larry G |
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Si. Moderator
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Hi Larry NICE trick with the ground-throw ! Saved the pic. in my ground-throw folder !! ( YES I have a ground-throw folder ) Saves getting tangled up in the scenery ... COOL ! Si. |
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W C Greene Moderator 
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Yep, neat idea. Similar to "knob & rod" switch control which I have used many times. If you needed electrical control of the frog, etc., then a small DPDT switch could be attached to the rod to switch polarity when changing the points. All very simple & user friendly (no expensive doo dads or manuals to read). Woodie |
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Larry G Registered
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Another view of the downtown section... Larry Attachment: DSC00420.jpg (Downloaded 53 times) |
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Larry G Registered
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And one more pic... Larry Attachment: DSC00161.jpg (Downloaded 53 times) |
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Larry G Registered
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Why not, one more... Larry Attachment: DSC00162.jpg (Downloaded 53 times) |
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Larry G Registered
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Having been in this hobby of model railroading since December 1956, I have learned many things the hard way. Like this one: where to lay your small tools so you can find them. This is one solution I use on my layouts, you may know of others. Larry Gant PS note the ground throw connected under the track (left center). Attachment: DSC00429.jpg (Downloaded 35 times) Last edited on Sun Oct 23rd, 2016 10:22 pm by Larry G |
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pipopak Moderator
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In that particular case I would have put the throw between the tracks. There is more space than where you put it. Jose. |
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Larry G Registered
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Jose, there is more than space to be considered. When the nearest track has cars on it the throw would be blocked by the cars. Then it would be a pain in the butt to operate the throw. The space between tracks can be used for other things with the throw out of the way. The less often you have to reach into the layout, the less likely you are to damage things. Larry G Last edited on Mon Oct 24th, 2016 02:18 am by Larry G |
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alfsboy Registered
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Woohoo etc |
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oztrainz Super Moderator 
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Hi Larry, that is one serious downtown area.Nice work  A couple of questions if I may? In you last photo a couple of posts back, that looks like a "live" dumper to unload hopper cars of some type on the track closest to the front? Who makes the unloading track? what hoppers and loads do you use? How do you catch the dumped loads? You have got a fellow "tipper-outer" curious, |
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Lee B Registered 
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Larry G Registered
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Hi oztrainz, Sorry to disappoint you, that is not a live dump track. It is a scratch built dummy dump track. During a switching session a empty hopper is pulled from the dump track and replaced with a loaded hopper car. This does require using the 0-5-0 switcher to reverse the cars for the next time I get the urge to do some switching. I am not big on realistic operation. Larry Attachment: DSC00429.jpg (Downloaded 17 times) |
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