Copper Ridge Railway under construction

roryglasgow

Active Member
I'm just taking it a piece at a time, Tyson. It's funny, though, that the ratio of time spent thinking about the bridge vs. the time it took to make it was VERY high!
 

Matthyro

Will always be re-membered
Good as always Rory, It's good to see and hear of your progress.
That is a great background you have with those awesome clouds.
Keep it up.
 

Drew1125

Active Member
Hi Rory!
Good to hear from you again!
The layout is looking FANTASTIC!!:cool:
I read an article a couple of months ago on how a guy made a stone arch viaduct aoy of foam...may have been Model Railroader, I can't remember...I'll see if I can dig it up.
Hey, hurry up with those pics! I'm really itchin' to see more of your progress!
 

roryglasgow

Active Member
Thanks for all the kind words. All-in-all, I'm very pleased with the layout. It's certainly turning out better than I had expected. A lot of this is unexplored territory to me.

The stone viaduct was in the October 2002 MR. That's kinda what got me to thinking about using the foam. The difference, though, is that my bridge is actually MADE from the foam, whereas the one in the article is only filled with foam (and the brickwork was some kind of decal paper).

I painted the spackle last night. I still need to do some scenery work around it. I probably won't have much time to work on it tonight, but I'll try to get a picture up as soon as I can. I was thinking that if it turned out nice enough, I might borrow a friend's (good) digital camera and submit an entry in the photo contest. :)
 

roryglasgow

Active Member
New Bridge

Here are a couple of pics of the new bridge. It's carved out of a piece of blue insulating foam. It's located near the right-hand edge of the layout, which is why its kinda crammed into the right sides of the photos.

Sorry for the blurry photos... My camera doesn't do a very good job at close ranges. I'm going to try to borrow a better camera this weekend so I'll have a photo for the contest.

The two 70-ton hopper cars and bobber caboose were weathered by Tyson. Thanks again, Tyson! :)

I've decided to move the town from the second level to the top. I might put an abandoned mine on the spur on the second level, with a couple of derelict buildings where a town used to be. I can still use the spur from time to time...
 

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Tyson Rayles

Active Member
Rory your layout is really coming along great! The trees, ground covers and rocks are excellent. That bridge is really nice also and should be in the photo contest. :cool: :cool: :cool:
 

n-scaler-dude

New Member
I just want to say that this is an EXCELLENT thread. It's great to see a project like this from start to finish (or nearly finished?).
It also answers a question I posed on the "scenery" board about expanding foam. I might try it myself on the diorama I am planning.

I just wanted to bring this thread to the top for other beginners, such as myself, to read and enjoy.

Great thread, great project! Very inspiring!
 

roryglasgow

Active Member
Thanks for the compliments. I was hoping that this thread might be a good tutorial of sorts. I'm no expert, but with all of the "helping hands" here on The Gauge, I don't need to be! :)

I'm currently working on a revised version of the bridge that I submitted for the photo contest. The original bridge looked too thin to me, so I made the new one thicker. It's going to be a trick to mount it in place, though. First, I need to remove the track from the front side of the second level and re-lay it. The expanding foam upset the level of the track, so it leans a little too far in a couple of spots. After I remove the track, I'm going to use the hacksaw to cut it down more level. Wish me luck! :rolleyes::)

One word of caution about the expanding foam: Don't get it on your clothes! :eek:
 

Drew1125

Active Member
Hi Rory!
First of all, good to hear from you again!
Secondly, good luck on that track repair...I know it's a pain...I've had to do it before too, but it'll be worth the extra effort.
Also, I'd like to congratulate you on a great little layout, & to tell you how cool it's been to follow your progress through this thread!:cool:
I couldn't resist steal...er..."borrowing" the idea for my newest little project! (hope you don't mind! :) )
 

roryglasgow

Active Member
Well, I can't claim ownership of the foam ideas... I got the ideas from others myself! Isn't plagiarism the sincerist form of flattery? :)

I only wish I had more time to get in there and work on the thing. It's cold and wet outside, so this is good "working indoors" weather. Unfortunately, there always seems to be more non-model-railroad related work to do...
 

Drew1125

Active Member
I know what you mean Rory!
There just aren't enough hours in the day!:rolleyes:

Speaking of cold & wet...I just finished shoveling about 6" of "cold & wet" off my driveway!:mad: :rolleyes: :D :p
 

roryglasgow

Active Member
I was worried for a while that the Copper Ridge Railway was going to have to meet an untimely end. As I mentioned in another thread, our landlord is building a new house that we are going to move into in a couple of months. The house is bigger, but the space was arranged such that even a layout as small as the CRRy would be awkward. But, after an 11th hour change to the house plans, it looks like the Copper Ridge is going to live!

So, construction is continuing... I was having a problem with most of the second-level track along the front of the layout. When I put in the expanding foam, it tilted the track severely to one side, and engines were having a difficult time getting good electrical contact. I pulled up the track with the intention of trimming the underlying foam, but quickly realized that I wasn't going to be able to get any kind of blade into the area. So, I took a tip from the real railroads and used ballast to level the track.

But how would I know if the track was level? I was having a great deal of trouble trying to get an accurate reading with my level. But then I had an idea: I took a couple of the little bubble thingies out of my level and taped them to the flat car that I had made to carry The Box. By placing a track pin between the rails behind the car, I could park it over a section of track while I arranged the ballast underneath with a pick. Below is a picture of my levelling car.

Also, I put the new bridge into place. I wasn't satisfied with the old one because it looked too thin to hold hundreds of tons of ore cars. So, I made a thicker one. Construction was the same, except that I used two pieces of the blue insulating foam. The new one is made to look like its composed of random stone. After the ballast dries, I'll spackle the ends into the cliff faces and paint the abutments. Then I'll post some more pictures...
 

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RI541

Member
I always smile when I come here.:) :) :)

Is this you versoin of a rail detection car???:D :D :D

You should post that under tips and tricks. Totaly awesome, and I mean that in the most sincere way. You are a true modeler.:) :)
 
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