The Beginning of the Tennessee & Western

[TN_Trainman]

Gary, thanks for the complaments, if you look at the Breaker Box you will see an area I left open so I could get to the box if need be. The area left of the box (in front of the darker peg board) will eventually be a hill area with mining houses and a small general store (Company Store) it may have a spur that services a very small freight dock, but I am not sure as of yet.

I am thinking of adding a lower sorting yard under the present benchwork, so that my out bound freights and such will disappear (going to Nashville to interchange with L&N ) and could return via a reversed loop with fresh freight for the local yard.

If all works out well this weekend, I am going to start putting up the mountian area behind the Coal mine using the paper shell method that was shown in the either RR Modeler or Model Railroader a few months ago (cant remember which magazine it was, but the autors name was Zane I think) it appeared to be a pretty money saving method and would suite the area I need to cover.

I hope to post more pictures this weekend.......

 

[TN_Trainman]

Building on the Mountian......yeah Ha!!

Hello all, well we started to work on the mountian area that will run behind the coal mine and along the wall at the end of the shed, we are using the method that was in the January 07 Model Railroader written by Howard Zane called Paper Shell Scenery.

So far it has been relatively simple and a fast moving process Jean-Luc and I hung the 9ft area by about 3 ft in around 4 hours and we started laying the Red Rosin paper around the river area.

The picture with Jean-Luc looking like he is yelling is the result of FINGER touching HOT GULE...ops:

Well as allways let me know your thoughts and comments

Happy Railroading:thumb:

 

[TN_Trainman]

Hello all well its been a while since I posted on the progress of the Tennessee & Western, so here are a few photos of the new buildings that I have been working on and a couple of the track and yard.

Hope to get more up soon, take care and have fun and as always comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Hope you enjoy them

Shot from future Street level of the Loading Dock.

Overhead shot of Tennessee Dressed Beef Co, the real TDB operated in Nashville in the 50's and 60's.

Shot of the stock yards and the TDB co.

Half of the Freight yard installed with the main line running in the back ground.

Yes I am a Lonesome Dove fan, I will be adding a sign on the side that says "WE DONT RENT PIGS" and in the future will probably redo the sign with some decal material. These were printed with my PC and sealed with matt varnish.

The Bridge over the Little Duck River

First Train across the bridge...woohoo!!!!

 

[Kanawha]

Excellent bridge! :thumb: And the scenery is coming together nicely.:mrgreen: :mrgreen: Is that K4 Pacific a Spectrum, BLI, or MTH model?

 

[TN_Trainman]

Thanks Kanawha, its a Spectrum K4 I hope to get more together this next week if all goes well.

 

[nkp174]

Things are looking good. It is good to see that it is a family project...and that your principal motive power so far is a K-4! I know who needs a Pennsy J-1 or a C&O T-1 for Christmas! I know where there is one at a very nice discount due to a lack of sound.

Are you using DCC or conventional?

 

[TN_Trainman]

Thanks NKP174, we will be using DCC, I just bought my MRC Prodigy Squared last week. Yeah I have tried to get all of my children someway involved in the building of it and so far each one has pitched in somewhere along the way.


Yep a J-1 would be nice to add to the roster. So far we have the following Locomotives on the TN&W Roster

Bachmann Spectrum 3 Truck shay
Mantua 2-6-6-2T NIB (that we will be selling since its not DCC)
Bachmann 70 Ton switcher
Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0 Consolidation
Bachmann spectrum 2-10-0 Russian Decapod
Proto 2000 GP-35
Bachmann Spectrum K4

 

[Kanawha]

Let us know how you like the Prodigy Squared system down the line. I want to buy one buy I'd like to hear more stories and opinions about it before then.

 

[zachary]

nice work can you post a trackplan i have a space about the same size and am looking for a trackplan thanks zachary

 

[nkp174]

You've got a nice roster. I love the Russian 2-10-0s. I'm also quite partial to shay's as I grew up within 10 miles of the Lima Locomotive works and played there a number of times when my dad was working on the 765 during her rebuild at the empty locomotive works (1990ish?)

 

[TN_Trainman]

Kanawha, I will let you know how it works, I hope to have it up and running by mid December.

Zachary, I will draw you the plans and scan them at work so I can post them (dont have any track software) it will be later this week if I get a break at work.

NKP174, yep I love the shays as well, as a kid reading MRR mags I always dreamed of having a Shay and a Climax, as of now I have the Shay with Christmas approaching:mrgreen: for the climax. The Russians I REALLY like the robust look of them and their history, I would like to add a 2-10-2 Mountian to my roster in the future.

Thanks for the comments guys,

 

[Triplex]

Err... A 2-10-2 is a Santa Fe. A Mountain is a 4-8-2.

 

[TN_Trainman]

Triplex, yep my bad......thats whats called a BRAIN FARTsign1...........4-8-2 Mountian to the list pppllleeeaaazzzeeeeee

Thanks for all the replys guys it good to know others are reading on the progress of the TN&W.

 

[MadHatter]

Wow, can't wait to see your track plan, things are looking good so far.

Re: Mantua mallet

How old is the loco? Because the newer ones have a 9 pin socket for dcc in them.

 

[nkp174]

I've always been a fan of the Mantua mallets. Unfortunately, they are made with a very brittle plastic and one has to be extremely careful when playing with them.

 

[TN_Trainman]

Madhatter, sorry I have been sick with a bug this past weekend and didnt get to draw you up a track plan but I will this week. On the Mallet it is a 1980's model that was like New, I bought it off of a lady who inherited her uncles train stuff.

Nkp147, thanks for the warning, although I am going to put it up on Ebay for sale as I have been told it is just to much trouble to convert it to DCC.

Hope to have some new pics up today or tomorrow......

Thanks,

 

[MadHatter]

TN Trainman- Get better soon!

 

[TN_Trainman]

Madhatter thanks for the get well, here is the track plan I had to scan it at work and then resize it so it may not be to great.

http://gallery.zealot.com/data/655/T_W.gif

 

[MadHatter]

WHAT???? jawdrop That is a GREAT looking track plan!!!! :thumb:

Remember that it's your layout, so as long as you're happy with it, we all will be.

 

[TN_Trainman]

Thanks again, I wish I could have posted a clearer picture of it up so it that it was not so fuzzy when you blow it up. Basically the elevations go from 48 inches to 54 inches, the yard plan may change just a little due to the fact I am still laying it (this weekend hopefully) I have been workiing on the entire layout since January 3rd of this year and have met some goals I have set, but others are no where near the point I had hoped they would be. I hope to have all the track laid by the end of December or have a Golden Spike party in January (WOOHOO PARTY:thumb

Will try to post some more pics this weekend......