Durango & Silverton RR Shots |About Me
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| Construction shots: | Benchwork | Scenery | Finished Scenes |
| Layout: | Trackplan & Specs |
| Misc: | The
Road to MMR | Articles
I've written Durango & Silverton RR Shots |About Me |
One
of my model railroad heroes and one of the hobby's greatest innovators is the
late Linn Westcott, editor of Model Railroader magazine during the
70s. He contributed more to this hobby than perhaps anyone else. His
notable accomplishments included the Twin-T detection circuit, some of the first
transistorized throttles, L-girder benchwork, hardshell scenery, and zip
texturing, as well as hundreds of coined names. I named my main town after
him.
The town of Westcott will look like a classic Midwestern town (population 20,000) that has seen better days. The main street will be filled with architecture from the early 20th Century. I may use some of the scratchbuilt buildings from my old layout here.
When time came to do the Westcott scenery, I balked -- something seemed wrong, so I moved on to Glen Oaks (on the left in the first shot). After living with the layout for 5 years, I finally determined that the track arrangement didn't leave me enough room for the downtown area I'd envisioned, and it was too difficult to reach the cars to uncouple them at industries. Plus, a new track arrangement would let me replace the piece of warped plywood that served as the Westcott base and, more important, would let me add additional operational possibilities. Specifically, if I had visiting operators, I could set up Westcott as a town that has its own switcher and crew.
So in late 2004, I began rearranging the Westcott tracks for the third time.
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In the beginning...
The town itself is tucked into the corner of the layout. There's now a hillside on the left, leading down to Glen Oaks. In this shot I'm experimenting with the buildings I already have, to see how large I can make the town without making it seem too urban. |
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In October, 2001, I began planning the town in earnest. One of the problems with the configuration shown above was the fact that, because the layout is almost at its highest at this point, it was almost impossible to reach the trains (behind the buildings) on the siding for uncoupling. So I decided to reconfigure the tracks and the town, which I first did on the computer with 3D Railroad Concept and Design, then translated to a 10-foot long piece of corrugated cardboard to see how it looked in real life. (October 2001) | |
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This shot shows the effect I'm after -- lots of buildings. For this shot I've borrowed buildings from all over the layout just to try to create an effect. It'll be a sharp contrast to Glen Oaks, across the aisle, which will be another backwoods area, much like Froton. | |
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Here's Norma inspecting what I thought was my final trackplan on the cardboard. (October 2001) | |
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I then used an awl to transfer the track lines from the cardboard to the plywood, laid down the cork roadbed, and finally the tracks themselves. (October 2001) |
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All the tracks were laid, with the exception of one spur track. I decided to wait with that until I decide exactly what kind of buildings would go in each of the spots. Here, again, buildings from all over the layout are being used to get a feel for the effect. However I was able to reconfigure "Ship It!" and actually do some real switching in Westcott while I made up my mind about the final industries. (October 2001) |
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Fast forward the clock to late 2004. Here's the way the track arrangement above looked with the buildings removed, before any redesigning. This old trackplan is at the bottom of the page. (December 2004) | |
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To design the new track plan, I decided to skip the computer program and do it 1:1, so I taped several sheets of layout paper (as in "advertising layouts" not "train layouts") together and made an exact tracing of the area and of the existing tracks. Then, on the basement floor, I started experimenting with flextrack to get the new track arrangement. In the end the entire mainline was pulled closer to the aisle, and the passing siding was brought right up to the edge of the fascia. I then temporarily taped the tracks to the tracing and brought it to the layout. (December 2004) | |
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The new track arrangement gave me room for a "delivery" track, room for a "holding" track (where the Westcott train can temporarily store cars), and most important, gave me much more room for a real "downtown." (See new trackplan below.) I tested the layout with some temporary buildings, to see how it would look in context. Loved it! (December 2004) | |
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Next step: laying out the tracks "for real." I taped actual turnouts to the tracing and used flex track to make sure everything truly lined up. I then outlined the turnouts, flextrack, and the whole area on to the paper. (December 2004) | |
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Destruction began by removing the entire piece of warped plywood, taking measurements, and cutting the new plywood. This is how it looked several days before Christmas. (December 2004) | |
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Once the plywood was fit into the space, I used the tried-and-true method of making holes in the paper template with an awl at the track centers and poking a magic marker point through the holes to mark the plywood. I then glued down the cork. Unlike the entire rest of the layout, I used white bathroom caulk to secure the cork, rather than Liquid Nails. The caulk holds well, but makes it much easier to remove the cork if need be. (December 2004) | |
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Then, from out of nowhere, I got smart. I realized I could work on this piece of layout at my workbench, rather than huddled under the layout with a flashlight. So I got out my Workmate and set it up. (December 2004) | |
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With this arrangement, I could add the track wiring, the turnout wiring, the turnout switches, and the turnout linkages, all without clunking my head on anything. | |
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Here's Westcott as it stands now, looking from left to right (or North to South). At the lower left of the picture is the tunnel portal leading to Glen Oaks. Up top, the mainline passes through the backdrop behind the red building. For the time being, my old "Gee's Potato Chips" building resides on this siding. (January 2005) | |
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Moving a little to the left, you can see how the main town of Westcott will look. With the exception of the depot (center) and brewery (far right), and perhaps the unbuilt Spectrum buildings (light tan), few, if any, of these buildings will find their way into the final city, since most were built for my 1970's layout and aren't up to today's standards. But it gives me an idea of how the building density will look. I really like it. (January 2005) | |
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Again, moving to the right, in the foreground is the Westcott Freighthouse. This will be this model's final location. The red building in the background is a mockup I'd made for the Diljak building in Glen Oaks. | |
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Against the wall in
back is Unikemco. I haven't decided if this building will remain or
will be rebuilt.
And, no, you're not seeing double -- those are indeed two water towers back there. Neither will stay there. The one on the right was built in 1978, the one on the left was built in 2003. Both were built using plans from a 1976 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. They're there because I was showing a friend the difference between my skill levels today and in the olden days. |
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At the far Southern end of Westcott is Lee One Electric -- which will remain there -- and Littletini Manufacturing, which will eventually be replaced. (January 2005) | |
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Because of the new trackwork I was able to have Ship-It send more rail traffic to Westcott industries, which necessitated a dedicated switch engine for the town. A friend, Les Breuer, convinced me to buy a Broadway Limited SW-7 with sound. This is the first (and only) diesel ever purchased for the BV, and it meant I had to come up with a color scheme for the railroad. After much experimentation in Photoshop, I landed on CP Gray and Pullman Green, with a Daylight Scarlet band (which matches all BV engine cab roofs). (March 2005) | |
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 Here's the new trackplan, roughly sketched in. Quite a bit different! Only Lee One Electric remained in the same spot. Red tracks are the mainline, blue tracks are the passing siding. |
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Although not an industry, here's the Westcott Depot, a structure I built for my "Master Builder - Structures" certificate, and one that earned a Second Place-Online Structures award at the 2004 NMRA Convention in Seattle. It was scratchbuilt from plans in the February 1970 issue of Model Railroader. For shots of the fully detailed interior, see my "The Road to MMR / Structures" pages or my "Depot" page.. |
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If Unikemco (formerly "United Chemical Company") existed in real-life, it'd be a dangerous place. It was scratchbuilt in the late '70s from plans by E.L. Moore of "Jones Chemical Co." published in Model Railroader in March 1974. Unikemco is on the list of structures that "probably will be replaced someday" For now, though, it's gotten a little refurbishing and will reside in the background of Westcott. |
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Lee One Electric was the very first craftsman-type kit I ever assembled (Campbell's "Campbell Supply Company") back in the late '70s. It's named for my late Dad, Frank, who was an electrician and came up with the "Lee One" variation of "Leone." This is the only industry that kept its original place in the new trackplan, and this will be its final place on the layout. |
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Scratchbuilt of printed brickpaper and based on published, but long forgotten, plans, Gee's Potato Chips is a structure whose quality just doesn't match today's standards. That's why I never refurbished it after it came out of its storage box much worse for wear. It'll probably won't make it to the final town of Westcott. Why "Gee's"? Named for me and my lifelong love affair with a local Chicago brand of potato chips, Jay's. |
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The Westcott Freighthouse began its life in the early '80s as Campbell's "Tuckahoe Valley Produce Shed." When I recently realized that these types of structures don't exist in the Midwest (duh!), I added a storage area to the right end and renamed it. This structure has been moved to a more "up-front" location on the current Westcott trackplan. |
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Littletini Manufacturing is another structure scratchbuilt from printed brick paper that will eventually become a background building. It's based on "Stuckum Glue Works" plans published by E.L. Moore in the October 1977 issue Model Railroader. Littletini is named for a former co-worker and good friend, Jerry Little, who once commented that we wished he was Italian. It's another structure that probably won't see its final resting place on the layout. |
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Osgood Brewing, a Walthers "Milwaukee Brewing" kit, is the cornerstone of Westcott and is the transition point between the downtown area and the industrial park. It's named for my good friend Dick Osgood, who used to brew his own beer. This will be the largest industrial building in the city. |
