6 - Some More Stuff

Picked up a couple more things this weekend. The KFC will wait for another layout but I think I can find a place for the water tower.


Yesterday I ordered the locomotive and track pack for the layout. Should have a train up and running in a week or so. Once I get a better idea of the how the locomotive runs on the layout then I can start picking out rolling stock (freight cars, caboose, etc).

5 - Picked Up a Couple Items

Went to a train store in Seattle today. Their website made it look like they were the place to go for train stuff. However, they didn't really have all that much stuff. I think the one in Kirkland is way better. This is actually a blessing in disguise because it's about a 45 minute drive from our house. Oh well I did manage to find a couple items.

I got a trailer that says Seattle on it. I realize it's not actually a train car, but I can put it on a 50' (scale) flat car. I also picked up a pair of Woodland Scenics Gentle Grips.

This is the idea....

This type freight transportation is called intermodal freight transportation. Meaning that the freight is transported by mulitple transportation methods, in this case rail and truck. So the trailer could be loaded onto the flat rail car directly at a factory or warehouse and then transported by rail to a frieght yard where it is unloaded and picked up by a truck and hauled via road to multiple retail outlets.

The store didn't have any flat cars in the length I needed so I'll have to look at another store or online.

4 - First Phase Update!!

The Benchwork is now complete!! Oy what a chore! Ofcourse I had to choose the one day it's 75 degrees in OCTOBER!!! and I was in an upstairs south facing bedroom. By the time I was done I was sweating like a whore in church! Oh well all is done now!

I guess there's no more excuses now....gotta order the kit!!!

3 - Minor De-Railment

Not really. After some additional research I've come to the conclusion that my choice of locomotive will not work with the Grand Valley layout. I'm a little bummed out because I wanted to go with the Burlington Northern loco since that is what runs through my hometown of Yakima, WA. However, I also learned that BN was actually created in 1970 as the result of the merger of Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Chicago, Burlington and Quincy and the Spokane, Seattle, Portland Railroads. The new company operated until 1995 when it merged w/ the Atchison Topeka and Sante Fe Railroad to become Burlington Northern Sante Fe. Today it is only 1 of 4 transcontinental railroads operating in North America. Of the 4 remaining it is the 2nd largest in size, the 1st is Union Pacific. The new BNSF locos have different coloring than the good 'ol green and white BNs. Okay I'm getting off topic :-)

Back to the loco switch -

The Grand Valley layout has 18" radius curves and the loco I picked the SD40-2 is just too long to make that turn at normal speed. I've read that it can work but I'd have to decrease the speed to make the turns without fear of de-railment. The SD in the name is General Motors designation for a 6-axle "special duty" diesel locomotive. In checking out the forums at http://www.modelrailroader.com/ I determined that this will be too long to safely handle the 18" radius curves.

Instead of the SD40-2 I've decided to go with a GP40. The GP in the name is General Motors designation for a 4-axle "general purpose" diesel locomotive. This will give me better performance on the curves since it has 4 instead of 6 axles it is not quite as long as the SD. Unfortunately I could not just swap model numbers and keep the Burlington Northern roadname without a significant jump in price. Since this is our first layout I didn't want to jump the gun and go with an expensive locomotive to start out with. We're talking a price difference of around $150 more for the GP than the SD...YIPES!!

Rather than spend way more money just to keep the Burlington Northern roadname I decided to go with Union Pacific. This is still a railroad that runs in Washington State w/ terminals in Seattle and Spokane.


It looks like a more affordable GP40 w/ the Burlington Northern roadname will be available in May 2008. So I guess I'll just make do with the Union Pacific until then. :-) Oh well the way I see it - one small change now will save huge headaches later one. It would be so frustrating to spend all the time working on the layout only to find that the loco you have won't run on it.

Some good news I found the control system that I talked about in the first post at a local hobby store for cheaper than I could get it online...SWEET!! So I snatched that up.

2 - First Phase

Alrighty...sort of busy day today. We dismantled our home office and turned it into the guest room and turned the guest room into the train room. Unfortunately even completely empty with the closet doors removed in order to put my work table the room is just big enough with barely any room to spare. Actually it won't be too bad once the layout is finished, but while under construction the layout will have to be in the middle of the room so we have access to all sides. Once it's complete it can be put against a wall.

This is the where we're at today - the benchwork (what the layout will be built on) is almost complete. The support frames are built we just have to attach them to the piece of plywood and flip it over and we'll be ready to start buidling The Grand Valley!

1 - So It Begins

We've finally began construction of our model railroad empire. Well not really empire but a pretty good layout for beginners like us. Since this is our fist go round with railroading we decided to go with a kit. The Grand Valley layout to be exact.


Here is a picture of the completed layout (from manufacturer website)

We also decided on a fairly simple locomotive and control system.

Ofcourse we'll be adding freight cars and a caboose to the locomotive as soon as we pick some out!

Check back for updates!!!