Just finished painting the backdrop mountains and hills in the area I am calling New Utrecht.

The rock face mountain that is in the corner and that will sit behind the coal mine is a work in progress.  The structure is completed so the next step is to add some rock outcroppings, foliage and trees.

I wanted to recreate the look of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  These are "old" mountains and are rounded at their peaks.  What I wound up with looks like the Appalachian Mountains mated with Grand Teton Mountain.

Here is a photograph I took from the about 5,000 foot level on Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina.  It is around sunset and overlooks the Blue Ridge.

Here are a few images of the completed backdrop painting.  The big, gray rock looking thing is the mountain that will be behind the coal mine.

Nine layers of 2" pink XPS foam covered in plaster cloth and then stained with a black latex wash.  A taupe wash was dry brushed over this to start to bring out the highlights.

After this I will be building the area of Fort Greene.  Carl 3D printed the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument that will go in Fort Greene Park.  It looks great.  I will post photos of it with my next update.

Originally I planned to complete all construction of the layout and then have several operating sessions before starting to add any scenery.  Well, that plan has changed a bit.

There are several areas of the layout's upper level which will have deep reach in distances after layout completion.  Specifically two corners and the area over the lower level Gravesend Yard.  Even after curving the corners with masonite the reach in distance for any scenery construction and the addition of backdrops would make the work difficult at best.

If you recall the shape of the room, it is 41 feet long and 14 feet wide.  You enter the room at the approximate center of one of the long walls.

On the upper level to your right is the large Fuhgeddaboudit Yard.  In front of you, on the upper level, are the towns of Fort Greene and Brooklyn Heights with the Kosciusko Bridge spanning the Gowanus Canal.  Directly below them will be Gravesend Yard with a bump out for the round house and locomotive servicing area.

A short break for an American history lesson.

Fort Greene is the neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY where I attended high school.  Fort Greene is named after General Nathaniel Greene one of the heroes of the Revolutionary War.  The Gowanus Canal is named after the Native American chief Gowanee.  The Kosciusko Bridge is named after Thaddeus Kosciusko, a Polish officer, who fought with us during the Revolution.  There is a Prison Ship Martyrs Monument in Fort Greene Park honoring the 11,500 men and women who died on the British prison ships after the Battle of Long Island.

I tried to find models that resembled the monument and my old high school but so far nothing close.  See images below.  The high school is the large building in the center.

I made building mockups out of construction paper using the foot prints of the structure kits I currently own and staged them to create towns and to test fit.

Below is Fort Greene looking towards the coal mine at New Utrecht which is one of the corners I mentioned previously.

The coal mine at New Utrecht.  A UP 2-10-2 is leading a freight on the mainline down grade to the lower level while the NY Central A-B-A set of Erie Built units has finished its climb upgrade.  In the background is an A-B set of Pennsy F-3's waiting at the coal mine.

New Utrecht downtown area in the corner.  Note the masonite in the corner.  New Utrecht station is to the right with the tail end of the Erie led freight.

This next image is from opposite New Utrecht station looking along the 14 foot wall toward the coal mine.  The tracks closest to the edge of the benchwork are mainline.  The NY Central 4-6-4 is pulling a passenger train on the upper level branch line.  The tracks for the coal mine are behind.  These tracks will join the branch line and then the main further along the long wall to the right.

Next steps:

Select the back drops.  I plan use a combination of printed and painted back drops but have not determined the specifics.

Build, paint and weather approximately 18 structure kits and prewire them for lighting.

I want to get this done over the next few months so that I can start the lower level construction.

 Next phase of the upper level construction is underway.

Dual track main and single track branch are being extended along the long back wall and around one of the side walls.  This adds room for the town of New Utrecht with a small industrial area, a coal mine, train station and a small downtown area.

The photos below just show the progress of test fitting the track and the foot prints for structures.

Next steps are:

1. Marking the plywood, laying cork roadbed, laying track, powering the track and testing.

2. Since there will be a hill in the corner behind the coal mine I will need to add backdrops and the hill after I finish with the trackwork.  Along with construction of the coal mine.  Long reach in distance to the corner where the hill will be located so this one section of scenery will be added early.  The reach in distance to the farthest track is 21 inches from the edge of the benchwork.

3.  Mount turnout motors and test again.

Small industrial district with three manufacturing companies.  Box cars parked at sidings and a short freight waiting to enter the main from the branch.

The location of the coal mine and tipple on the right where the hoppers are parked.  On the left is the location of New Utrecht train station and depot with a couple of RDC's waiting to take on passengers and a box car at the depot location.

Another view of the location of New Utrecht station with the coal mine location in the background.

Coal mine location.  Tracks closest, and hanging off benchwork, are the two main tracks that start their descent to the lower level at New Utrecht station.  Directly behind the main, and in front of the mine, is the branch that will run around the upper level.

Another view of the small industrial area with the coal mine in the background.

Still in the shakedown cruise for this first phase of the layout.

A short video at the end of this update.  I will not win any awards for cinematography.

The wayward Santa Fe war bonnet is from Dick Wegner's collection.  I may need to change the name of the railroad and add Santa Fe at the end.

Spent most of the week checking and adjusting coupler heights, wheel gauge and weight and then repeatedly running the cars forward and reverse at varying speeds to find and resolve quite a number of issues.  Got through 202 out of 252 freight cars I have which should be more than enough for a mini-operating session when we resume our get togethers.

Starting tomorrow I will work on the passenger cars.  Then off to finalizing the design of the remainder of the upper level.

Testing out the 24 DCC equipped locos since most of them were laying boxes for many years.

Interesting results:

1 that totally lost its DCC mind but will run on DC.  Needs a manual reset but I will have to get to the decoder by opening the tender

2 that cannot reset CV's 3 and 4 for momentum.  They take up to 20 feet to stop.  These are 20 year old Rivarrosi's with Arnold decoders which will be changed out

1 that needs the tender to be dis-assembled and re-assembled since the frame is not seated in the chassis.  This is out of the box but also out of warranty.

1 has chuffing sounds fade out when it gets up to speed

1 that needs weight added over the drivers so it will pull more that 7 cars

1 that needs weight added to the tender

Here's the video.  New York Central 4-6-4 Hudson pulling into Fuhgeddaboudit Yard with several heavyweights behind.  Santa Fe passenger train on the mainline and a pair of Pennsy Centipedes hauling a long string of express and refrigerator cars.

I added about 20 feet to the upper level that extends the dual track mainline from the arrival and departure tracks of Fuhgeddaboudit Yard.

A branch line splits from the main and will eventually be extended to a coal mine and a couple of industrial areas on the upper level.  The main will begin its descent to the lower level.

A few short videos.  Pennsy 6-8-6 steam turbine #6200 moving from right to left leaving the yard and entering the main.  UP 4-12-2 #9019 entering the yard from the main.  Also a pan of the yard with the classification tracks along the wall and the loco servicing area in front.

In case any of you notice my temporary power distribution wiring I modelled it after wiring I saw in Havana, Cuba last year.  See the photo of the typical Havana building power entrance wiring at the end of this update.

Oops!!!!

That is the title for this blog update.  I could also call it "Improve Your Planning".  Look at the two pics below and you will understand.

During my initial layout of the trackwork it looked like the turnout throw bars would not be over any of the support joists and interfere with the mounting of the turnout motors.

In laying the final trackwork a little adjustment here and there has placed several over the joists or too close to be able to mount the motors.

It looks like I can safely move one joist but I will need to use the offset mounts in at least four locations and will need to surface mount a motor in another location.  Fortunately the surface mounted one will be in a good location for a small building.

The rest of my benchwork will not be as fortified and not interfere with anything under the layout.

Since my plan was to use DCC Concepts Cobalt turnout motors in most locations I would still have sufficient clearance to mount them over the joists.  The Cobalt is about 2/3 the size of a Tortoise and has the quick disconnect wire connectors incorporated.

Well, the Cobalts are all out of stock since parts for them come from China so I need to use Tortoises for now.  The cost of the Tortoise is about $4 to $6 each more than the Cobalt if you include the cost of an Acculites or another type wiring connector.

In the pics the spot of light is shining down from the throw bar hole and hitting the joist.

Some additional progress on Fuhgeddaboudit Yard.  Finished laying tracks in the locomotive servicing area along with weathering and installing the bases of three of the yard's servicing areas - ash pit, coal tipple and diesel servicing.

In a major brain dead senior moment I misplaced and cannot find the base for the two bay car shop.  Sheet styrene will be used to replace it.

Built an ascending / descending ramp for the coal delivery to the tipple using Woodland Scenics preformed 2% incline / decline set and 1/2" riser set along with plaster cloth.  Using the Woodland Scenics products was a lot easier than scratch building plus I have enough left over for two additional incline / decline areas.

Next is the power distribution for the four locomotive servicing tracks.  I will be using the switches in the turnout motors to turn power on only to the track designated by the yard master.

A few snapshots below of the locomotive servicing area.  Any structures you see are from Dick Wegner's finely detailed layout.

Overall view of the yard.  Loco servicing on left and classification yard on right.

Locomotive servicing area

Yup, lousy job in Photoshop covering up the junk behind the layout in the photo above.

Since turnout motors are back ordered I plan to start work adding two 8 feet long x 2 feet wide sections to lengthen the mainline, add sidings for the coal mine and a bridge over what will be a canal.