Layout updates.

It´s been some time since I last updated my blog so this time here is a bigger update. Last post was about the final trackplans and the start of the helixrebuild. The plans are overworked and the midlevel was cancelled as the space between levels was to tight to squeeze another level in. The planed siding was moved to the top.By today the helix is finished up to the top and I have to connect the last to flextrack pieces and to mount the tortoise switchmotors for the siding turnouts. There is still a lot of work to do on this piece of work but most of it will be scenery work and basic landscape for the small village on top of it.

As you can see, the Canfor mill has his new space and the trackwork is done for it. All tracks and turnouts are working and it´s now time for the buildings and the landscape.I have to do some final pictures of the scene but here´s an in progress shot from another view.

After this was done I had a small test ops with two friends and we found out some small issues with other spots on the layout.  The first one was the Northwestern Woodpreservers Planer Mill on the upper level. It was nice but the tracks are hard to reach over the buildings. So I reworked that area again. The structures moved to the back and the tracks to the front...I changed the purposes of the tracks. I have now one track for outbound plywood under a shed, one track for inbound tank and Boxcars next to another building and one for inbound pulpwood.
The mainline is hidden by the mill structures. I´m very happy with the new design and it´s working out nice. Here´s an overall view of the area with the new trackwork and structures.

The next area I started to work was the place for the engine service. I made some tests with the Walthers dieselhouse but it was to big and did not match the look I wanted for it. so I searched the net and my books for pictures and finaly found some place I like. It´s the old PGE enginehouse at Lillooet. This could work for me in a similar way and I decided to try to build something like that.
here´s the picture I found on Flickr. It´s not my own picture and I use it for reference. I have some similar photos in one of my BCR books but this one shows the tracks better.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/37908073@N04/3494972727/in/album-72157621907755857/

And here´s my version of that place. The enginehouse was scratchbuild/kitbashed from pikestuff parts, the Shop building is also made from pikestuff walls. The other structures may be used as the are or will be changed with other structures.

As you can see in the last picture I shortened the main to the far left. The caboose track will be extended to the left track next to the engine service shop and it will be connected with a turnout and the small structure in front of the tanks will be removed and there will be a track for delivering dieselfuel for the engines.

Some engines stores in the engine house and on the tracks around. I have to do some work on the base for the structure and start with some basic landscape.

And after all that work I decided to made a last change on the layout. This time on the upper level in the other room around the mainstreet and the industries around. I reworked the tracks and turnouts and now I have a more straight look. I also removed one of the two elevators, moved the mainstreet into the far right corner. On the liftout in front of the window the structures moved to the back and so giving more room for operations.

New place of the mainstreet. There will be a small scrapyard behind the gas station.

Maybe this will move a bit to the right to allow two longer tracks for the elevator.

A&C Cylinder Head rebuilders to the right, Mikes Custom Woodworking to the left.

The new place for Diamond Fertilizer.

The left over elevator. You can see the rebuild still in progress but it´s finshed now. Have to take some pics.

Loomis Express building moved into the corner to give more room for the trucks in front.

I´m still thinking about the structure. I don´t know if I´ll stay with that structure or will add a new structure made from pikestuff walls and doors, which will match the look of the prototype much better. Here´s a google street view picture of it. I could simulate a much bigger structure with the pikestuff kit.

So this was a big update on my layout but I´m quite happy with he changes I made. Now I can go back to finish the work on the helix with the two new bridges and the final trackwork

Removed the old trestle but have not made a final decision for that.

This one will be placed right to the other bridge over the tracks heading out of the helix and will hide the hole to the helix.

Thank you for reading and following.
Regards,Chris

Final Trackplans for the BCR Dawson Creek Subdivision

This is a short posting to show the finished plans for my layout. I´ll add a mid level on the helix section .I´m still working on the helix rebuild.

Lower Level.There is only the hidden staging below that.

Middle level with siding.The siding can hold a train with up to 12 wagons,2 engines and caboose.

Upper Level with a small village added to the top of the Helix.

More pictures of te rebuild will follow as soon as I´m making some progress.

Changing directions..... second edition

After I have done the changes at the yard, I still was not happy with the placment of the helix and how it dominates the whole room. I wanted to change the direction of the helix for some time and finaly last week I decided to rebuild the helix. So I started to remove the foam from the top of it,removed all track and benchwork and at the end I got a big empty space.I moved the base benchwork for the helix to one corner of the room, added some new wood around it and now I´m happy with the look of the room. It´s still a lot of work to do but I had a good start. I will add the parts of the helix the next evenings and hope to get some trains running from Chetwynd to Dawson Creek next week.

New benchwork started

Added some plywood 

More pictures will follow soon as progress goes on.

MLW RS18 #615 kitbash

I started my first engine projekt ever. This will be BCR #615. I started with an Atlas Trainman RS32, an undecorated RS32 shell, bought some RS18 conversion parts from Kaslo Shops, some detailparts from Miniatures by Eric an started the conversion. I cut off the corners of the long hood and filled them with some plastic sheet. and sanded it into shape. Next step was to remove the front of the cab and glue the Kaslo part to the cab. I removed the Rs32 hood from the Atlas shell and added the Kaslo short low hood. I have to thin out the inside of the hood to fit above the frontweight. All in all it took me two evenings to complete the first steps of the conversion.

 The Pilots are Resin parts from Kaslo,too. The Kaslo parts are high quality. Great parts. Next step will be adding the two openings to the frontdoors of the long hood and adding the MbE parts to the model. This is the first of three RS18 conversions. There will be second one with low short hood,#624 and the third one will get the high short hood, #602. I´ll use an Atlas RS11 for the high hood conversion. #615 will get Esu or Tsunami sound later. The other two engines have been converted to DCC some time ago so no decoder is needed for those.