ClarkeFest 2010 is June 26!

Some of the major specs for the new Allentown & Clarkesburg Railroad: Size: 19' x 30' Lines: 3 Track: GarGraves Phantom - approximately 500' Max. length of trains: 32'+ Wiring: 14 gauge single strand Switches: Mostly Ross, a few ancient GarGraves Bridges: Many Tunnels: Several Mountains: Two

Construction on the all-new Allentown & Clarkesburg Railroad has been underway for three years, albeit in fits and starts. The layout uses L-girder, open-grid construction.

I used XTrkCad to design the layout. It's a bit fiddly at first, but it's 1) free and 2) highly customizable, allowing you to create and edit your own parameter files using the GUI or the text files themselves. You can download the latest version from www.XTrkCad.org.

The New ACRR (2007-??)

The layout is expected to look something like this, though I keep tweaking it here and there and will no doubt make further changes once serious construction gets underway. We're probably going to add a new yard to the right of the station in the center section.

February 2010: Our progress in updating the web site is matched only by the slow pace of development on the ACRR. The bulk of the corner hill is now landscaped, and the canal to the right of the hill has been installed, including curved brick retaining walls. Next step, add the Magic Water!

The road down from the hill is mostly done; a little more landscaping will probably be added once I start work on the foreground section. Young Daniel did a fine job of putting together a scrap yard, including distressing and painting a bunch of car bodies I picked up a while ago with this exact purpose in mind. I will be creating an illiminated "neon" sign at some point.

I also created a cast brick retaining wall to the left of the hill (6th image below). A few of Sam and Dan's friends helped with the staining, so I generated their names in grafitti and put them on the wall with decals.

I've been experimenting with a variant on the paper-shell scenery technique by creating large landscaped sheets that can then simply be glued onto the underlying cardboard lattice. It overcomes the problem of getting scenery materials to adhere to vertical surfaces, and it's quick.

In addition, we've ballasted the track in those areas that are complete. It really does make the trains run more smoothly and quietly. A shortcut that I used to weather/paint the track rails is a Zip Woodcraft chisel point paint market in burnt umber. The chisel point allows you to easily color the rails sides with a solid coat and there's no mess. I'll still using the first marker I purchased and have weathered most of the track on the layout. An added bonus is that Daniel and Samuel, five and nine, respectively, can easily do it!

The last photo in this update is the animated Clark bar sign from Miller Engineering; at some point the original "E" at end fell off the sign ... and the new name stuck, much to our chagrin ...!

October 2009: Below are some pictures of the recently completed control panel. The layout was done in PhotoShop and then sent to a professional printer for color printing and lamination. I hunted high and low for 16-gauge color-coded 4-conduit ribbon wire. I finally found it at a sporting goods web site. Who knew that this stuff is mainly used on RVs and snowmobiles!

April 2009: It's been a while, but we've been making some progress on landscaping. And the boys have been having fun creating various dioramas; we seem to have a lot of fire and police emergencies! Also apparent is the need for more staging yards. Our collection of miscellaneous and mismatched cars is growing leaps and bounds...

Jan. 2009: As usual I've been rather remiss in not taking any photos of progress on the ACRR. Below are some of the beginnings of the scenery effort. The first two show a quick diorama that we built to test the workings of Howard Zane's paper-shell technique. I am a buyer! Minimal mess, loads of flexibility, and if you don't like something, simply cut it out and redo it.

The rocks and trees are all made from scratch: I made rock molds for the castings and the trees are copper wire covered in spackle, then stained with various washes. The folliage uses a black synthetic fiber from MicroMark with ground foam applied using regular white glue; we're still fine tuning our skills on that front.

The second two photos show the first hill/mountain area that we're workng on.

Sept. 2008: Below are a few random snaps taken over the summer. I decided to completely redo the train room ceiling usinig a contoured PVC tile. The dimmable compact-flourescent lighting is recessed behind translucent tiles, which gives a nice light to work in and to show the trains.

I bit the bullet and purchased a Ross double crossover to replace the old Gargraves switches and Ross 11-degree crossing. It works flawlessly.

I've also begun work on the upper level, and the redesign of the control panel continues.

May 2008: We've made quite a bit of progress on the ACRR since the last update; we have trains running! We've been testing with three trains on the main line and one on the inner dogbone. I am finding that the old GarGraves 110 and 111 switches are simply not up to the task. The few Ross switches I've bought recently are much more reliable.

The control panel is largely wired, albeit with a temporary surface while I determine if I really like the configuration.

Beyond that, in my rather haphazard fashion, I've made my own latex rock molds and have cast some rocks. I hope to start experimenting with scenery techniques in the next few weeks.

Below are some recent photos of the trains, train room and my trusty assistants.

Oct. 2007: Construction of the subroadbed and roadbed is well underway. I've started placing a few buildings and façades to get an idea of what the layout will look like for real. Computer-aided design will only get you so far when it comes to 3D visualization.

The first car to grace the layout is the TCA Members Group hopper. I've also included some photos of the turntable and underlying mechanics for Charlie of the TCAMG.

June 2007: Construction of the main benchwork grid. Note our crack team of construction experts. Click on any thumbnail to get a larger image.

Click here to see an animation of the benchwork construction.

May 2007: These photos show the new train room, which is painted in PRR Tuscan red with gold five stripe. The backdrop was painted with a combination of airbrush, paint brush and sponges, with the initial sky blue done with a roller.

The Old ACRR (2000-06)

May 2006: Just before the layout was taken down.

The photos below show developments in 2005: catenary on the two main lines; new mountains; a new siding; warehouse advertising etc.

These are some even earlier photos of the old layout.

Finally, click here for the Pennington layout (~1995-2000).

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Animated spinning top courtesy of Webpromotion - 3D Web Animation.