Quanah, Acme and Pacific (QA&P) - West Texas - Fictitious Model Railroad Layout Agriculture Industry

Nice and spacious. I’m jealous.

 

When you model western scenery, there's got to be some space. There are some more structures I want to build but I don't want the layout cluttered. It poses a completely different problem than what most people encounter.

 

Yes, you have to leave things off that you might want. I have nine buildings on my entire 50’ long layout. And it’s still too crowded for me. You need stretches of track with nothing around it.

 

We had a visitor on the QA&P today...

 

I relaid part of my layout, using Kato Uni track like you have on your layout. I had painted the previous track l had removed and found operation to have issues here and there after I did it. So I am ambivalent about painting this track even though it looks so much better when it is.

I see that you never painted your Unitrak, just left it as it comes, applying scenery right up to the integral road bed. I was wondering if you ever had tried painting any of it or if you declined to do it for any particular reason. Right now my operation on my Unitrack is flawless, especially compared to the Brand X track that had been there before.

 

Patrick, I actually did weather most of the track roadbed. If you look carefully, you will see that it is quite a bit darker than standard Kato track. On some of it I even painted the sides of the rails (only the sides you see). The painting is such a pain that I still need to do lots of it. I've seen no issues with operation from the painting.

Additionally, the scenery at the edge of the track is tall enough that it hides some of the roadbed height. The Kato roadbed is too tall for my liking, so I used a fairly thick layer of sculptamold at the edge of the track in most places to mask some of the inherent roadbed height.

Some of my sidings are also Unitrack. I built up the adjacent scenery to completely obviate the roadbed height. Attached are a few more photos to show what you can do to make it look a little better. In the MOW yard photo, the top two tracks in the photo are unitrack that have scenery built up to the level of the ballast. In the 2-6-6-2 photo, the railsides are painted on that portion of the layout.

Grade crossings are easy to do. Use some switch ties and glue them to the Kato ties using contact cement. They are the right height for the railtops if you use them with the 7" side in the vertical plane just like ties are laid in real life (or were before concrete came along). leave some space for flangeways and build up the roadway a little on each side, and it makes a credible grade crossing.

In the final photo with the two Espee passenger trains, all three tracks are Unitrack.

 

p.s. If you're careful, you can even cut the roadbed off with a dremel tool to make bridges and culverts. I really wanted more bridges, but the semi-flat west TX scenery, along with my flat track plan and tabletop benchwork didn't lend itself to my ideal. Maybe someday I'll tear up some of it and redo it to add a little more interest.

 

Oops...attached the wrong photo. Here's the shot of the culvert.

 

I love that 2-6-6-2! That is great looking model!

 

A friend built and painted that for me. I've always liked 2-6-6-2's and had a PFM Sierra RR model sitting in the box, so he turned it into a "Friscoesque" 2-6-6-2 and painted and lettered it for the QA&P. Attached are a couple of more shots of it.

 

Found the thread that discussed the build of the 2-6-6-2:

http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index.php?threads/qa-p-2-6-6-2.12108/

 

So what’s the story about the 2-8-0?

 

Which 2-8-0?

 

Patrick, can I come over and play trains?

 

the Santa Fe one in the recent series of photos, in from of a depot. Not a Bachman , apparently, maybe a brass engine.

please ID the depot also too. I I like it and I’d like to get one.

 

Haha I don’t have much of a layout, anyone would be bored.

 

The photos of the 2-6-6-2 are on mixed gauge track with ballast applied. is that an earlier layout or somebody else’s layout?

 

Part of the existing layout--the Colorado part of the layout.

 

My bad...I forgot that I had even taken any photos with that locomotive on the track. That's a Hallmark / Goto built ex Orient Line 2-8-0 that went to the ATSF when they bought the Orient Line in 1926ish. It was originally something like a NYC 2-8-0. Since it's not originally a Santa Fe locomotive, it's not real popular with ATSF modelers. But it's a fantastic locomotive. Just about everything Goto built was great.

The depot is a laser kit of the Cumbres depot on what is now the Cumbres & Toltec but used to be part of the D&RGW Narrow Gauge Line. Here are some more photos of it. I'd attach photos of the 2-8-0 but can't find any.