HD video: Very realistic model railroad with awful track .wmv

The footage shows awful track - that works! - on a model railroad featuring 90's era CSX. Two main segments are shown - handlaid yard trackage, and a mainline attempt at realistic jointed rail.

The layout is a small one on an outdoor porch, so when you hear the sound of crickets in the mix, that is actually real. All of the trackage, scenery, equipment, and weathering was last worked on some 6 years ago, when I was in my teens.

The layout has actually been dormant for 6 years with stuff stored on top and cats sleeping on the foliage. I revived it to take a record of the best portions. Most of the yard tracks are handlaid n-scale rail on tiny wooden ties, with ample kinks.

The yard lead and siding are even more deliberately designed to cause trouble. I put cardboard shims under the middle 30' ft. of each scale 40' ft section of rail, and then spiked the joints down to create the characteristic bowed effect of poorly maintained jointed rail. You'll notice that this is done with N-scale rail on a curved piece of track that heads into a curve switch - I have no idea how the trains stay on the track! The joints are more pronounced on the siding track shown at the end of the video, which is laid with cut 40'scale code 83 rail laid on plastic ties.

I intended to film the manifest leaving and some more switching, but ran out of time. Hopefully next time I visit I can capture some more. This video is incredibly misleading about the overall railroad, though, as it is really the only portion with scenery and that is compromised by lack of background and narrow benchwork. The rest of the railroad is mostly code 100 track and even snap track, with a few other segments of barely operable weedy branchline track.

Finally, the sound is taken from my own rail videos. Much of it is actually from a remarkably similar video of a decrepit branchline in Richmond, VA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qoz7pzaQOQs
Oddly, I created this modeled segment years before I knew about the branchline! The mainline sound is a little bit more of a stretch, since I can't even remember seeing B40-8's on a mainline freight.

Category:

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Tags:

• model
• modeling
• railroad
• train
• toy
• trains
• arts
• crafts
• CSX
• branchline
• derailment

[VAtransportation]

@shityname5 - the GP40-2 and B40's are Atlas, the SD60 is Life-Like, and the SD40-2 is a custom painted Athearn shell without much detailing.

@nawrock - I stuck pieces of thin cardboard under the middle of each rail, lengthwise, and when the joints are spiked down they will dip since they are not elevated.

@green66vw - if you mean the scale of the rail, I didn't determine it. My Dad has an N scale layout, and I just thought it might look good as light rail.

[VAtransportation]

Thanks for all the comments. I have another video of similar trackwork and modeling that just needs editing...

[VAtransportation]

Pitairbusboy -It's very much trial and error. All the yard trackage still uses fish plates to join the rail, and very few segments lost contact even after several years of disuse. For those that did, usually moving it around moved enough gunk to regain contact. If not, I'll dremel the unseen part of the joint and solder a connection. Also, the swtiches were spiked shut to carry current, but with work that could be overcome. Finally, the engines track surprisingly well because of their weight.

[ussoldierrail]

@ussoldierrail By the way that is pure incredible work on the jointed rail and the "thinnes" of it! Love it. that had to take some serious talnet and some even more serious work. never have I seen anything that looks that real. A lot of people try but none get this far on the mark!

[ussoldierrail]

@ussoldierrail I love the super detaling during that period as now most class ones dont have anything that looks that bad, ect NS yards which a lot are real shit holes. In bad areas. please feel free to enjoy our web site and enjoy the pics as you would like too. toledoOHindependnetrailfan @ photobucket. we are christians and share all our hobby and rail fan group with others. I ask only prayer god bless you. Keep up the great work

[ussoldierrail]

@VAtransportation Great work and god bless ya brother. Very nice. A bit much on the weathering but hey each to there own. It looks like some poor short line RR not CSX. Mydad and uncles worked for CSX and I never saw anything that bad on the system up here but I am sure there is somewhere. Cool becuse in the 1970s and into the 1990s during the mergers and take overs a ,ot of the eastern RRs had shit hole operations. Deffered maintenance. Great layout.

[hottrodmike]

you gotta calm the fuck down on weathering... it all looks the same

[de232080]

I am EXTREMELY impressed with you layout. Fantastic work.

[tsheldon17]

WHAT SCALE  IS IT? HO,N,O,S,Z I HAVE HO

[tsheldon17]

THAT IS AWSOME!!! OK

[fatgirlfister]

The weathering is top notch. Be proud.

[SeberHusky]

Nah, this is just normal footage of DETROIT!

[rostbeefsndwich]

wow whatever company that owns those trains needs more money..... waaay too weathered