April 25, 2019 to February 6, 2021 – This post will probably be done in several installments, but I thought it would be prudent to document the work done this year since some progress on the ore dock has been made. It is a long way from completion. On April 25, 2019 I acquired myContinue reading “Rebuilding the Ore Dock – Part One”
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Designing Ore Operations on the Layout
July 2, 2021 – Uncle Heavy’s Ore Lines is a model railroad located in Gary, Indiana. It is set in 1963 (the year taconite pellets began shipping from the Groveland Mine) in Dickinson County, Michigan. The model features ore and freight operations on the Chicago and North Western (CNW) and the Milwaukee Road (MILW). SinceContinue reading “Designing Ore Operations on the Layout”
Stayin’ Alive!
Installing a SoundTraxx Current Keeper II on a 2014 Athearn Genesis GP7 Locomotive Pictures from June 9 thru June 28, 2021 I was inspired by a discussion on the Proto-Layouts Group.io site regarding the addition of a keep alive circuit on DCC equipped locomotives. The track work at the Niagara paper mill on my layoutContinue reading “Stayin’ Alive!”
Traversing the Water Heater
Photos from January 16 and 17, 2021 This project actually happened concurrently with the construction of the ore yard. The most difficult benchwork of the entire layout was required in order to allow four tracks to pass around the back of the water heater and on to points east and south on the railroad. TheContinue reading “Traversing the Water Heater”
Building the Ore Yard
Photos from November 25, 2020 to January 15, 2021 With the platform for the ore dock complete, it was time to address the benchwork and track that would connect the ore line at Felch Jct. to the dock itself. This trackage would need to traverse the hidden areas behind the water heater (more on thatContinue reading “Building the Ore Yard”
Building the Ore Dock Benchwork
Photos from November 21-25, 2020 Now that the walls were complete around the heater and water heater, it was time to figure out how the ore dock would relate to the rest of the railroad and to the room. When the layout is complete, the ore dock will be the focal point when guests enterContinue reading “Building the Ore Dock Benchwork”
Hiding the Water Heater
Pictures from November 2020 I believe the framing around the heater and water heater was completed sometime in 2016. It took more than four years to get the drywall up, but here we are with a clean slate. This part of the railroad is the ore yard which is really an approach to the oreContinue reading “Hiding the Water Heater”
Progress Toward Escanaba
10 October 2020 – Some focused time with the benchwork and control panel In an unexpected turn of events, my full-time employment ended as part of a reduction in force. This yielded some uninterrupted time to work on the layout for the past month and progress improved tremendously. Benchwork and a brand new control panelContinue reading “Progress Toward Escanaba”
Quinnesec -Details, Details
29 JULY 2020 – More paint and a test fit to the layout The past five days have seen the water feature and hydro electric plant begin to take on their final appearance. I did not like the cement piers that I made out of foam. They did not look convincing and detracted from theContinue reading “Quinnesec -Details, Details”
Quinnesec – Cyclone Fence
23 JUL 2020 – Fabricating the Cyclone fence around the power distribution equipment The Walthers kit that was used to build the power distribution includes materials for a Cyclone fence to surround the equipment. The fence is made to enclose the entire kit and I’m only using a third of it or so. The otherContinue reading “Quinnesec – Cyclone Fence”
Uncle Heavy's Michigan Ore Lines 