The Highlander

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CEO D K Darcey
City, Country Grants Pass
State/Prov OR
Scale
HO  
Name of Layout The Highlander

I jokingly put the blame on my wife (Kris) for starting this phobia with the trains when she bought me a wonderful little Rivarossi Heisler Engine for my birthday June of 03 Shortly after that my Cousin Gene Jones came along with all these ideas & knowledge to share,as well as he has given me some very nice little brass engines such as the 2-6-0 , 4-6-2 , 4-6-0 , 0-6-0 , the 2-6-6-2 ,4-8-2 and the little union pacific switcher of which all these can be seen in various pictures , my oldest son Mike has bought quite a few things for the layout as well, and it's been total addiction since.The one thing I told my self from the beginning is model R.R. is like most other activities,It can become competative,One should always appreciate the level they are at, and not put down others R.R. as for it all starts as a pastime or hobby,and if one looks hard enough you can find fault with any layout; Or, even a good idea you can apply to your own :) Most important; Just have fun. ( 1-13-08 ) I would like to say Thank You to all those who have contacted me and allowed me the privelege of sharing with them what my cousin Gene has shared with me. And which has drawn me so deep into the wonderful hobby of model Rail Roading. I hope that I will always be able to have something to share and Pay Forward with others. I would also like to say Thank You to Reb Stout for allowing me to continuously add pages to his site. May every one have fun and enjoy this hobby as much as I do !!!
My layout is made entirely from styrofoam. I purchased 4x8 sheets x 2" thick. From bottom to top there are 14 layers glued together using hot glue gun or contact cement. I also have created some of the mountian areas from spray foam in a can, Then did stock removal with the dremel and grinding tools to form the terrain.Some of the buildings such as the mine,saloon,and track side switch house had an inner structure of styrofoam then covered with lumber siding, then hollowed out.

All my trees are hand made from rope,floral wire, cedar shakes, air fern,and furnace filter,with the exception of the oak trees: My buildings & the long support wall behind the HighLand businesses with the rock (stone)appearance are made from balsa wood and then tooled with a dremel, each stone is individualy painted.

I will try and keep some progresive photos as I go on changes to the layout,there are many pictures of the layout when I first started plus any photos that I delete from here will be posted at our website at claytimeceramics.net ,It will open up to a new Home page I have created called the HighLander and L.C.& L. R.R.'s Just follow the links from there .Be sure and check out all three pages so you can see the sections of layout when it was just raw styrofoam and what it looks like now.I had an 8x12 layout back in the early 80's and worked with plywood and the good ole paper machete boy what a difference this is . There are also some short clips I have been having a little fun with at the iron horses link :)

Be sure and check out my cousins site I built for his lay out on the new home page, the L.C.& L.R.R. check out all his pages : He has a lot of interesting history which you can read at pages of Gene . I have started a slide show that is at the Doug's trains link then - In The Begining link bar check it out, I will be updating it. I have just added a new page to the Highlander web site. Its called Ride The Highlander Go to Dougs Trains and then click on train ride ,its cool,a miniature camera mounted on the train, All done in black and white old time effect to try and fit the erra of time. I kept the clips small so hopefully they dont take to long to load .

Butt Whiskers Community.jpg
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tower update3.jpg
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latest_overall_2.jpg
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Layout Size Layout is on a 6' x 12' Rollable Island
Feet of track 150 ap  feet
Era & Place 1950s - keeping it alive-steam branch's for logging, mining, tourism, light freight
Control type sound & power 7000 - tech 3 power comand
Prototype Freelanced
Contact dkdarcey@hotmail.com
URL http://thehighlanderandlclrailroads.com
Miles Track (perceived) 20  miles
Motive Power - Steam 14
Motive Power - Diesel 1
Trolleys, RailCars, Other 2
Rolling Stock 43
Mines, Oil Fields, Rail Yards owned 4
Buildings & Structures owned 24
Employees & Local figures 52
Trestles & Tunnels 17
Vehicles & Heavy Equipment owned 14
more detail & people5.jpg
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whig wahm detail2.jpg
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Sun Set.jpg
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latest_overall.jpg
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I began this project in the spring of 2003,it's now August 2nd. 2006 and I'm still working on it. It is a freelance R.R. that I drempt up in my head and put down on paper then on the board.There many places on the layout that come from memory of things seen throughout life,such as the shed at Rusty's is from working in a mill for twenty years and memories of the sheds that were used to store the lumber in,or the narrow old bridge crossing over to the Highland businesses,memories of old logging bridges that were just logs fallen across raveines and lashed together with cables then planked for something to drive on. The hardest part was achieving the 3% grade on the 220 degree turn,once again all done with circumferance and 3" in 100" figures, all hand cut and sanded out ,,no pre-cut styrofoam. It is on a 6'x12' island that is on wheels and shares the garage with our car,

.2-17-06 back to work on the scenery :)Well okay it's 3-24-06 ,been having fun working on a pond and a new hill on one end of the board,my cousin gave me a small blue backdrop and I have retaken some pictures using it ,kinda fun...There is so much on the layout that isn't finished ,,,so always keep that in mind while looking at the layout as a whole ;if it doesn't look done it's not,, thats why it's such a great hobby :).

The main thing I am trying to do now is eliminate the effects ( appearance ) caused from the existing 4x8 layout, which you can see in some of the pictures from before I added the 2 ft. extention around the lower outside of the board.The last re-vamp I have just done allows for all three lines to interchange with one another with a simple procedure,this is shown in the pictures I have posted of the long side of the lay out torn apart and then re-done in hard rock shale type appearance,this side of the lay out has three lift out panels for access to the unseen part of the inner line just in case we have a problem

The Heisler belonging to Grizzly Ridge Logging brings a run of loaded log cars to the top of the switch back leading to the turn table then stages the cars then returns to the logging, area, at this point the Climax has made a long journey up from the mill to claim its right to haul the load down from the Highlands. At this point the Climax will break and reassemble the train through the use of the turn table to the inner line then upon the completion it will hook up to all the cars to journey back down the inner line which then connects to the outer line of the Lowlands to complete the delivery of the logs needed at the mill.

Then returning the empty cars through reverse process to Grizzly Ridge Logging. My goal that I am trying to achieve is to create the look of a small struggling community in the highlands where times are hard ,and money is very tight, But the spirits are high and everyone knows when the rails are running so nobody thinks twice to stop a train on the line out front of the saloon after a hard days work to have an ice cold drink and shoot a game of pool then head on home before doing it again the next day

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I have many more pictures of my lay out from the begining at our website www.claytimeceramics.net. then click on the Highlander link in the upper left corner then layout pictures, Be sure to check out all three pages, I have also built a website for my cousins lay out at L.C.L.R.R. The pictures that I have had here and deleted of progressive changes to my lay out are at this web site : these are at the website listed above , then follow the pages ( Buttons)I also have been having some fun with making some short movies of my different trains running. 8-16-06 Im getting ready to create some new terrain on the layout with foam insulation - I will get some photos as I go on this one
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