# New to the forums - My Pearl Valley Railroad



## Oboy Railroads (Feb 10, 2012)

Hello everyone,

Well my O Gauge layout called the Pearl Valley Railroad has been seen only by a few friends and my family. I don't have any model railroad friends really.

I keep a record of my progress of the layout on a Photo Bucket account, although it's public I don't get much traffic really which is fine by me.

So I thought I might let some other modelers see it. It has been an experiment to see how much railroad and detail I could get in an 18" depth and a 12 foot length. If I ever find myself having more room it could easily be expanded upon and incorporated into a larger layout.

If any are interested to see the PVRR you can click on this link:
http://photobucket.com/oboyrailroads

Thanks for any input

Jim


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## xrunner (Jul 29, 2011)

Very nice. Hopefully you can expand in the future. :thumbsup:


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Well, the first twelve feet look great!


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## Oboy Railroads (Feb 10, 2012)

Thank you - It's a completely different approach to layouts I have built in the past. An approach that I know most modelers don't do ie. cram everything together facing front, parallel to the track. I thought I'd go ahead and see what I could do with that approach anyway.

I just remember one day years ago standing trackside in an industrial area and looking each way sevaral hundred yards down track. The track was straight, industrial buildings crammed next to each other all facing front with loading docks and the like. It does exist in real life so I decided to model a section of a much larger scene rather than a complete railroad that tries to appear to go somewhere.

It's been fun to build.


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## raleets (Jan 2, 2011)

Looks to me like you're catching on PDQ! :thumbsup:
Bob


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

EXCELLENT use of building facades along your room wall. Very nice work. Do keep us posted on additional work!

TJ


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## Oboy Railroads (Feb 10, 2012)

Thank you guys. 

I probably enjoy building the facades more than entire buildings. Some of them are made with foamboard and balsa wood. I like brick buildings especially but admittedly loath making brick walls look like brick.

I love building architecture probably more than trains now (although without the trains the buildings would be meaningless). Since I left the HO scene in 2007 and moved into Lionel Trains I hardly ever do any type of model construction, painting and weathering with locomotives and rolling stock. With Lionel there really isn't an emphisis on that like the scale models and I'm content to stay away from micro modeling and small details that I dealt with in HO scale. Yet with the buildings I go gangbusters. I hung up my airbrush years ago and do everything by brush, masking and spray can.

I also have fun creating logos, billboards and signs on the computer. The company names are based on family members and my own musings.

Jim


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## Fighterpilot (Mar 16, 2011)

Great looking facades and that 12 ft. will be a great backdrop if you eventually expand your board into the room. I don't know if it will inhibit access to your tracks; but a very easy addition, which adds a lot of realism, is to place the electrical lines on your utility poles. I did just 4 lines, two on top crossbar and two on the bottom. Used elastic thread, so if you catch it when your moving things around, it doesn't pull over your poles.
Great work on the layout!


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## tooter (Feb 26, 2010)

Hey Oboy, 

That's a really neato shelf layout! 

Had you considered installing a mirror at each end. That would give the appearance of continuous extension beyond the actual boundaries. I have a Book about John Allen's legendary Gorre & Daphetid Railroad, and he made extensive use of mirrors to give the illusion of space. He positioned them so cleverly that it was hard to tell that they were there.

I also like that elevated HO track as it adds depth. :thumbsup:

Greg

Just an after thought... have you seen this site?

http://carendt.us/scrapbook/linkindex/index.html

Small Layout Scrapbook is a huge collection of micro layouts from all over the world.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Welcome to the site Jim.

Nice work.:thumbsup: Excellent!

Love the name Pearl Valley.
Was there ever a Pearl Valley RR?

Next 12 foot can be called Gold Nugget RR.:thumbsup:


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## Oboy Railroads (Feb 10, 2012)

> I don't know if it will inhibit access to your tracks; but a very easy addition, which adds a lot of realism, is to place the electrical lines on your utility poles. I did just 4 lines, two on top crossbar and two on the bottom. Used elastic thread, so if you catch it when your moving things around, it doesn't pull over your poles.


Hey Fighter Pilot, Yes I have given some consideration to stringing lines on the poles. One of my problems though is that everything on the layout can be removed and put back into place. On the right side of the layout there is the Pearl Citrus packing plant and a tunnel runs under it. Everything can be removed so I can access ther track in the tunnel. Only problem is that I also remove the telephone poles when I do this. The poles in that area though are tentative and they could be relocated or removed altogether should I ever decide to widen the layout. 

I hadn't given consideration to elastic thread as I didn't know there was such a thing. Thank you for the tip and you have given me something to think about. If the thread is elastic then removing poles with lines on them shouldn't be a problem as I can remount the poles and the lines wil just stretch back in place. I will look into it. Thank you!



> Had you considered installing a mirror at each end. That would give the appearance of continuous extension beyond the actual boundaries


.

Hey choo choo, That's a great idea. I have an old book printed in the 1950s from John Allen on how to scenic Model Railroads. It features him with the Gorre & Daphetid Railroad on the cover. The book was given to me back in 1979 when I first got started in HO by an old timer modeler. Well the wood end pieces are just a temporary thing. Truthfully I would like to extend both ends longer so I can create a run around track and make the main line a double track. I have even toyed with a reverse loop at the right end. My problem is two things: 1.) even though I have a large garage most of it is filled with crap that I can't easily dispense with. 2. I have a wife that although she appreciates my love of model railroading and is outwardly approving of the things I have accomplished with this layout, she tends to squawk and complain when I buy to much or expand things. She seems to feel that what I have is enough and growing bigger is a waste of money. She tends to get mad when I buy brand new lumber which is why my layout is built on recycled and scrap wood. Although buying brand new lumber for a house project is OK..... but yes mirrors would look great at some point. I hope to expand some more though. Just have to find some used wood first.

It was a conventional type of continuous run layout at one time, but I did some estimating of what it would cost me to fill it up and I eventually knew it wasn't going to fly in terms of finances. So I rebuilt it and took a more thrifty approach.




> I also like that elevated HO track as it adds depth


Yes I like it too. It's my first time to do that and it's something I had been wanting to do for a long time. It's left over Kato HO track that I used but the switcher and cars at the packing plant are On30 so technically still in scale. The little line does operate. I just recently installed a scenic backdrop on the left end of the layout that includes the use of an HO scale bridge and track but that little switcher and cars are static.



> Nice work. Excellent!
> 
> Love the name Pearl Valley.
> Was there ever a Pearl Valley RR?


Hi Big Ed, Well there was a Pearl River Valley Railroad that once existed. The Pearl River Valley Railroad was a shortline railroad that ran from Nicholson to Picayune, Mississippi. It began operation in 1917 and was abandoned in 2007. I didn't get any inspiration from that railroad as I didn't know it had existed until after I named my model railroad. There is also a Pearl Valley Golf Course in South Africa other than that as far I can see in internet searches there is nothing else with that name.

My wife's name is Pearl and I love my wife very much so I named the railroad Pearl Valley. That's the one thing she really likes about the model railroad. My wife is a great woman and she is from the Philippines. In the Philippines model railroading is almost non existant. Having anything model railroad even what we would consider low end and cheap here in the states would be considered a rich man's toy in the Philippines. That's why my wife sometimes gets on my case about expenditures for the Pearl Valley. Having something like I have in the Philippines would be extremely extravagent and wealthy. Few there would waste their money on such a thing. Most people are just too poor to ever have a cheap toy train set of any kind... which is why I get Flak sometimes for buying things... it's a cultural thing partly. The Pearl Valley is 50% recycled, 30% built on the cheap and 20% bought brand new. That has a lot to do with how it's designed and why it's a shelf type layout. 

Thank you for all your feedback. I pretty muched finished up on adding a backdrop to the left end of the layout. It's mostly recycled stuff too. You can see it on the photobucket account under the sub album "3- Building the PVRR" but here are a few pics of that project of it as it is now.


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## wolfeinmane (Feb 8, 2012)

Nice street scene Oboy, well done. It will create a lot of interest for visitors. MR had a fairly recent cover that displayed an awesome super detailed city street with track line down the middle. One of my favorite scenes to model.


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## Oboy Railroads (Feb 10, 2012)

Thanks wolfeinmane - A few people who have seen it have commented "It doesn't go anywhere, that's not much fun" I just reply that a train running around in circles doesn't go anywhere either. So yes calling it a scene is more accurate.

But as it is the inspiration for building it as a scene section rather than a whole layout is from watching as a kid the old Santa Fe GP switchers in my area run up and down, back and forth on these industrial side tracks breaking up cuts of cars and pushing them to the various delivery points. Those Geeps never went anywhere either, not more than a mile down track but what they were doing was the primary purpose of railroads and railroad action, shipping and receiving.

One other possibility I have considered is to build a large frame work big enough to hold a large 5' X 16' double track oval in the middle of the garage, pull the PVRR away from the wall, mount it on one side of the frame and build another scene on the back side with a divider backdrop in the middle. So point A is Pearl Valley and point B is somewhere else on the opposite side. That way there is still the continuous run aspect people expect as well as point to point.

If only money, time and space was as endless as the imagination... Oh well.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Cool layout for sure. Shelf layouts are my favorite. The wife thing sounds familar.
It don't matter where they are from. Mine always says I have enough train stuff.
I also like the name of your road. I think "on the cheap" is much more rewarding.
Thanks for showing your work. Very nice.


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

Correct me if I'm wrong.....but you've been here before, haven't you, only as "O-boy"?

http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=6488&highlight=pearl

Nice layout BTW


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## seabilliau (Dec 12, 2011)

Wonderful shelf scene. Have you thought of adding a fiddle yard?


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## THE TYCO MAN (Aug 23, 2011)

Very nicely done! I like the urbaness of it!


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

sstlaure said:


> Correct me if I'm wrong.....but you've been here before, haven't you, only as "O-boy"?
> 
> http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=6488&highlight=pearl
> 
> Nice layout BTW



Good work detective sstlaure.:thumbsup:

I thought something looked familiar.


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## Oboy Railroads (Feb 10, 2012)

Yikes!...

I had signed up on the Model Railroad forums early last year and some other forum of which I didn't recall at the time I apparantly re-signed up here.

Due to a back injury in May of last year I haven't been active with my trains or any forums for about 9 or 10 months. I checked my saved favorites on my PC and all I had was the Model Railroad forum. Now that I see that link I realize that this was the other forum! I kept thinking the other one was the O Gauge Scale Train forums I had signed up on.

Oh Man.... Well my apologies guys. That's kind of embarassing. I'm 47 does this mean I'm at the beginnings of having senior moments?

I guess the other user name could be deleted by the moderator. Hope nobody thinks I up to no good. I even wrote about coming back to work on my trains recently on my blog I started this January http://bolotieguy.wordpress.com/

Jim


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

Believe me....I know how easy it is to forget a user name, etc. I had specifically remembered reading your previous posts about the Pearl Valley.


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## Oboy Railroads (Feb 10, 2012)

Well I guess that means for some of you here I have been completely redundant.  Thanks for remembering the PVRR though.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Oboy Railroads said:


> I guess the other user name could be deleted by the moderator. Jim


What was your other user name ???

TJ


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

tjcruiser said:


> What was your other user name ???
> 
> TJ


O-boy was the username


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Oboy Railroads said:


> Well I guess that means for some of you here I have been completely redundant.  Thanks for remembering the PVRR though.



O boy did you screw up!

Don't worry about it.

TJ ,will fix it right up.


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## Oboy Railroads (Feb 10, 2012)

> O boy did you screw up!


Yup... pretty much :laugh:

You know when I first got on some of those railroad forums I was just "O-Boy" but after I started my photo bucket thing I started using "Oboy Railroads" on stuff as I like the sound of that better. I think if I had tried to sign up here again as O-Boy the process probably would have let me know I already was here as a user.

Aye que loco!...... Just call me "O Brother!"


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

big ed said:


> TJ ,will fix it right up.


Yeah, but I don't know how. Seriously.

How would a Mod delete one user (other than the Spam decimator), without adversely affecting any other user associated with the same I.P. address?



TJ


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## Oboy Railroads (Feb 10, 2012)

Maybe just let it go. I don't want to use the old username anyway. Even if I wanted to manipulate things, which I wouldn't do and try to use two usernames on this forum, they are essentially identical in name so it's pretty obvious who I am now.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Sounds like a plan...

*Here-ye, here-ye ... from this moment, henceforth and forthwith, they name "O-boy" shall not be spoken nor written throughout the land. Those who dare sayeth thy name shall be hissed at, booed, and given ye ol' hairy-eyeball dirty looks.

Consider this PROCLAMATION here issued for all to heed.*

(How's that?!?)

TJ


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

tjcruiser said:


> Sounds like a plan...
> 
> *Here-ye, here-ye ... from this moment, henceforth and forthwith, they name "O-boy" shall not be spoken nor written throughout the land. Those who dare sayeth thy name shall be hissed at, booed, and given ye ol' hairy-eyeball dirty looks.
> 
> ...


"O-boy" "O-boy" "O-boy" "O-boy" "O-boy" "O-boy" "O-boy"
"O-boy" "O-boy" "O-boy" "O-boy" "O-boy" "O-boy" "O-boy"

Sorry, I couldn't resist.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Throw Ed into the dungeon with the rats and a bucket of gruel!


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

tjcruiser said:


> throw ed into the dungeon with the rats and a bucket of gruel!



What?


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

tjcruiser said:


> Yeah, but I don't know how. Seriously.
> 
> How would a Mod delete one user (other than the Spam decimator), without adversely affecting any other user associated with the same I.P. address?
> 
> ...


I believe that's typically an admin function on most vB installations, it's rare to give mods that power.


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## wolfeinmane (Feb 8, 2012)

What's in a name.......I'm 56 oboy, the senior moments just keep on coming. If I find the bathroom in the morning, and then find the coffee pot, it's a great day. If you have kids, just wait till they say, "Dad you already told me where you're putting the yard 5 times." 

Then there's the physical ailments. There's a few of us that play cards once a month, all about the same age, and we sound like a darn movie for goodness sakes. "You waking up with numb hands?" "Oh yeah been going on for years" "Really? I thought I was just sleeping on them" "How about your feet, do you....." Sounds like a bunch of old ladies...rofl


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## Oboy Railroads (Feb 10, 2012)

> Here-ye, here-ye ... from this moment, henceforth and forthwith, they name "O-boy" shall not be spoken nor written throughout the land. Those who dare sayeth thy name shall be hissed at, booed, and given ye ol' hairy-eyeball dirty looks.
> 
> Consider this PROCLAMATION here issued for all to heed.


*Hail Sir Cruiser!..... Now did you seal that with wax and your signet ring? *

You know what my biggest problem is wolfeinmane and it seems like it's gotten worse is losing my darn tools. I mean I can understand if I'm all over the yard and house and set something down and forget where I put it but when I'm in the garage working on the train layout, all I have is my little work area and the layout. I'll use an exacto knife for example and then a minute later I want to use it again and it's gone. I mean I don't find it for a couple days gone. I have to use another one. Then it pops up a few days later. That just happend to my tweezers last night. 

No it's not me it's Gremlins... yeah that's really what it is.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Oboy Railroads said:


> *Hail Sir Cruiser!..... Now did you seal that with wax and your signet ring? *
> 
> You know what my biggest problem is wolfeinmane and it seems like it's gotten worse is losing my darn tools. I mean I can understand if I'm all over the yard and house and set something down and forget where I put it but when I'm in the garage working on the train layout, all I have is my little work area and the layout. I'll use an exacto knife for example and then a minute later I want to use it again and it's gone. I mean I don't find it for a couple days gone. I have to use another one. Then it pops up a few days later. That just happend to my tweezers last night.
> 
> No it's not me it's Gremlins... yeah that's really what it is.



To a certain extent I think that happens to most of us.

I have still not found some items!:laugh:

I use glasses just to read and work on modeling. I buy the three packs of cheap reading glasses, I will be working on something and take them off and they are gone.
A year later I found one.:laugh:

A trick is to work out of a box and carry it around with you if you use something put it back in the box. It will always be there.
IF YOU PUT IT IN THE BOX.


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## Conductorjoe (Dec 1, 2011)

Nice scene you built there. :thumbsup:

As far as losing stuff? I never lose anything, then last week those same grmelins stole my Mascot scale ruler. Cannot find it anywhere. They ran off with it. I could have swore I put it back in the box


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Conductorjoe said:


> Nice scene you built there. :thumbsup:
> 
> As far as losing stuff? I never lose anything, then last week those same grmelins stole my Mascot scale ruler. Cannot find it anywhere. They ran off with it. I could have swore I put it back in the box



That is why I stressed, YOU HAVE TO PUT IT IN THE BOX.

And if you loose the box then you really need help.:laugh:


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## wolfeinmane (Feb 8, 2012)

Oh lord, that's nothing. I was measuring and cutting up the foam base for the new city scene area yesterday, and the pencil hid from me....had to be....since I walked from the sawhorses, to the layout and back, and it was gone. I spent 4-5 minutes finding it.

And don't get me started on glasses, I worked as a CAD designer for many years and I now need my bifocals, and an additional second pair because the average person sits about 24 inches from their monitor.

Just call me wolfe...or you can call me Ray, but ya doesn't have to call me Johnson.


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## wolfeinmane (Feb 8, 2012)

I have been really impressed lately with the yard layout in Lynn Westcott's 101 Track Plans, number 79. The way the main curves around the roundhouse, and the lead in for the turntable is pretty cool, any thoughts?


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## Oboy Railroads (Feb 10, 2012)

I like it. 

I actually prefer the use of buildings, and other structures as a means to allow a train to disappear from view rather than mountains and tunnels. Except for the largest layouts or the smallest scales most times a mountain / tunnel is usually shoved abruptly in a corner for the train to pop in and out. A nice big round house for a train to arc around when viewed from the operating pit is esthetically pleasing and also the track is exposed for maintenance and cleaning.

Heck of a yard too. Lots of turnouts to maintain.

For those who may not have Linn Westcott's book here is a thumbnail gallery link where #79 can be found. There is no enlargement feature so you might have to enlarge your browser view to at least 200%

http://www.trainplayer.com/Site3/FeaturePages/101_gallery.html


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## New Berlin RR (Feb 11, 2012)

nice pictures! I like what your have done!


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## wolfeinmane (Feb 8, 2012)

*Yard*



Oboy Railroads said:


> I like it.
> 
> I actually prefer the use of buildings, and other structures as a means to allow a train to disappear from view rather than mountains and tunnels. Except for the largest layouts or the smallest scales most times a mountain / tunnel is usually shoved abruptly in a corner for the train to pop in and out. A nice big round house for a train to arc around when viewed from the operating pit is esthetically pleasing and also the track is exposed for maintenance and cleaning.
> 
> ...


I totally agree, using buildings to have trains pop in and out, run between, really adds depth and dimension to the layout. And your comment about poorly placed tunnels is spot on. 

You mean there are actually people in this hobby that don't have that book?!!  I couldn't find mine once and I ran right out and bought another copy!


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