Construction underway!

Gemma and I headed out to Charles Ro yesterday to see if there was a structure or two I could get started with. 

I had called ahead and spoke to a very friendly guy, and he actually sought me out at the store when he recognized my voice! Unfortunately, though, he didn't turn out to be that knowledgeable. But at this point, I'll take friendly over expertly any day.

So after a bit of browsing in the HO structures section, I decided on a Walthers plastic kit - Aunt Lucy's House. It's a cute little Victorian, just the sort that you see outside towns in Vermont, or right down the road here in Arlington. It was actually the only structure I saw that fit the bill, so I was glad we found it! 

I also got some glue (Testors - it seems that the liquid glue I'd used on my Z-Scale stuff can melt the facade off if you're not careful! no wonder I had so many mishaps at 220-1...), an X-acto knife, and a couple starter books.

One of the books has good instructions about weathering a plastic structure, so I'll need to find the paints to do that before I start building. I also want to add some skylights to the roof, and maybe some solar panels as well.

A couple interesting tram resources

Here are a couple potential tram resources:

• Light Rail Products
• Trolleyville

I called Charles Ro just now, and the helpful chappie said they got modern trams every once in a while, including a Boeing one from IHC.

Space for layout

Here's the space I have available for the layout. It covers an area of 48in X 80in. Not bad, right? Except that there's a seriously slopey ceiling that starts at one wall, about 27 inches from the floor.

So I'll only get to use the entire space if I put the the layout 12 inches above the floor - which is impractical for a thousand reasons.

It probably makes sense to build some mountains into the most constrained side, and send the train through a tunnel there. I was also thinking it probably makes the most sense to put the layout on rollers of some sort so I can pull it out to work on.

It might also be nice to have some scenery painted on the surrounding walls.

Ultimately, there's probably some potential for nice lighting, since I've got a good amount of overhead space, at least on one side.

Inspiration: Portland Streetcar

In many ways (particularly relating to cycling), Portland Oregon is a great model for what a sustainable city should be. It ranked

Its streetcar system is exactly what I'd like to include in Altonville. Here are some details about it, from http://www.portlandstreetcar.org/history.php.

The Portland Streetcar was designed to fit the scale and traffic patterns of the neighborhoods through which it travels. Streetcar vehicles, manufactured by Skoda-Inekon in Plzen of the Czech Republic, are 2.46 meters (about 8 feet) wide and 20 meters long (about 66 feet), about 10 inches narrower and 1/3 the length of a MAX (TriMet’s light rail system) double car train. They run in mixed traffic and, except at platform stops, accommodate existing curbside parking and loading. The Portland Streetcar is owned and operated by the City of Portland. During construction, neighborhood disruption was minimized. A unique shallow 12-inch deep track slab design reduced the construction time and utility relocations. Maneuverability of the shorter and narrower Skoda vehicles has allowed the 8-foot wide track slab to be fitted to existing grades, limiting the scope of street and sidewalk reconstruction.

Portland Streetcar
Originally uploaded by Fußgänger

Here's a photo of a Portland streetcar. If only I could find one in HO Scale!

New Urbanism in Altonville

I've been intersted in New Urbanism for ages, now I intend to put it into use in Altonville. Essentially, this is a recent development in town planning that seeks to make communities more liveable and more sustainable.

There are 10 Principles of New Urbanism, and I intend for Altonville to support all of them:

1. Walkability - The town center will be free of cars, and a tram system will ultimately provide access to all corners of the town
   
2. Connectivity - There will be a wide range of transport options, including the tram, bike paths, and a rail link into the City; streets will be arranged on a grid system, with few dead-ends or cul-de-sacs (to the degree that this is practical in the confined space of the model!)
   
3. Mixed Use & Diversity - Retail, office, and residential facilities will be prevalent throughout the town center
   
4. Mixed Housing - Freestanding houses, apartments, and live-work lofts will be available; I also expect to have more modest housing available
   
5. Quality Architecture & Urban Design - While the legacy of a typical American small town will be the foundation of the architecture, new elements will fit well, and public art will be displayed throughout significant public spaces
   
6. Traditional Neighborhood Structure - Highest densities of business, public facilities, and housing will be in the town center
   
7. Increased Density - The concentration of facilities in the center will help accomplish this, underscored by the higher density of the Mill
   
8. Smart Transportation - The combination of pedestrian, bike, and public transport will virtually eliminate the need for personal cars
   
9. Sustainability - This will be achieved through local production of food, a visible recycling program, use of alternative energies (wind turbines & solar), and energy-saving measures like green rooftop technologies
   
10. Quality of Life - The public facilities (also including a campground and watersports), thriving public spaces, and inclusive local government will help to ensure this

Altonville as a model railroad

This project will not represent the epitome of the typical model railroader's interests. It seems that most American model railroaders prefer to re-create days gone by, with particular concentration on the 1940s & 50s, and the earlier Steam era. I suppose this is fair enough if you're really interested in trains.

I like trains as much as the next guy (okay, probably a lot more), but I intend to concentrate on what could be, not what was. This seems to be particularly interesting in the context of model railroading because lots of the heavy industries that many model railroading enthusiasts delight in creating have contributed so much in causing the economic and ecological mess that we're in now.

That said, I do hope that this project will intrigue some enthusiastic model railroaders. I've already solicited advice from the HORailroading Yahoo Group and these folks have been very friendly and helpful so far.

Despite my more recent experience with Marklin's Miniclub (Z scale) line, I'm going to go with HO scale for this endeavor. Partly because there's more available in this larger scale, and partly because the anything smaller (I did consider N) will limit my ability to hand-craft tiny cyclists & such.

As I'm thinking about it now, the railroading component of this project will probably only consist of a loop around the periphery, with a turnout for the passenger station in town, and maybe a switching yard in the second phase. Ironically, I guess, for a model railroad, I will include a couple defunct train lines that have been converted into bike paths.

But I'd really like to include a modern tram system to link the center of town with park & ride facilities and offices outside of the center - but there doesn't seem to be anything available in any scale! Don't quite know what to do about this one.

Welcome to Altonville

First of all, "Altonville" is the working title of the town I'm going to model in this project. Alton was my dad's middle name (and his dad's first name), and he was a big model railroader for a bit. We'll use it for a while and see if it sticks.

In the meantime, I'm going to use this blog (called Andrew's Attic because that's where the layout will go, at least initially, and I didn't want to be saddled with a town name that I'd want to change later) to keep track of ideas, inspirations, and plans.

Here's my latest thinking:

About the town

• The town will be modern era
• It will be a defunct mill town that's undergone a rigorous regeneration
• Architecture will be a combination of turn-of-the-century small-town retail, victorian/colonial medium-density housing, with live-work spaces in a converted mill
• The town is now exemplary sustainable community

Transport & access

• It is within commuting distance of a major city
• It will be served by a commuter rail to the City (initially a standard diesel passenger service, to be replaced with a light rail system if possible)
• A tram system will operate within the town
• New segregated bike paths will run through the town
• A rail-trail path will also provide mixed use transit to the City
• A restored canal adjacent to the mill with a mixed use towpath

Those are the basics as I'm thinking about it now. Here are some of the other specific things I want to include:

• Businesses will be largely retail, small-scale agricultural, and small service-based businesses
• Wind turbines on the hills at the edge of town (Mount Gemma and Mount Elsa)
• A pedestrian district in the center of town
• Limited car parking on the outskirts, with pedestrian, bike, & tram access to the center
• Outside the center, an office complex built into a hillside
• Many buildings will have solar panels on the roofs
• A small farm and a vineyard will lie in the outskirts
• A farmers' market will be in the center

That's about it for now!