0033 On30 Wasatch & Jordan Valley RR - Making the Grade

In order to make the railroad more like the prototype, we've got to increase the grade.  Alta City will now be where the engine servicing area is, and it needs to be at least a foot about the lower level.  My plan is to stack a level over a level so that I can run loop to loop for continuous running (mostly for fun, breaking in locos and for display when people come over.)

Here I've posted in where the key features will be.  Changing the trackplan is going to be more work than I thought.  Let's get to work on Sandy and Alta City (above).

 First, let's erase most all of the Sandy area, and just start drawing fresh.

 All but the loop has been removed...and that is not working for me as we need a passing siding and a return loop, so let's just remove it all.

 I've added the passing siding for Sandy, a soon to be hidden return loop, and put in the Mingo Smelter.  I do have a picture of the Mingo, but it is FAR too big to build here.  So we'll have to shrink it.  There will be an elevated trestle for unloading, and a ground level platform for loading bags of reduced ore.  The Utah Southern will pick up the granite and move it to the Temple.  We MIGHT change this to dual gauge and then standard gauge...but I'm still thinking.

 I changed the track slightly and added the Davenport Smelter.  It, too, is quite large and will have to be condensed.  One smelter would handle the ore from the Flagstaff and the other the ore from the Emma.

 I made a duplicate of the Sandy area and moved it to the side.  This will be the drawing for the upper level where Alta's mines will be.

Here I've sketched in the mines.  I'm not really happy with this because the Flagstaff is on the other side of the hill, and the engineer would have to come around to switch it.  We'll figure it out later.  I've got a cold and have run out of batteries.

Here are the locations for the two mines that I'm modeling:

Emma Tunnel	Salt Lake	403533N - 1113752W	Dromedary Peak
Flagstaff Mine	Salt Lake	403548N - 1113812W	Dromedary Peak

We'll have to get some new boots and go find them!

Location:	Flagstaff-Emma Area
Minerals:	hemimorphite, wulfenite, cerussite, galena
Land Status:	National Forest and private lands.
Directions:	Park in Alta and walk up the road that begins at the Alta guard station. This road circles around behind the guard station wo the west, then switches back and heads east, gradually climbing the slope toward Grizzly Gulch. The terrain is fairly open and the dumps are easily seen along the hillside.
GPS:	40°35'48"N - 111°38'14"W (approx.)

Mining Information:

http://www.miningutah.com/id115.html

Wizdom:
1.  On30 is NOT a perfect swap for HO, mostly because of the sidings (distance between) and the large size of structures
2.  Smelters are enormous and even bigger in O scale.  Careful work must be done to "selectively compress" them for a layout.
3.  Putting large buildings against a backdrop and splitting them in half is one way to get the feel of a large structure without having to build the whole thing.