Modeling – The Present – Version 5, The Casper Layout

This page shows current construction on the layout. The most recent entry is at the top, and they get older as you scroll down.
26 June 2025
On June 3rd I posted my latest layout update video:
Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of the beginning of construction of the layout, so I put together and posted a video commemorating the event:
17 May 2025
The last day of April I began adding power switches to the Casper turntable tracks. To this point all the tracks have been powered all the time, meaning the roundhouse generates a lot of noise from all those sound-equipped locos.
I drilled 14 holes for the power switches in an arc around the turntable controller.
Adding all those switches took some time, as I had to cut all the existing feeders and splice the switches into each one. I was finished and had all of them tested by May 10. Here's the final product. The three switches at the bottom that have green handles power the three garden tracks off the turntable.
I photographed every step of the initial disassembly, so I'll be able to assemble the engine properly later.
Here's the mechanism removed from the boiler.
I tested the mechanism, and even though it sat unused for several decades, it still ran very smoothly. This is a PFM model made by Tenshodo. Their build quality was outstanding!
Disassembling this loco sure brought back a lot of memories!
Looking inside the boiler, you can see where I added a lot of low melting point alloy to increase engine weight. The loco didn't have traction tires and Bullfrog Snot wasn't invented yet, so about the only way to improve tractive effort was to add as much weight as possible. Headlight wires are encased in the alloy, so I need to remove it to get to the wires. I'll try immersing the boiler in hot water to melt the alloy and hopefully pour most of it out.
Even though this loco was built in the late 60's or early 70's, you can see that there are holes in the tender floor where a speaker could be mounted. SCC sound wasn't invented yet, but I think this was done to allow for a speaker for the old PFM Sound System. The timeframe is right anyway.
Lots of work to do to get this baby on the rails! I set it aside for now, but I'll probably pick it back up in a week or two.
On May 12th Steve from Evanston came to stay a few days and help on the layout. Top priority was to finish the Lander benchwork to the point that it was ready for track.
First thing we did was remove the angled section of benchwork at the intersection of the two walls and adjust it to get rid of the step that came from narrowing the rest Lander. Here's Steve holding a piece of that section. The angled section goes just to his left.
On Wednesday Steve and I picked up a couple sheets of 3/4 inch oak veneer plywood for the Cody benchwork. We cut it into 3" wide strips (that was a lot easier - and faster! - to do with a helper than it was by myself), then cut those down to size to make the first section of Cody benchwork.
Here's Steve assembling that first section.
Cody is (or rather will be) located underneath the Wind River Canyon / Thermopolis peninsula. This first section is under the base of the canyon peninsula, near Shobon.
24 April 2025
The same day I did my last website update I started on two different projects. The first was adjusting the width of the Lander benchwork, narrowing it a bit to make it easier for the Greybull yard operator. I'll get to that after I cover the other project - "ballasting" the Powder River siding and refinishing the area between it and the mainline.
If you recall, in late February I scraped off all the poorly adhered stuff between those tracks:
I keep putting "ballast" in quotes because the siding didn't really have ballast (at least, not that you could see). In the photos I took in 1995, the siding ties are mostly just embedded in the dirt. While this is 50 years past my era, I'm just going to assume the siding looked a lot the same back in the mid-40's, except for the ties being in somewhat better shape.
Overall I was pretty happy with it at that point. I stepped away from Powder River for a couple of weeks, in part due to other work around the layout, but mostly because I was installing a Starlink cable outside the house and had an incident with a ladder that left me laid up for nearly a week. That also forced me to postpone my Operating Session by three weeks, moving it from March 25th to April 15th.
On March 30th I got back to Powder River. I cleaned off a lot (but not all!) of the grout from the tops of the ties, and cleaned the rails thoroughly:
Then the last day of March I added the grass between the siding and the mainline, and removed the tape:
The next day I added just a bit of shrubbery and longer grass between the tracks. I don't have a good picture of it (because I'm not finished with it yet), but a photo of another project will show some of that later.
Now we'll go back to the other project I started on March 16 - narrowing the Lander benchwork a bit.
I initially built the Lander benchwork (located over Greybull) to be nearly the same width as Greybull. While not a problem with the Lander benchwork being just an open frame, it has become clear over the last couple of years that it would cause a problem for Greybull yard operators trying to read car numbers on the back tracks in Greybull. The trackwork in Lander didn't need all that width (I'd left extra room between the tracks and the wall), so I reduced the width of the center section of Lander benchwork. Here I've trimmed several joists and reinstalled them:
By the end of the day I finished that section, and attached a bit of styrene to the front stringer to simulate the bottom edge of the fascia that will be there some day.
I left the end section unchanged. I wanted to get feedback from the Greybull operator at the upcoming operating session. I could cut things back another inch and a half or so if needed, and I didn't want to do both sections twice.
I finished up the end section on the 23rd. Here's how it looks now:
I'm debating over whether or not to rework the angled section at the far end in this photo. The diagonal stringer ends at the original width of the straight sections of the benchwork. I'll mull that one over for a bit before deciding.
You might also have noticed the lights hanging under the Lander benchwork. That was another project I undertook late in March and into early April.
On March 27 Steve from Evanston came up for a couple of days, and he brought a couple of 4' LED lights with him for me try out. He's been installing these on his railroad, and since I have some dark spots under higher decks, he thought I might be able to use these.
Here Steve is installing one of the lights underneath Hudson, to brighten up the West end of Douglas below.
I don't have a real good picture of Douglas before we installed the lights - the camera tends to adjust for the dark areas and they become less noticeable in photos than in real life. This shot, just as we were getting started on the light installation, is the best one I've got. At least you can see a bit of the dark area:
These lights are made by Burrina, and they're available on Amazon. These are 4k color, which matches the room lights and the light I put over Rocky Mountain Drilling, so they're perfect. They're also only about $9 per stick! They come in packs of six, so I ordered two packs.
In early April I installed them over Powder River and Greybull. Here's Powder River (and you can also, if you close, see a bit of the long grasses and a few bushes I placed between the tracks):
A few days before the aborted operating session in late March I took some high-level shots of the layout from unusual locations. This first one is from the top of the Owl Creek mountains of the Wind River Canyon, back in the corner. You can see Riverton at the top on the right, and Powder River below. At the bottom is East Staging. You can see a bit of Casper to the left.
Finally, this view is taken from above the Lander backdrop, in the corner. Part of Basin is visible below on the right. Worland is on the opposite side of the not-yet-finished Basin backdrop, and Thermopolis is below the blue backdrop beyond that. A bit of Casper is visible in the far distance, and Poposia Mine #1 is against the backdrop on the far left (beyond the bridge).
Lastly, on April 3rd I uploaded my monthly layout update video: