So I finally got around to getting this subject on the forum...
Starting back over 2 years ago now, myself and my good modeling mate John Hunter, decided we wanted to slap together a new exhibition layout. We both had some knowledge of the Dolly Varden Mines, thanks largely to the book "Steel Rails and Silver Dreams". The photos in that little slice of history are just superb modelling subjects, so the challenge was on. 2 years ago we presented a clinic at the 2007 Australian NGC in Melbourne, on ideas to reality and the plans to build the DVMR. Now, just this last Easter, the 2009 Australian NGC was held in Sydney (our convention is a second yearly event), and we packed it all in the trailer for the 2000km from Melbourne to Sydney and back.
The layout measured in at just over 28' long, built in 5 sections, with a small water extension at the front of the wharf. We were very happy with how it all travelled, with only 1 tree falling over, plus minimal folliage loss. Thought it was time to get some of the pics on these pages though, but firstly...a crash course in history!
Dolly Varden Mines Railway, located at the town of Alice Arm, British Columbia. Back in around 1900, some mining prospects were staked near the town after discovery of silver. Those stakes were only about 4 miles from the town because the terrain of the area was a bit "difficult". A raging icy Kitsault River, verticle cliffs, thick forests, freezing winters, permanent ice fields...it wasn't no resort town! In 1910 however, a group of prospectors ventured up the valley in search of riches. 18 miles up the mountain they discovered a rich strain of silver ore, and so claimed the site of the Dolly Varden Mines.
It was later decided that a 3' narrow gauge railway would be the best way to service the mines. Hasty construction started on the basis of very rough estimates with very little survey work on the right of way. Consequently, the budget for the railways construction was a farce, with massive blow outs before even reaching the half way mark. Money was scarce, the winter was cold, the working conditions were shocking. The line was steep, with tight curves and minimal clearances with the many rock cuttings. "Build it quick and build it cheap" was the underlying motto, and this was reflected when the inspectors came to review the line. The track was too light, mostly unballasted, often out of gauge, the locos were too small, most of them condemned etc etc
Amongst the cheap construction, blackmail was happening over sales of the railway with court cases eventuating to decide who will take ownership of the finacial mess. Operating costs were high, and the price of silver had crashed. Eventually the railway did earn its operating certificate in mid 1921, but was shut down due to huge finacial losses, officially an operating railway for around 6-8 weeks. Some minor operations continued on the line there after, but the actual Dolly Varden operation was a bankrupt mess. Some logging operations occurred for a few years to try and salvage some dollars, but that work only lasted a few years as well. Eventually the metal scrappers moved in around 1937, and evidence of what was potentially the richest deposits of silver in the world were erased forever.
If you need to know the full story, do yourself a huge favour and track down the book "Steel Rails & Silver Dreams" by Darryl Muralt (Benchmark Publishing, now reprinted just recently). It was our bible in building this layout. The photos are stunning, and all references to this layout, with many of the scenes recreated in our version. Cool story, cool pictures...they flogged the book when it was first released as "a railway crying out to be modelled"...damn right, thats why we did it!!!
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Dan Pickard
Bit of a journey up the line then.
John was resposible for the first 2 modules, covering the wharf, Dolly Varden House, the ore bunker at the water front, and the highline spur with the housing along side it.
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Dan Pickard
The middle module was considered a transition module, where Johns scenery would meet with mine. Ended up I did most of the middle module...just got carried away. I also had the section with the large rock cutting, Camp 8 and the powerhouse, sacking shed and mine tipple at the end of the line.
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Dan Pickard
As part of the Narrow Gauge Convention, John and I hosted a 1 hour presentation on the building journey behind this new layout. It was more of an informal Q&A session. Thats me (Dan) pictured on the left, and John Hunter pictured on the right.
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Probably the funniest comment from the weekend goes to Gerry Cornwell of Mt Albert Timber, who attended the show and also ran a clinic..."Can't believe I have to travel all the way to Australia to see a decent Canadian prototype"...thanks Gerry ;D
Thanks for looking,
Dan Pickard
(and also on behalf of my modelling partner, John Hunter)
HA!
I'm the first one here! I get to use all the superlatives!
Awesome, cool, great, wonderful, spectacular!
I love all the detail!
So many things I want to use!
Thanks for sharing!
More please!
-Marty
Dan and John,that is a great little railway.
Gordon Birrell
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77318580@N00/
How would Uncle Russ put it ? Adequate , I think . Well , even he might become exited and call it " very adequate".
Of course, the rest of us know how to complement someone properly , so I'm going to say that it is a " Spiffing " layout and it is a shame that it is situated in the wrong place . Any chance of a World Tour ?
You both can teach the rest of us a thing or two about how to do a layout properly.
Well done , chaps ,
Nick
Actually, Nick, the word coming to mind is "gorgeous". But, to avoid disappointment, let me add the following: An outstandingly adequate layout.
And perhaps a less heartfelt compliment: I want to publish a long article about it. Dan, can you guys get back to me on that?
Russ
I will say wonderful!!!...and reiterate everone else's superlatives as well. Thank you so much for posting this here...glad to finally get to see the result of all your hard work...I am sure I will have questions as I further stare at the photos of this.
Marc
Thankyou all for the kind comment.
Marty,
Gold medal for first comment (which was a nice one too, saving the sarcastic notes for later are you? ;D)
Nick,
World tour unlikely at this stage, since in moving it to Sydney and back blew nearly twice our estimated fuel budget, so definately local shows only for the time being...unless the big dollars make long trips more affordable. Both John and I live quite a way from our 'local' Melbourne, in I'm about an hour from the city, John about 2-3 hours out...we actually live around 200 miles apart, which is what made the build all the more interesting. The NGC was the first time the whole set up has been together in on piece.
Russ,
We actually felt it was a little less than adequate...the wharf needs to be another 2-3' longer and we wanted another module near the middle, but this is all we could fit in our trailers. As it is, the centre trestle module lies flat in the back of my wagon. We would be much obliged to send you something for print. I need to do a new set of photos again at our next exhibition, after realising I barely took any shots of Climax#7 running the line, our main loco. Small oversight, but easily fixed I guess...will be in further contact about that one.
Marc,
Questions always welcome, I think you we're one of the guys here that asked where the photos were, along with Chuck...where's he, did he sleep in?
Cheers,
Dan
Dan & John
How would Uncle Russ put it ? Adequate , I think . Well , even he might become exited and call it " very adequate".
Actually, Nick, the word coming to mind is "gorgeous". But, to avoid disappointment, let me add the following: An outstandingly adequate layout.
Dan & John what there both trying to say is this may be a perfect layout.
Most "EXCELLENT" both of you!!
Jerry
Quote from: danpickard on April 23, 2009, 04:05:07 AM
Starting back over 2 years ago now, myself and my good modeling mate John Hunter, decided we wanted to slap together a new exhibition layout.
I think you're being overly modest when you say "slapped together"... very nicely done.
Paul
Dan, it is an outstanding model railroad. I think that the use of 30" gauge track even improves the mood (as compared to the prototypical 3' gauge) by making the railroad look tinier (or more tiny ; choice left to grammar-aware members...). All this Dolly Varden venture was completely mad, anyway (not your layout, but the real thing in the early 1900s).
I'll add fabulous to the superlatives here. The foliage, details and finishes are just super. Congrats on an absolutely wonderful build and thanks for sharing.
Just getting up, had a bit of a lie in...
I've enjoyed seeing this come together. It is one of my favorite prototypes, and you guys did a great job of representing it. Didin't you use one of those photo frames thingys to show historical pictures?
Morning Chuck...
Yes, good memory. Funny enough though, I don't have a photo of the photo thingy!
As part of the "more of a display, than a layout" idea we had, we wanted to incorporate as much of the Dolly Varden story as we could. After all, it was the careless stupidity displayed during building the real one that makes this such an interesting tale. The Dolly Varden story was condensed down to 6 pages, and mounted on a display board, along with a few maps of the area to help set the location. The actual board is about 1100mm wide and 800mm high, and stands about 6' tall on the aluminium A-frame. We also wanted to show a selection of the prototype photos, again to help explain some of the history, and also allow a comparison between the model and the prototype. We were just going to print out a heap of the old black and white images, but decided to try and make this more "multi media" in the end (not to mention we were running out of room on the display board for lots of pics). There is a 10" digital photo frame mounted on the info/display board, with a looping slideshow of the historic images. Just to use the full capacities of the digital frame, and also keep in theme with that multi media thing, I also downloaded a few 1920's banjo tunes that play in the background, just to get a bit of that ol' hillbilly vibe happenin'. Its really a bit of a trick to get viewers to hang around and study the layout for longer, especially if the want to wait for the whole slideshow to scroll through (I think there was about 30 odd images in the show).
Cheers,
Dan
Dan, WOW!!!! Congrats on a beatiful job, Like everyone else I'm waiting for more info and pictures on the different modules........Randy
Beautiful, Dan! I hope you guys can put together an article and lots of photos for Russ. I'll be looking forward to seeing it all in print.
Stunning! Excellent work, and an interesting prototype.
Sounds like the real-life mine could have been successful, if not for the botched finances. Did anyone try to mine that ore at a later date, with better backing?
Hi All well its nice to be part of this forum,and thanks for all the great comments on dolly .I will be posting some pics of a new diorama i,m working on soon,I was very inspired by a small but superbly built layout I seen at the narrow gauge convention by a truely magnificent modeller named Geoff knott , her in australia .veiwing this layout I realized that my passion for modelling the australian landscape and structures was still very strong and having spent the past 2 years working on dolly ,Ive missed modelling my home land .Geoffs use of pail colors and the use of natural materials has got me into gear is a some what different direction ,not in subject but in quality of the build and the almost sharpness of construction ,I hope to post some pics soon the diorama is a large at 4ft X 2Ft and based on a small country town center located in country victoria ,no railway just a old abandoned line and colapsed bridge, a few shops,IE hotel,hardware and a gas station and a small cottage ,a creek running through town . Im looking forward in keeping you all up to date on the progress,also hoping to get some tips along the way.It was great to build dolly varden with good friend dan but looking forward to building my next project.
Geez, they're letting all types of riff-raff characters on this forum now... ;)
Welcome John ;D
Dan
thought I would slip in the back door but no chance of getting past you. Hows dolly will be down soon to pick her up,next show getting closer
Both of you,
congratulations on the fantastic results of building miles apart this wonderfull layout.
Realy stunning.
Jacq
John,
Welcome to the forum. Really nice to have you here. Look forward to seing more of your wonderful creations.
As I already mentioned to Dan, congratulations on such a great laouy and work. Really a pleasure to see. I always truly enjoy seeing what the Aussie and Kiwi modelers are doing.....it's just such a treat, change and inspiration.
Marc
Welcome onboard John, looking forward to your stuff being on this forum (big fan of your structures) Randy
Thanks Randy
is there any particular structure you like I may have some pics of it that may not have ever been seen.
Dan and John,
mentioning the name of Geoff Nott reminded me of the Red Stag Lumber Co he built together with Steve Pettit, Michael Flack and Ray Walter. On the layout they incorporated some local timber branches for the trunks of their large trees.
Do you know where I can get these trees branches ?
I like to use them un my mill diorama under construction and achieve the landscaping results you have reached.
Jacq
Hi Jacq,
They were Sheoak, or Casuarina tree branches, but as far as I'm aware, are an Australian native tree, but don't quote me, I'm more into modelling than horticulture! They're quite common around our region, especially areas a little bit rural, farmers tend to use them a bit as wind breaks along their paddock boundries. Not sure how well the French climate would treat the trees, or even if they grow in you part of the world? Happy hunting I guess, and always walk prepared with a small hand saw at the ready...
Dan
hi Jacq
red stag was an amazing layout I was very fortunate to have helped set it up once ,something I will always remember were those trees
.The tree trucks used were branches taken from the sheoak tree and in some cases smallish tree trunks themselves ,the roof of the layout was about 30 " or 750mm high and the tree trucks went from base to ceiling and were used as roof suports in some cases , some were about 65mm/2 1/2" in diamiter the layout was featured many times in publications world wide,hope that helps I also used shee oak in my logging layout mount ash timber and sleeper co,i think dan used them also on stumpy creek. I believe that the closer to the coast they grow the better they are suited and a better tree is formed
john hunter
Red Stag Lumbe Co and other work by Geof are for me THE benchmarks in landscaping.
QuoteThey were Sheoak, or Casuarina tree branches, but as far as I'm aware, are an Australian native tree
I should have known this when living in Australia................. >:(
Here in Holland nothing like it is available. :'( :'(
For me it only preserved pine branches etc..... or I have to carve some large ones from balsa as still standing first growth.
The rest around the mill and pond area will be smaller in size as it has to present second growth.
Jacq
;D
Not sure why I never checked your profile before Jacq, but for some reason I assumed you were from France. France, Holland...its all European to me ;)
Benchmark & Geoff Nott - same word really, just spelt differently...
Dan
John, Since you are being so generous, my favorite is the best of show winner from one of the ng conventions, the mercantile. I'm attempting a poor copy on my layout and need more inspiration!!!!
Thanks, Randy
QuoteFrance, Holland...its all European to me
You must be from Victoria .. ;D ;D ;D
Jacq
I seem to remember that they mentionned the trees existed only in Australia in their series of articles in the Gazette.
randy
I was approched by stoney creek designs if it was ok to turn the model into a kit,I was as you can amagine thrilled with that idea so at the last convention in the USA roger released my model as a kit and done a supurb job so the best pics of what is now known as JHunter Mercantile go to stoney creeks web site, I can post pics of the original but rogers version of my build is all the insperation needed, the kit sold out very quick but i believe a few have come up on EBay from time to time but at infated prices unfortunatly, makes me wonder what my original is worth????.
Quote from: Frederic Testard on May 06, 2009, 05:10:51 PM
I seem to remember that they mentionned the trees existed only in Australia in their series of articles in the Gazette.
Hi Frederic
dont know about the gazette but Narrow Gauge Down under done several articals ,I know the gazette featured red stag. here is a bit of a buiding tip mini tutorial .You can make balsa trucks look like sheoak by painting a paintable gap filler over the shaped balsa ,ours here in Aust is called selleys no More gaps ,it is a white Or colored butal mastic sealer usualy sold for filling gaps in walls or windows ,it is in a gun type despencer you can also get it in tube form ,im sure there is similar products world wide, the important part is that it must be paintable, anyway dont grain your balsa spread the filler over the trunk You can thin it a bit with water but you need it quite thick say 1/16 to 1/8 {1.5 to 3mm} once spread stand vertical and have a Burbon No particular brand admire your achivement for say for 5 Minutes and then using a brush and tile spreader work the filler to add grain and texture ,it will dry overnight and then paint accordingly will look great, use several washes over the finished painted surface and kazzoom you have a sheoak tree, add roots and some favorite folaige in anyway you wish I use caspia branches sprayed brown then spray with spray glue and then my favorite folaige. I sometimes roll the wettly painted brown caspia in the folaige the paint acts as a glue finish with a mat medium or hairspray to hold.
John, Thanks for the info, had been to Stoney Creeks site before for a glance at rolling stock, now have checked out gallery and structures and found some good stuff!!! Randy
Dan
Simply awesome!!! I have been a fan of the Dolly Varden since the book first appeared on the shelf at Caboose Hobbies. Wasted about a minute before buying it and you guys have now put it in 3D. Again great work.
Clif Korlaske
Sorry for the late answer, John, but thanks for the hints about the making of better trees. I'll save it to try it when I build some big ones.
In addition to the pics I have put up here on the forum, I can now present
DOLLY VARDEN MINES RAILWAY, On30...THE MOVIE
Finally got to play around with the video camera and some youtube. Just another perspective on the layout I guess. Filmed this at its first public exhibition a few weeks ago, where it received some favourable comments.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAsqi5evRPk
Cheers,
Dan
Dan & John
We might not be able to see it in person but that's as close to "PERFECT" as it gets.
Excellent job and thanks for sharing this with all of us.
Jerry
Dan & John
Nice video!... It will please many viewers
Mike
Dan great video!
Really nice way to see everything and how it is all laid out.
Next time though use a tripod, get low and pan slowly.
Also would have been more realistic to have the locos accelerate and decelerate slowly.
Fantastic modeling - I see some little things (details, what else) I'd like to add to mine.
Congratulations on an excellent display!
-Marty
Very nice, Dan the little railroad runs as good as it looks.
Gordon Birrell
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77318580@N00/
Thanks all for the feedback...
Marty, I was going to use a tripod...kind of left it at home that weekend though!!! I may look to redo the taping at a later stage, but using tripods during exhibition times also gets a bit tricky, especially with public around. Had the bonus with that particular show of camping out at the exhibition venue, so had a bit more private time. Unfortunately the acceleration of the locos is just how the reversing circuit works. Have used a slow accelerating circuit before, but found it was a bit prone to stalling at start. This particular one is a bit quick to take off, but is pretty hard to stall...therefore good for us from an exhibition perspective. This was just taped with the auto circuits active, so I might try and fine tune things a bit better with the manual throttles on "Dolly Varden...the sequel, revenge of the underpaid miners". The constructive tips are certainly appreciated.
A sign that we were getting bored by the end of day 3 at that exhibition...we stood there and worked out that the climax had travelled just on a real 4km in 3 days of constant running on the auto circuit (10am til 5pm, and the reverser pauses for about 30sec at the end of each travel)...built for comfort, not for speed.
Cheers,
Dan
cant wait for the sequel!
FYI I often use a monopod when in crowded situations.
-Marty
I have not been on this site in quite some time but what a day to come back. Awesome layout Dan, and a great for for display. You guys over there sure know how to do up you display layouts. Almost looks like you guys recycled the benchwork from Red Stag :D
John
*edit* did you ever post a track plan for this railroad anywhere. I'd like to see it.
Hi John,
Welcome back...
Its fair to say that we were both very inspired by Red Stag, especially as far as the impact the large and confronting viewing face of it had. Recycle the old benchwork...no way!!! The old Red Stag was all timber and weighed a ton, couple of guys struggling to move each module. In the Red Stag video, when they show some of the set up routine, the sweat pourng off those blokes is a bit of a give away! The DVMR modules being all aluminium can be lifted by 1 person (bit awkward, but still easy to move from one side of the garage to the other).
The Red Stag team, now known as the Musk Rats (with their new layout, Muskrat Ramble), changed their methods a bit with their new effort, but used a welded steel frame, so still considerably heavier than the aluminium version.
Track plan...what track plan? Never really had one to start with, the layout wasn't complicated enough to need one. The Youtube video link pretty much shows the plan. Long run from wharf to under the mine (just a basic 2 track staging are inside the tunnel. A single passing siding in the middle, but actually wired as 2 separate lines. Most of the points have the blades pinned in place so they cant be moved. No switching on this thing, just auto runs...easy, no fuss, turn on/turn off...no stress exhibiting.
Dan
Very nice'ly done... ;D great display layout ::) Craig Mt, Clemens Mich
Just like being there in person! Great video.
Thanks for posting the link.
Hey dan,
found this photo... reminded my of this layout (the name)
;D
Mike