Still remains one of my favourite layouts. I find the most impressive thing is how much detail and scenes has been cleverly squeezed into that narrow 18” of depth, yet it never feels overly cramped. Overall just a beautiful finish.
The scenery is absolutely the best! I love how you even show some of the inside of the mine. The light on the miner's hard hat is the coolest! Your attention to detail is explicit That little town makes me want to shrink down and visit. I wish you could have shown us more of the mill. A few more seconds of camera time is needed down at the mill! If a feller could make some of the operations of the mill animated with the sound of the stamps falling and crushing the ore before it runs down to the slice. You know they say when the stamping mill was operating outside of Deadwood they could hear it in town and feel the ground shake. Just throwing some ideas out there for you, do with them what you will!
Payless is one of those layouts, that you can view at any angle and see something new, its wonderful Rich, and your work is very inspirational. Thanks for sharing, all the best. Brian @ The Angels
Hi Rich. Your videos are always great. There’s always something new I see in them. It’s amazing how much great stuff you fit in that 18 inch width. The Payless is a great layout. Keep up the great work👍
Always like to come back to your layout Rich. It’s my guiding light for my own progress. This time it’s to study the trees and foliage. My logging layout is deep back woods themed. I’ve made 25 Douglas Fir of all heights and now I’m working on 15 Hemlock Firs. Will place them interspersed as in the real forest. Thanks as always for your postings.
Rich is so correct. Mine is a very small hon3 yet highly detailed. It’s only 4’x8’ ft and I never lose sight that it has to be movable on wheels when the time comes. There will be somewhere like 250 to 300 trees and I’m well on task for that segment. The blessing of small is that accomplishments and completions are rewards. I’ve seen monster layouts that never get done. I’m using some excellent layouts including the Payless by Rich for stimulatives to creating.
Whenever I see a layout with THIS kind of detail First thing that comes to mind... Trying to clean everything so I get smooth operation. Great stuff thanks for posting... I'll stick to S gauge for now... Don't have to touch the trains to couple and uncouple... Thanks again.
Thanks Dwight!! The Payless does not have a lot of track so its easy to keep clean. Now the scenery is a different story as the first Payless module was finished in 1996 I'm always in the process of removing some of the old faded greenery and replacing it with new. But I do kinda like the dusty look that has evolved over time. I keep telling myself its just an old funky" Mining railroad. Thanks again!!
Thanks for posting this update. I have always loved your layout since I first saw it in the Gazette, and I was happy to discover it on UA-cam and see its additions. As I contemplate what I'm going to build in a soon to be built dedicated train building, I'm considering paying you the most sincere form of flattery and copy some of your ideas. :) The whole shoestring backwoods operation with all the sort of caricatured vertical scenery really strikes my fancy. Keep up the good work! Can I ask you for any advice on converting the Davenport to DCC (presuming you did not use the stock EZ Command decoder that some came with)?
Thanks Cary, The Payless has been a long ever changing build, never having a overall plan for the layout just adding module after module until now she is done!!! In fact my plan is to offer her up for sale next year sometime if things work out. As far as the Davenport goes, I purchased her off eBay and just set it on the layout and it seems to run just fine being as she just has a small section of the Payless where she works. Thanks again and good luck with the dedicated train building!!! Rich White
Thanks Mark!! When I started the first module way back when I wanted to fit the track work into the scenery. I had a general idea what I wanted the module to look like so I would say the scene was planned first, then the track work adjusted to fit the scene. The adjoining modules were designed to fit into the one it was connected to. That became the biggest challenge, but in the end they all seem to "flow" together!!
Rich, to get the most of a small railroad I should make each scene detailed, but not to the point of being too busy, right? I just love the modules you've made to date. The funny thing about where I am modeling the hills will naturally be only a little taller than the trains and the buildings. I am making a freelance hypothetical 30 inch narrow gauge line in East Central Kansas' bituminous coal fields in Shawnee, Wabaunsee and Osage counties. The Kansas River and Southern runs through Shawnee County south into Osage County servicing the coal mines of the fictitious Underwood Mining and Mineral Company. When it started the founders convinced investors that a 2 1/2 foot railroad would be less expensive to build than a standard gauge or even a 3 foot line like the Kansas Central in Northeast Kansas. One investor is the fictitious Kaw River Navigation Company, another is the standard gauge Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad and a third is the Underwood M & M Co. I even have a real ghost town I could model along the route I envisioned. Richland was a real town until the construction of Clinton Reservoir. The Army Corps of Engineers moved the town to a new location, but the reservoir never reached the land Richland occupied. So in my alternate history Richland will be one of the towns once I can build a larger route.
Hey D L remember that if your not going to be able to have any large hills/mountains as scene breaks you can always use some tall trees. When the scenery if relatively flat you will need to use your creative skills to make the layout look real (my opinion only). I would try to layout everything in mock-up form before you begin construction. You can even mock-up your hills using crumpled up newspapers just to get a feel of how the finished product will look. I made many changes to a number of my modules before I began construction and for the most part they worked out well.
@@richwhite4331 Thanks again Rich. The highest hills around me run between 1000 and 1150 feet above sea level. My part of Kansas is also known as the Wooded Hills. This pretty much runs all through Eastern Kansas between the Flint Hills and the Missouri line. We have rolling wooded hills with the occasional mini-mountain like Burnett's Mound or Menninger Hill. My part of East Central Kansas was the northern end of the Bituminous Coal fields. The Kansas River and Southern will run from the Kansas River from near Topeka to mines in northern Osage County. I have a couple of gondolas and three of the wood side dump ore cars to service the mine on the railroad. The main customers are the larger railroads like the ATSF and some riverboats (I am running in an alternate history where the big railroads did not have the Kansas River declared unnavigable.) I am thinking of setting it mostly in the mid-20th Century.
Freelancing is just a fantastic blank paper Sheet. Almost everything is possible. Here an example. In Brazil they bought North Americans SD40. We all know what an SD40 looks like. Are you sure ? Frame lenght was extended about 3 feet on each end. Fuel tank shortened. C trucks were replaced by narrow gauge BB+BB with smaller lowered coupler and dynamic brake roof fan put under hood for tight tunnel clerance. They look like giants monsters pulling smaller fteight cars. They use DPU, Roadrailer... Just to say maybe unprototypical here, but modern narrow gauge railroad exist. After all CN used it in Newfounland that sadly closed. As long as you can logically explain it, your Sierra logging or Maine seashore fisheries in your mind is OK. Easier than following railroad X on june 13th 1937 on branch Z. That fantastic layout is just imaginations, cramped in tiny acreage with many long hours to have all these micro scenes fitting together. Astonishing result.
Hi Rich - I always marvel at what you have produced! I’m just starting out on my first layout - On30 mining layout (set in US despite me being in UK. A question please - I would like to introduce sound effects like you have done - switched by one or more On-Off SPST switches I have installed for lighting and effects. Can you recommend the best way to achieve this - perhaps a programmable module on Amazon or something similar. I’d ideally also like the device to be able to store different sounds that I can select with different switches. David F
Thanks David !! As far as sounds go, mine are very simple. Just sound effects under a couple of different areas to liven things up a bit. I only use the modules from ITT Products but have been trying to find some simple small town sound effects to add under the Mount Bullion modules. Everything seems to be for larger city sounds with lots of noise!! Good luck with your On30 mining layout build, what time era are you going to model? The Payless is in the late 1930's. Thanks again, Rich White/Payless Mining Company
@@richwhite4331 I’m modelling the same period as you are - approx 1930s but very loose - purists and rivet counters will look away from mine ;-) I will be running mostly Bachmann Spectrum engines - two steam Porters, two Davenports and a Heisler when it arrives in a few days. Plus two BoxCabs for extra fun. As far as affect sounds I suppose I was keen to find out what physical device you played your sound files on?
Hi Rich - absolutely LOVE your videos and so inspiring for model railway layout rookies like me. I’m working on my first ever layout - an On30 mining layout set in US (Colorado Plateau area). I live in UK. What do you user to create the sound affects on your layout? Someone mentioned that Amazon have something I could use (“WayinTop Recordable Sound Module Button Control 8MB MP3 WAV Music Voice Player Programmable Board USB Downloadable Rechargeable Audio with AA Battery Box and USB Cable”) but what do you suggest and where would I get the sound effect files?
All the track is hand laid except the 18" gauge which is flex track. I just couldn't bring myself to try to hand lay that stuff. For my switches I had HO Scale code 70 switches left over from my old HO layout that I used some of the parts from, All stubs but one.
Yea the Heisler moves over my track work nicely except for when going downgrade towards the Mill I have kinda a sharp bend that will cause the Heisler to jump unless its going nice and slow. It takes that bend ok when going upgrade but other than that one spot she handles the track work really nicely
Thanks, the figures on the Payless come from many different suppliers, as I have been picking them up over the last 35 years. The majority are from the UK as those tend to have better detail.
Still remains one of my favourite layouts. I find the most impressive thing is how much detail and scenes has been cleverly squeezed into that narrow 18” of depth, yet it never feels overly cramped. Overall just a beautiful finish.
Thanks very much!!
The scenery is absolutely the best! I love how you even show some of the inside of the mine. The light on the miner's hard hat is the coolest! Your attention to detail is explicit That little town makes me want to shrink down and visit. I wish you could have shown us more of the mill. A few more seconds of camera time is needed down at the mill! If a feller could make some of the operations of the mill animated with the sound of the stamps falling and crushing the ore before it runs down to the slice. You know they say when the stamping mill was operating outside of Deadwood they could hear it in town and feel the ground shake. Just throwing some ideas out there for you, do with them what you will!
Thanks Glad you enjoyed!!
I must say that i realy, realy love Your miniature world!
Thanks!!
Payless is one of those layouts, that you can view at any angle and see something new, its wonderful Rich, and your work is very inspirational. Thanks for sharing, all the best. Brian @ The Angels
Thanks Brian!!
This is a Great Layout, Attention to Detail is Incredible.
Nicely Captured on Video as well.
Thank You!!
Hi just getting into On30 you are a great inspiration! Bing watched all your videos. Don't stop keep showing us more great content!
Thanks!! Glad you enjoyed!!
Its outstanding, well done👍
Thank You!!
Hi Rich. Your videos are always great. There’s always something new I see in them. It’s amazing how much great stuff you fit in that 18 inch width. The Payless is a great layout. Keep up the great work👍
Thanks Jim!! The Payless is always a work in progress adding little details and re-doing some of the things and areas that I didn't do so well.
The Payless mine is one beautiful model, keep the videos coming, I love seeing all the detail you have squeezed into such a small space.
Thanks Paul !!
Always like to come back to your layout Rich. It’s my guiding light for my own progress. This time it’s to study the trees and foliage. My logging layout is deep back woods themed. I’ve made 25 Douglas Fir of all heights and now I’m working on 15 Hemlock Firs. Will place them interspersed as in the real forest. Thanks as always for your postings.
I want to do my first n scale layout with a "mine theme" and just blown away by yours! Thanks for sharing.
I love what you have done here. Your high Mt. Mine is wonderful. I'm going to go find more of your work!
Thanks Vic, Glad you enjoyed !!
Simply magical!
Thank You!! Glad you Enjoyed!!
That’s a really nice layout. I’m looking for inspiration for a small layout due to space constraints. This was great!
Sometimes space constraints drive us to become more creative modelers. THANKS!!
Rich is so correct. Mine is a very small hon3 yet highly detailed. It’s only 4’x8’ ft and I never lose sight that it has to be movable on wheels when the time comes. There will be somewhere like 250 to 300 trees and I’m well on task for that segment. The blessing of small is that accomplishments and completions are rewards. I’ve seen monster layouts that never get done. I’m using some excellent layouts including the Payless by Rich for stimulatives to creating.
Rich, your railroad has been an inspiration to me ever since I first saw it the S/O 1996 Gazette. Plus I've built a few of your kits. Great work!
Thanks Brian!! Hope you liked the kits??
@@richwhite4331 You bet! Your Hydrocal castings are the best I've ever used. Thanks.
Whenever I see a layout with THIS kind of detail First thing that comes to mind... Trying to clean everything so I get smooth operation. Great stuff thanks for posting... I'll stick to S gauge for now... Don't have to touch the trains to couple and uncouple... Thanks again.
Thanks Dwight!! The Payless does not have a lot of track so its easy to keep clean. Now the scenery is a different story as the first Payless module was finished in 1996 I'm always in the process of removing some of the old faded greenery and replacing it with new. But I do kinda like the dusty look that has evolved over time. I keep telling myself its just an old funky" Mining railroad. Thanks again!!
@@richwhite4331 Thank You... that's what I was getting at it's not just the track it's everything else you don't want to disturb...
Love the vignettes!
Would also really enjoy seeing an operating session.
Thanks!! Probably will do just some small operating vignettes to start!!
Rich those are the cleanest miners I ever did see! That foreman on the platform, in his brand new overalls… his name Todd by chance? 😆
Love it sir!
Yea, it's his first day on the job, poor guy!! THANKS!!
Looks amazing
Thanks glad you enjoyed !!
Complimenti 👍👍👍👏👏👏
Thank You!!
Very nice scratch built trees, some of the best I have seen....other than what I make :)
Thanks
Wow…
Very nice! Super inspiring…
Always glad when the videos inspire a fellow molder !! THANKS!!
Very good real nice layout 👍
Thanks!!
I like it!
Thank You!
Awesome
Thanks!!
Thanks for posting this update. I have always loved your layout since I first saw it in the Gazette, and I was happy to discover it on UA-cam and see its additions. As I contemplate what I'm going to build in a soon to be built dedicated train building, I'm considering paying you the most sincere form of flattery and copy some of your ideas. :) The whole shoestring backwoods operation with all the sort of caricatured vertical scenery really strikes my fancy. Keep up the good work! Can I ask you for any advice on converting the Davenport to DCC (presuming you did not use the stock EZ Command decoder that some came with)?
Thanks Cary, The Payless has been a long ever changing build, never having a overall plan for the layout just adding module after module until now she is done!!! In fact my plan is to offer her up for sale next year sometime if things work out. As far as the Davenport goes, I purchased her off eBay and just set it on the layout and it seems to run just fine being as she just has a small section of the Payless where she works.
Thanks again and good luck with the dedicated train building!!! Rich White
You are just an absolute master modeler! That's absolutely gorgeous!
Question! You planned the track work or the whole scene?
Thanks Mark!! When I started the first module way back when I wanted to fit the track work into the scenery. I had a general idea what I wanted the module to look like so I would say the scene was planned first, then the track work adjusted to fit the scene. The adjoining modules were designed to fit into the one it was connected to. That became the biggest challenge, but in the end they all seem to "flow" together!!
@@richwhite4331 I'd definitely "flows" together!
Rich, to get the most of a small railroad I should make each scene detailed, but not to the point of being too busy, right? I just love the modules you've made to date. The funny thing about where I am modeling the hills will naturally be only a little taller than the trains and the buildings. I am making a freelance hypothetical 30 inch narrow gauge line in East Central Kansas' bituminous coal fields in Shawnee, Wabaunsee and Osage counties.
The Kansas River and Southern runs through Shawnee County south into Osage County servicing the coal mines of the fictitious Underwood Mining and Mineral Company. When it started the founders convinced investors that a 2 1/2 foot railroad would be less expensive to build than a standard gauge or even a 3 foot line like the Kansas Central in Northeast Kansas. One investor is the fictitious Kaw River Navigation Company, another is the standard gauge Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad and a third is the Underwood M & M Co. I even have a real ghost town I could model along the route I envisioned. Richland was a real town until the construction of Clinton Reservoir. The Army Corps of Engineers moved the town to a new location, but the reservoir never reached the land Richland occupied. So in my alternate history Richland will be one of the towns once I can build a larger route.
Hey D L remember that if your not going to be able to have any large hills/mountains as scene breaks you can always use some tall trees. When the scenery if relatively flat you will need to use your creative skills to make the layout look real (my opinion only). I would try to layout everything in mock-up form before you begin construction. You can even mock-up your hills using crumpled up newspapers just to get a feel of how the finished product will look. I made many changes to a number of my modules before I began construction and for the most part they worked out well.
@@richwhite4331 Thanks again Rich. The highest hills around me run between 1000 and 1150 feet above sea level. My part of Kansas is also known as the Wooded Hills. This pretty much runs all through Eastern Kansas between the Flint Hills and the Missouri line.
We have rolling wooded hills with the occasional mini-mountain like Burnett's Mound or Menninger Hill. My part of East Central Kansas was the northern end of the Bituminous Coal fields. The Kansas River and Southern will run from the Kansas River from near Topeka to mines in northern Osage County. I have a couple of gondolas and three of the wood side dump ore cars to service the mine on the railroad. The main customers are the larger railroads like the ATSF and some riverboats (I am running in an alternate history where the big railroads did not have the Kansas River declared unnavigable.) I am thinking of setting it mostly in the mid-20th Century.
Freelancing is just a fantastic blank paper Sheet. Almost everything is possible. Here an example. In Brazil they bought North Americans SD40. We all know what an SD40 looks like. Are you sure ? Frame lenght was extended about 3 feet on each end. Fuel tank shortened.
C trucks were replaced by narrow gauge BB+BB with smaller lowered coupler and dynamic brake roof fan put under hood for tight tunnel clerance. They look like giants monsters pulling smaller fteight cars. They use DPU, Roadrailer... Just to say maybe unprototypical here, but modern narrow gauge railroad exist. After all CN used it in Newfounland that sadly closed. As long as you can logically explain it, your Sierra logging or Maine seashore fisheries in your mind is OK. Easier than following railroad X on june 13th 1937 on branch Z.
That fantastic layout is just imaginations, cramped in tiny acreage with many long hours to have all these micro scenes fitting together. Astonishing result.
Fabulous
Thanks Tony!!
Hi Rich - I always marvel at what you have produced! I’m just starting out on my first layout - On30 mining layout (set in US despite me being in UK. A question please - I would like to introduce sound effects like you have done - switched by one or more On-Off SPST switches I have installed for lighting and effects. Can you recommend the best way to achieve this - perhaps a programmable module on Amazon or something similar. I’d ideally also like the device to be able to store different sounds that I can select with different switches. David F
Thanks David !! As far as sounds go, mine are very simple. Just sound effects under a couple of different areas to liven things up a bit. I only use the modules from ITT Products but have been trying to find some simple small town sound effects to add under the Mount Bullion modules. Everything seems to be for larger city sounds with lots of noise!!
Good luck with your On30 mining layout build, what time era are you going to model? The Payless is in the late 1930's.
Thanks again, Rich White/Payless Mining Company
@@richwhite4331 I’m modelling the same period as you are - approx 1930s but very loose - purists and rivet counters will look away from mine ;-)
I will be running mostly Bachmann Spectrum engines - two steam Porters, two Davenports and a Heisler when it arrives in a few days. Plus two BoxCabs for extra fun.
As far as affect sounds I suppose I was keen to find out what physical device you played your sound files on?
Hi Rich - absolutely LOVE your videos and so inspiring for model railway layout rookies like me. I’m working on my first ever layout - an On30 mining layout set in US (Colorado Plateau area). I live in UK. What do you user to create the sound affects on your layout? Someone mentioned that Amazon have something I could use (“WayinTop Recordable Sound Module Button Control 8MB MP3 WAV Music Voice Player Programmable Board USB Downloadable Rechargeable Audio with AA Battery Box and USB Cable”) but what do you suggest and where would I get the sound effect files?
Thanks David, again try ITT Products they have a nice variety of sounds and are easy to install. Check them out at ittproducts.com
@@richwhite4331 many thanks I’ll check them out!
Do you hand lay your own track and switches? I noticed the switches are stub switches.
All the track is hand laid except the 18" gauge which is flex track. I just couldn't bring myself to try to hand lay that stuff. For my switches I had HO Scale code 70 switches left over from my old HO layout that I used some of the parts from, All stubs but one.
Does your Heisler track alright on tight turns and rough track?
Yea the Heisler moves over my track work nicely except for when going downgrade towards the Mill I have kinda a sharp bend that will cause the Heisler to jump unless its going nice and slow. It takes that bend ok when going upgrade but other than that one spot she handles the track work really nicely
Beautiful layout , may I ask where you purchased the people on your layout ?
Thanks, the figures on the Payless come from many different suppliers, as I have been picking them up over the last 35 years. The majority are from the UK as those tend to have better detail.
@richwhite4331 thank you. Would you have a name of a supplier in the Uk ?
www.sanddmodels.co.uk
Where did you get your mine carts?
The mine cars on the Payless are all Scratch Built!!
how many vignettes do you have so far?
5 vignette's so far.
😊
Thanks
Amazing modeling!
Thanks !!
Really cool scene. It's amazing what you you get packed in 18". Look forward to the next and maybe some shots of that shay.
Thanks Benjamin !!