First up is a photo of a wall clock that my dad made for my train room - still needs a mechanism. Take a close look at it, very much a railroad theme.
Below is an early view of moving towards a 'final' yard design.
The same from a higher angle. The tracks, from the right and moving left, are designated thus:
1-3 are for classification
4 is the team track and the fourth classification track when needed and available
5-6 are the tracks either side of the icing platform with room at the end for an ice house
7 is the track to the freight house and at the near end will be the stock resting pens
8 is the caboose track
(at the far end there is a stub track for the two ready switch engines)
9-10 are the arrival and departure tracks - for passenger trains - with a nice run of space for the platform
11-12 are the coach yard tracks
13-14 are the in and out tracks to the turntable - probably with one doubling as the engine service track
15 (not there right now) will be an industry track serving Bald Twin Locomotive Works (so planned)
16-18 (also not there) will be the east end staging, maybe one track as the interchange for the Great Northern (probably) - that little bit of brown on the right is a small piece of Klamath Lake (or, will be).
This gives a better view of the yard 'throat' and the engine stub track.
Just a reverse view. None of these tracks are permanent yet, this is all a design process - the yard being the last piece of the puzzle before moving forward. (I'm not counting the industrial areas that will be adjusted as the industries are built. Already own most, if not all, of them.)
The following photos travel around the room from west to east (more or less).
This first one shows where the west end staging will be (four tracks) on the cork where the passenger car is (used for size reference. In the front will be a seaport, Manila Bay, which is very near Eureka.
This is straight on to show the hand painted back drop by yours truly - with some commercial product assistance for the 'foreground' trees - they are stickers glued on with diluted matt medium.
This is one of the oval's end curves, the one with the reversing loop. That bridge in the background leads up grade to the yard. That dark penciled line to the right of the car was going to all be a hill but that is being changed.
There will be a tunnel and a hill, still, to give some 'wild' country and maybe a very low height trestle with a stream under it and a waterfall behind it. We'll see.
A reverse view of the above - behind the car will be a mine and in and around it will be a company town. And trees, lots of trees - yes, I know it's a mine but it's an old mine and the trees have grown back. (Who said they'll be a view block?)
The foreground area in this photo will be farms, hopefully three different ones if I can fit them all in - one dairy, one general farm, and maybe an orchard?
The cork to the right - and maybe the white area to the right of it - will be farm industries, grain elevators, creamery, packing house, feed dealer, and more.
That is actual texturing of the scenery on top of that hill in the back corner - and the trees lend a hint to what will be off to the left...
But before we get to that, the cork area on the left in this shot will be the farm town. By the way, those odd looking bits of cork pinned down were part of the trying out process of where to put the tracks servicing the industries.
The foreground area in the shot below, the white portion, is going to be some open woodlands, oak scrub type so common in California. The tan portion at the front will be a run of the Klamath River itself. In the background, near those yellow cards which are in place to keep paint still to come off the backdrop, will be a logging scene and logging camp - on rails, perhaps.
This is the other end of the loop - and the raised portion in the back is the last curve before the yard. The large, loosely corked area will be another industrial area - the 'urban center' in my backwoods world. And the open painted area will be a commercial district.
Just another shot of the same area - note the loop of track in the back (below the white cork), that is the back of the main loop. That loop is right at one scale mile long and has only one passing siding.
Here we are, back at the yard. The most distant track leads to the scene above, the hill on the right providing a scene dividing view block.
That big tan thing on the left will be a cliff and a viewblock - of the old house communication system that doesn't work right now.
Here you see a track in the staging area and some experimenting with the approach to the turntable.
Here is a low angle shot of the passenger area. Oh, the track next to the turntable will be the MOW track.
And another low angle shot, of the freight area, including the team track ramp.
Another high angle shot.
Just an overall view of the room - can't see the port to the right or the 'urban center' in the left corner. And, yes, most of that stuff under the layout is related to the layout - and there is more you can't see in this view.
Of course, some of the stuff you see has nothing to do with the layout. Some of it is for my other modeling hobby - military miniatures.
Here we see my modeling work bench in the room - there is also a painting table next to sea port. More importantly, you can see the back drop behind the yard. And I guess I can admit here that this is version two of this layout and the backdrop was designed for that version and this was supposed to be the mining end of the layout. I could redo the backdrop but it works for me - and isn't that the whole point: having a layout that works for the person it is meant for? More importantly, the new layout just works better - not only is it simple, access to turnouts is much improved, an absolute essential to a good track plan.
I've been accused of needing a kitchen sink! A seaport, farming, mining, logging, industrial town, and yard - all in a spare bedroom. This is why I like N scale.
Stay tuned for some background on the layout concept and other 'holding forths' as the mood strikes. Hope you've enjoyed this first 'journey' on the Klamath Lake Western Railroad.
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