Having waited perforce of other duties, it is finally time to get back to working on the layout...and updating this little blog. What really ignited the recent fire was a holiday visit from a nephew on the wife's side of the family. His excitement at trains got me to refocus on the track plan. And I decided to explore an alternative and came up with several improvements. No matter how satisfied we are with a layout, there is always room for making it better.
The following photos are not in proper sequence but do show some changes/improvements. So follow along as best you can and stitch it all together into a more complete "image" as best you can. And note that I've finally tumbled to the photo caption option. Duh! Been sitting there staring me in the face.
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| This photo shows where the logging area will be, on that raised portion. Also, that raised portion will be a "unit" that can be secured in place and, if it ever becomes a need, be easily removed to preserve the work done on this piece. As a matter of fact, that is one of the major improvements: there will be at least five such "units" built in to the layout. The logging section will consist of a lumber yard, a very small passenger station, hopefully a spring water company (somehow), and - up on that higher elevation - a logging camp with tree felling underway and including several donkey engines. The sawmill is 3" above the base layout height and the logging area is 5" higher. |
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| This shows the residential area adjacent to the seaport in the foreground with the commercial district behind it and one temporary stand-in industry against the wall. There are five more houses I need to build to add to the scene. This is really cool to me, I get to have a spacious up-scale residential area. Some may argue I should use the area for even more rail served industries but this has been one of my long term goals, that residential section. And with room for lots of street and yard as well. That is the logging area in the background with some stand-in buildings just placed there for the moment. |
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| And here is something that really jazzes me. I will have a spit of land reaching out from the mainland to this lighthouse, it will be one bracket to the piers and quays. That edge of the sea surface board should really be flush with that corner you see below the houses. Still debating how low to place the water, either .75" or 1.5" below the base level - or something in between (?). |
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| This is a look down the wide boulevard in the commercial area. In fact, my plan is to have a street run down either side with a wide planted strip in the center; not quite a town square but something similar. Again, most of these structures are just to gauge the effect. Note the temporary station at the far end - and that 'industry' along the back wall. There will be a few to several more along that space served by a single spur track. |
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| Just a slightly closer shot of the station and the industry. You can get an idea of how the track leads towards the seaport here. That bit of cork that leads to the wall and climbs it is where there will be two tracks, one a lead from the yard and the other an interchange track with the Northwestern Pacific. |
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| This is the opposite end of the layout and across the room from the port leg of the U-shaped layout. What you see here is the wild and scenic end of the layout. The nearest track will have a not too high (2" or less) wooden trestle below a tall cliff - at least part of it will be 18" above the base height of the layout. And in front of the trestle is where the river will run from right edge to left face at the bottom left. (There will be a box built on the left to protect access to a light switch for the room) Where you see the cards and upside down molds is where three tunnels will be, one on either side of the trestle and one on the reversing loop that is inside the turn-back curve at this end of the layout. By the way, that track where the trestle will be is going to be 2" above the base height you see here - it is is the track that rises from the yard to head up the oval and return loop. |
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| Here you have to imagine that larger piece of plywood being 2" higher than you see it. You also have to envision a cliff behind those two buildings. The lower one on the left represents where the Stamp Mill will be and the higher one on the right is where the actual Mine will be. And in the space closer to the camera but still on the unpainted plywood will be a company town, maybe ten to twelve small structures. Obviously, you can see where the roundhouse will be. By the way, that bit of track on the left closest to your view is the grade up from the yard to the upper L-shaped oval - a bit over one scale mile around that oval. |
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| This section, the unpainted plywood, is the farming area. Behind the tracks will be the farm industries, in front of it will be the town structures, rural small town America circa 1925. To the right will be three or four farms, maybe one to the left towards the mining area. The ones on the right will be closer to the logging area. The front track for the upper oval is not there at the moment. All the track is just laid in place as part of the planning process. That front track will be lower than the farming section which will be at 2 1/2 inch height. |
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| Just another shot of the logging area better showing where the actual log camp will be. the covered area of track is going to be a tunnel. |
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| Those tracks at the front, above all that storage below, is where the freight yard will be, a simple stub ended arrangement. To the rear from left to right will be a stock yard for stock resting, a loading ramp for the team track, the freight station the last two served by the same track that is not shown, and - served by a different track accessed beyond the coach yard will be the icing platform to ice up the reefers. |
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| This is the end where there will be a passenger station and behind it the coach yard. And in back of that will be another track, not shown, that will be the combined MOW track and caboose tracks. Also the track that leads to the icing platform. You can see the port town area on the right. |
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| Here is a view of the harbor area. At the back will be a long bit of land with several tracks and several industries. Take the closest ship and move it back by that black bridge (think of that bridge as another ship) and then follow along. Between the 'yellow' ship and the nearest 'white' one will be a wide pier with a couple of industries on it plus two tracks. The other white ship will be served by a spur on a quay. Those two wooden models flank where there will be another pier with only one track and one industry. The bridge/ship is where another quay will be with an indent to a third where that closest ship will be moved to. I hope to also put a spit of land on that far edge to be the opposite bracket to the harbor from where the lighthouse shown far above will be. That industrial building will not be there, that is where those waterfront homes will be. |
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| A different view and temporary arrangement of the commercial district before the more finalized version above. |
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| That steeply angled track at the back shows the gap between the farming section and the logging section. It will be cut to fit and match and include the appropriate grades. I will include as many farm scenes as I can in that interval towards the back. |
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| An alternate view of the freight yard. You have to imagine the third track from the left foreground being parallel instead of at an angle and you will see that there will seven tracks in this area. |
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| Last, this is the engine servicing area, the turntable (obviously) and one of what will be two leads to it with a third track to the rear for bringing in supplies to this area and for clean out cars - say the ashpit needs cleaning. You can also see the gap to be filled in between the mining section and the farming section. On the mining section you can sort of get an idea of the placement of the reversing look track - see the spot on the right background, nearer edge of the plywood. |
I've figured it to be one and a half scale miles from the seaport to the halfway point of the return loop so that adds up to a three mile out and back operation - without adding miles on the continuous run loop which is created by a pair of carefully placed crossovers that forces a train to transit the entire oval before returning downgrade past the river and into the yard.
So, a recap: There will be a small yard with three areas: engine servicing, freight switching, and passenger equipment handling. There will be a seaport with industries to switch - and plenty of room in the harbor for small ships and boats. And also a generous commercial district and residential area. Another section is devoted to the lumber industry with a sawmill and a logging operation - and a nice steep grade to justify those geared locomotives I have. Hopefully, I can jigger in the spring bottling company I want to include. In the opposite corner of the room will be the farming district with a town area, an industrial area, and the farms. Then there is the mining area with the mine, stamp mill, and company town (and maybe a quarry if I can squeeze it in). Last of all will be the scenic area with the tall cliff and the river below it. Plan on quite a few wild critters roaming about.
And all of this is set in the 1920's of far north west California.
Hope you enjoy the update. I'm excited with where things are at.
