I've been keeping a fairly steady journal of the progress of reconstructing my layout elsewhere, so I won't bore you with all the details, but here's a quick synopsis of how far we've come since the project began in the fall of 2009...
First, here's the track plan that we had been working with, which included some temporary loops on the peninsula to allow for some roundy roundy, a "utility sub" to connect the yard at Ridgeley and the staging yard to the layout, and at times, a small boy's bedroom furniture...
Here's a quick photographic review of what it looked like:
The yard was compact, but functional. It was also easily overwhelmed with the volume of trains, especially since it was constantly interrupted by traffic flowing in and out of staging.
The temporary peninsula provided some passing sidings and switching, but were terribly cramped and spaghetti like. Form followed function, and tight radius on the low line hampered longer rolling stock. Still, it was fun to experiment with scenery and structures here...
To make all of this work, there was a wye junction that took trains from the utility sub and sent them either eastbound or westbound around the layout.
And yes, you needed an advanced degree in physics to figure it out. In the end it was useful, and I could get trains to sort of feel like they were going somewhere, but there remained obvious shortcomings.
So, after a considerable amount of consultations with my operating group, and with the help of David K. Smith's wizardry with track planning software, I arrived at a more or less final new system plan, which is shown here:
Although the main lines and staging loops have been completed, I'm still working the kinks out of the yard design, but for all intents and purposes, this is what I'm now working with. Here's the staging yards that will support all the action:
Here's a tour of what's been changed.
First, we gleefully tore out the dreaded Utility Sub, and dismantled the yard. With the help of Phil Hoffmann and Dave Foxx (behind the camera) we laid the foundation for the new west end staging yard. At the same time, we fired the first shot at the Thomas Sub, hanging the bare shelf that would be Elkins.
A while later, I girded my loins for the prospect of an extended period of being unable to run trains, and abandoned the old peninsula. Denuded of trees, rolling stock and details, it had an eerie look to it.
I completely dismantled the peninsula and constructed a new frame for it, and officially got underway in June of 2010.
I spent most of the summer reworking the peninsula, which now looks like this:
Inspired, I took on extending the Thomas Sub all the way up to the previously installed Elkins shelf, which involved another work crew day, installation of the impossibly tight helix in the corner, and the engineering of a removable bridge for across the front window.
More later as I get time to review and re-edit...
Lee
