PRR/Conrail Juniata Division Engineering Report

[Dave V]

Main reason for the gate was because I didn't want turn back loops. Also didn't want hidden track behind the whole layout, but I guess in your case a 2 track turn back loop could end up looking like a 4 track mainline in the middle.

So yeah, hidden track isn't great either.  I envision the backside of an L or U shaped layout being primarily staging behind scenery or a very low backdrop.  Dunno.  But substantial run-through staging is key to pulling this all off because the Middle Division was primarily a "relay" division with little online traffic.

My footprint is about 9.5x9-sh if I want room for the Colorado Midland to share the room (which I do).

Don't forget, if this is your final move, you can start going through walls and stuff. 

Jason

True...but really the only place it'd make sense to do so is on the side of the room that's adjacent to the utility closet.  From there it would have to jump a doorway and then cut across my bar...     And I have entirely too much liquor in the way.   

[Philip H]

Actually, I think it would be very cool to design the ultimate railfan's layout. Mostly rural scenery. Maybe just one small city with a passenger station and a couple yard tracks, and an industry or two for looks. Run-through staging on both ends, double-track main. High volume of traffic. I can see it. Big challenge would be balancing the need for run-through staging with an adequate mainline run. As always, I'll be watching with interest.

In essence that's what @jereising has done, though in a larger space the @Dave Vollmer has.

Dave, question - if you all are staying put, are you set on that particular house?  from prior conversations I know what you like about it, and you all have done a ton of great work to really make it yours (H/T your amazing wife).  If so, is the train room static?  Because if you want some long mainline runs with a couple turn back loops for railfanning, that "outside" wall along the other room in the basement would be the bee's knees.

And while its not exactly Pennsy, here's a little something for inspiration:  http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/25781

[Dave V]

We're getting ahead of ourselves a bit...  Like I said we should know everything by March.  The results of my O-6 board, the results of my wife's Reserve O-6 board, whether or not I'll be medically retired (it's OK, I'll be at 21 years's service before then!), and whether my wife was hired for a three year activation at USAFA.

If I were to make O-6 then I would have to abandon my "senior military faculty" tenure on the USAFA faculty and would likely end up somewhere in the Pentagon neither teaching nor doing science.  So I leave it to you to interpret what I'm hoping to hear...   

If all goes right then yes, we stay here.  I've been eyeballing some of the really nice new neighborhoods on the north side of the Springs and Monument, but house prices here have really started going up again.  We've built quite a bit of equity in this house with the improvements we've made (redone kitchen, redone bath, finished basement, extended deck, new patio, and lots of little details I enjoy doing around the house like refinishing the bannisters, the floors, the fireplace, etc.) so I think we'd be foolish to go from sitting on equity to being house poor just to say we live in "Flying Horse Ranch" or "Pine Creek" and then have to deal with an HOA who won't let me build a garden railroad!

The train room is big enough had I stuck with one layout.  Having two in there is a challenge!  I've often thought of invading other parts of the basement...  Just not sure I want to.  It sounds awesome on paper but as soon as we do want to sell the house it's a liability.  Besides, having the Fortress of Trains being isolated is a good thing since when we have guests they often hang out in the basement...adults at the bar and kids at the X-box.

Invariably we will sell this house at some point, probably within 10 years.  Long-term civilian job prospects for meteorology in Colorado Springs are slim.  Boulder is the mecca for meteorologists in these parts as you know...and then there are all those jobs back East.  Patricia and I are both meteorologists so we're not exactly "well-rounded."

From a practical perspective I'm still intent on doing as little as possible that would cause either a drop in resale value of the house or require lots of last minute work to repair just before we put this on the market.

[Philip H]

If I were to make O-6 then I would have to abandon my "senior military faculty" tenure on the USAFA faculty and would likely end up somewhere in the Pentagon neither teaching nor doing science.  So I leave it to you to interpret what I'm hoping to hear...   

true - and as I know it takes a decade to break orbit from the National Capitol Region . . . . though it is closer to the mecca of Vitamin Y and Ed's Basement of Rituals that Shall Not Be Named.

[Dave V]

true - and as I know it takes a decade to break orbit from the National Capitol Region . . . . though it is closer to the mecca of Vitamin Y and Ed's Basement of Rituals that Shall Not Be Named.

Honestly each time I go back to that area--as much as I love spending time with friends and family--I'm even less interested in living there.

[chicken45]

Honestly each time I go back to that area--as much as I love spending time with friends and family--I'm even less interested in living there.

I've lost the taste for Vitamin Y. My beer does not need to have a political opinion.

[Dave V]

The DC area:  Traffic, crowded, high cost of living, insane home prices, hit-or-miss schools, attitude...  Ugh.

The biggest issue is not moving the kids again.  They're 14 and very soon to be 12.  They're heavily invested here in school, friends, sports, and Scouts.  Moving them again would be really hard on them.

[C855B]

The DC area:  Traffic, crowded, high cost of living, insane home prices, hit-or-miss schools, attitude...  Ugh.
...

Amen to that. For six months of 1991 I had a job on Eye Street and commuted from Alexandria. I negotiated the salary and took the job somewhat blind about the COL there, and was bitch-slapped and then some. Once we figured out we could live in Atlanta without a job for less than what it was costing us to live and work a (truly miserable) job in DC, we were out of there. And you're right about the attitudes there, even 25 years ago. "Predatory" is the most apt description.

Good luck. We've enjoyed our visits to Colorado, although we're more fond of the Denver area than CS, even with the traffic. That said, no warm fuzzies from our passing through Boulder a couple of times - sort of tough to get around, streets haven't kept up with the growth and traffic tends to snarl.

[Dave V]

Good luck. We've enjoyed our visits to Colorado, although we're more fond of the Denver area than CS, even with the traffic. That said, no warm fuzzies from our passing through Boulder a couple of times - sort of tough to get around, streets haven't kept up with the growth and traffic tends to snarl.

Ironically, I have post-Air Force prospects in Boulder but Boulder traffic and home prices would remind you of DC!  I go up there a lot for conferences and committee meetings and there's just never a good time to avoid the traffic.  If I did get hired there I'd be living well outside of Boulder.  Like DC it's over a half million for a POS <2000 sq ft 50's rancher with no updates in town.

[mu26aeh]

Patricia and I are both meteorologists so we're not exactly "well-rounded."

I like to advertise myself as a meteorologist who has a Commercial Drivers License and can cook meals, bake just about anything, paint walls, install floors, build cabinets, do minor electrical and plumbing work, and loves to be outside doing physical labor, either with hand tools or outdoor power equipment. 

[Dave V]

I've been mulling this new design in my head over and over...and it's really hard not to try to squeeze too much in.

I want to do Lewistown, of course, since I have DKS' fabulous kitbashed station.  But then I have a deep love of the Pennsy as it was in my ancestral Lancaster County, which is to say electrified.  The character of the Middle Division is very different than that of the Philadelphia Division, and there should theoretically be a locomotive change between the two, so they really don't work as two sides of the same layout unless I want to get wrapped around locomotive changes and classification/re-blocking yard operations...ugh.  I know that would make @Ed Kapuscinski breathe heavy, but not me, LOL.

And yet I have 3 Kato GG1s...and Keystone Details is developing PRR catenary...   

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I've been mulling this new design in my head over and over...and it's really hard not to try to squeeze too much in.

I want to do Lewistown, of course, since I have DKS' fabulous kitbashed station.  But then I have a deep love of the Pennsy as it was in my ancestral Lancaster County, which is to say electrified.  The character of the Middle Division is very different than that of the Philadelphia Division, and there should theoretically be a locomotive change between the two, so they really don't work as two sides of the same layout unless I want to get wrapped around locomotive changes and classification/re-blocking yard operations...ugh.  I know that would make @Ed Kapuscinski breathe heavy, but not me, LOL.

And yet I have 3 Kato GG1s...and Keystone Details is developing PRR catenary...   

Easy solution. Find your local NTRAK club.
Make a Lewistown Module.

Then go make the rest of the layout the stretch from Harrisburg to Royalton.

[davefoxx]

Electrify the Middle Division.  Problem solved.  You're welcome.   

[Dave V]

Easy solution. Find your local NTRAK club.
Make a Lewistown Module.

Then go make the rest of the layout the stretch from Harrisburg to Royalton.

Oh, sh!t.   

[Dave V]

If I were to do this...........

.......how do I explain all the M1s and K4s?   

Other than that, man I could do Lancaster, Columbia, and Royalton so I could mix up some freight and passenger ('cause in Pennsy days fright was primarily separated from the Main Line and sent over the A&S Low Grade Line).

Hmmm...  Need to 3-D print COLA and CORK towers.