Grand Trunk Southern

[shark_jj]

Well, as the last few posts show, I was progressing into scenery.  Was, being the operative term.  I have hosted a couple of operating sessions during December as I had the layout running for the grand children.  When I originally designed the main yard, it had a stub end classification yard.  Unfortunately, this is the best picture that I have of the yard. 



You can see it behind the mains and the arrival departure tracks.  Going into these operating sessions I had concerns about whether this yard design was going to work out or not for the volume of trains I intended to run.  It was quickly apparent that running the yard was a challenge and that two yard operators would be better, however that would require that I double end the yard.  I am only months from turning 70 so one of my goals with this layout, is to do it right, since I doubt there is another layout in my future.  So, in for a penny, in for a pound.  My buddy Justin came over a few days ago and we tore the classification yard out, removed all of the tortoises, and laid out on the benchwork where the new yard would go.

Here we see the west end of the yard with the stub end yard removed and the new yard throat being designed.



This photo captures where the turntable sat and has now been filled in.  Certainly happy I didn't throw out the piece of plywood that fit that hole.



Here is the new east end of the yard being laid out to make it double ended.



That was the end of Day 1 of the rebuild.

[shark_jj]

Day 2 was all about cork.

Cork laid on the west end.



Cork laid on the east end.



That was the end of Day 2, other than the time I spent taking out the hidden trackage underneath the yard.  More on that later.

[shark_jj]

Today was Day 3 of the rebuild, time to start relaying track.

Here is an in progress shot of  the west end of the yard.



Good friend and track guru Justin putting in the last piece of track in the yard.  It is amazing how quickly the work will go with an extra set of hands.  Towards the bottom of this picture you will see the one of the styrene templates we made up years ago to help laying switches.  Allows you to position the hole to drill for the throw bar and the holes for the power drops.



Here is a view of the finished east end.



The finished west end



End of Day 3.  Excellent progress being made on this project.  Next up, Tortoise installation, and then wiring.  Then the engine shops and turntable behind the new yard.

[CNR5529]

It amazes me how quickly you and Justin get work done! Looking forward to seeing how the yard jobs handle the added capacity.

[shark_jj]

It has been a month and we have  been moving forward on the GTS.  The new yard is finished. 24 Tortoises are installed and wired.  The Tracks are wired.  And I decided in the midst of the process to change how I handled switches on the layout and move from switches in the fascia to control panels, so I rewired all the tortoises to lead to control panels.  Here are a couple photos of the west end of the yard.  The CP Train and the Train with the GT Caboose are on the Arrival and Departure tracks while the PRR Coal train is on the Westbound Freight Main.



Same shot from a higher angle.  The switches in the back will lead to the turntable and roundhouse which are on the future projects list.



Now a couple of similar photos from the east end of the yard.  One low, one high.



From this higher angle you can again see the switch at the back which will lead to the turntable and roundhouse.  The buildings in the back are just taking up space for the moment covering some plywood.

[shark_jj]

As mentioned, I decided to take my switches off the fascia and put them on control panels.  Here are a couple of photos of the panels for the east end of the yard.  So far I have installed 12 of these panels around the layout with 7 more to go.  The track you see underneath is my 14 track staging yard.  It looks close to the bottom of the panel, but is in reality 18 inches below it. 

[Cajonpassfan]

Nice. Good to see so much progress. I like what you're doing with the gray Walthers substation (?) kit.
Panels look good too. I assume you went back to consolidated panels to minimize clutter and provide clear graphic displays? Keep the pics coming pls.
Otto K.

[shark_jj]

In addition to finishing the yard, the round robin gang were over on Saturday and we worked on some scenery projects.

My plan is to work along the backdrops first and then from there forward.  These two scenes are on the upper main line leading to the yard.

[shark_jj]

This is the area at the end of the bump out leading around to the paper mill at Ethansburg.  We have begun to tree this large hillside.

[shark_jj]

We also did some ballasting on the mainline along the front of the paper mill, and we ballasted the paper mill yard as can be seen in this view.  One of the few areas I am working from the front in.

[GaryHinshaw]

This looks really good.  The foliage colour and placement are especially nice, as is the transition to the backdrop.  My only slight critique is that the exposed rock looks a bit too clean/light in this setting.  I might have gone with a darker grey and worked in some silt, along the lines of what @davidgray1974 did in the foreground of this scene:

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/gallery/2/2390-011017230139.jpeg

Please keep the updates coming!

[shark_jj]

Excellent suggestion Gary, I was looking at it myself last night and thought it was lacking something, I think you pointed me in the right direction.

[LIRR]

very nice work with the backdrops...

[shark_jj]

Jason Shron, Dan Garcia, and Jordan Smith from Rapido Trains were at the layout this week and shot a video to promote the Turbo Train.  These are custom painted pre production prototypes.

[learmoia]

Cool... Fits right in... (maybe they can produce a GT model for you)

Damn that is tempting!!..

Love your layout.. I have fond memories of Grand Trunk in my childhood, and this layout takes me back..

~Ian