Setting the Stage - Part Deux

[wm3798]

Okay, so now that I have a branch leading to a small staging yard, I'm hungry for more.
This is what I've come up with to enable me to have a fully functioning model railroad until I can finish building my fully functioning model railroad...


Here's the full size link:  http://www.wmrywesternlines.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/Staging_Yard.JPG

Pardon the width of the file, but that's the nature of a shelf-style layout.

This will be mounted on shelf brackets down the front wall, with the section where the local yard is being removable to access the window when it's time to put the air conditioner up.  The section with the turntable and the main yard extends over Andy's dresser, with about 10" clear below the layout deck.  Plenty of room for socks, Yugi-Oh cards, and a couple of Bionicles.  The left end, as indicated, is the branch that leads to the Wye, the right side dead-ends into the sloped ceiling.  The section in front of the window (The Local Yard) is more or less in place.

With the temporary yard, loops and sidings, I can manage most trains at around 15 cars, and my long sidings can swing up to 25.  I'm trying to keep the cost of this project to a minimum, so I'm scavenging whatever old turnouts I have laying around that can be made functional (Gives us your tired, your poor...)  I'm planning to use code 80 so I can get what I need locally, although if the list gets too big, I might just go ahead and get c55 so I can re-use it as the new, permanent yard takes shape.

Anyway, the wye makes it possible to use this yard for both east and west bound trains, in and out.  There's enough run-around track to the left of the bridge to bring in a 25+ car train.  I plan to use my BL-2 as the yard goat, since it weighs a ton and does pretty well at slow speeds.

Stay tuned for further developments...
Lee

[MEC_FAN]

Go, Lee go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Keep us posted.

Mec

[asciibaron]

when can i come over and operate (derail) a train?

-Steve

[amato1969]

Looks great!  You're packing a lot of operation into a modest space.  Nice!

[wm3798]

Bless me Father, for I have sinned...
I took one of the... well, two... of the panels that I had made for Andy's HO layout to build the yard shelf.  They were handy, they were in storage, and they were already paid for.

These weren't so bad, because they are unmodified, and can be pressed back into service whenever we get him back into his own room.  But I need to cut the next one to finish the project, filling in 17" between the end of the shelf and the sloped ceiling.

Here's a look at the Engine Terminal area.  The turntable is huge, and I may come up with Plan B here, but it's soooo tempting to get that beautiful turntable installed...  We shall see.



That's probably all the further I'll get for awhile, at least until the weekend.

In the meantime, I've set up 4 scheduled trains plus two coal extras and the mill switcher so I can scratch my operations itch.

Lee

[Ian MacMillan]

Christ Lee, you move faster than anyone I know, and produce great results at said speed.

[wm3798]

It's because I hardly have any work right now...  Not the best time to start an expensive project like a yard!

All the wood and what not is left over from previous projects, so I just wait till my wife leaves for the grocery, then I head out to the garage.  I build sub-assemblies out there, then tote them up to the attic and  kerpow.

This is really just a line of shelves down the wall, no brain science.  The hard part will be getting the turntable in the ground without it interfering with the shelf brackets underneath.

Lee

[wm3798]

That was taken at the 1989 joint convention of the WMRHS and a B&O group from Ohio that we organized in Cumberland.  We were able to get CSX to bring WM6573 (former 3798) and a B&O geep still in blue for some photo specials.  We all climbed aboard our respective diesels, and the paparazzi did their thing.

That's me on the front steps of the WM engine... ;D

Lee