Changes made

Well I have made some changes to the layout sections that are left and did some scenery and track re-alignment projects. I will do a show and tell to go with the photos.

Shows the scenery that was there and that has been removed in order to make progress. The first two are before and the 3rd and 4th are the after photos

Here is the gap track to span the 2 modules. Prior to this, the modules where not at the same height and I had to remove the one on the right and use my "highly secret, patented" module alignment tool. Once that step was completed and adjustments made, the tracks lined up height wise nearly perfect. After many high speed test, the engineering department signed off on it and the track gang moved right along. Granted that track section will not always be pretty but until it is in a permanent mode, I will make it the best I can.

In the 3 photos above you can see the new tracks that have been installed, tested and have yet to be wired up. I will do  another post on the wiring of them.

Hope that you enjoy seeing some of the slow progress that I have made over the past few weeks. Until next time, have a great day.
 

Rebuild started

Well just a quick update as I have started to redesign and rebuild of the layout.  Nothing is set in stone yet but here are some pics of the work done thus far. Progress will be slow due to work and looking at a few new track plans for ideas. The first shot shows scenery that's been removed from what you see in the 2nd picture. 3rd photo shows tracks removed and module shortened to 6 feet and ready to be adapted to free standing.

some progress made

While I do not have any photos of the progress I did the other day,  I have removed the track from the ACL diamond to the bridge and beyond going towards the yard. The only remaining track from that section to the yard is the track across the double track bridge and turn out just past the bridge.

My current intent is to save the work I have done with the house on the hill scene as well as the river scene and re-install the track in a more free laced prototype fashion.  Meaning the curves will be broader for better operations of all rolling stock and actual appearance.

As for my current yard section (Griffin) I'm undecided on the fate of that area.  I would like to salvage the work and just modify the bench work.  I have been doing some minor engineering work on how to save it and best turn it into a single module.

I have also considered a complete rebuild of the yard as well but due to money issues (new construction costs and lack of available Atlas code 55 turn outs) I am highly considering the stand alone module option  and saving money for a newer yard later and changing the current yard to Raymond. That is if and when I can obtain enough turn outs to do such.

Anyways enough for the ramblings,  just letting you all know that I have been actually doing something with the layout in my ever busy life.

Down but not out

Well since my last post about the layout, I have had to move and take the layout apart.
It did survive the move as it was designed to do. There is some track repairs and then some scenery repairs that will have to be made before trains once again roll. But the main section that was completed, the Griffin area, has been temporarily mounted on the wall to keep it from getting any damage. That module will also receive some upgrades to it as it will no longer be an end module with the track returning to the back side. It will be reconfigured to have another module connect to it on the facing right side. The module that was connected to it on the facing left, will also receive some track upgrades as well.

I do not have a new track plan for the layout but the layout will grow in size to about three times the size it was originally build. It was originally approximately 60 sq ft and will grow to approx. a 12x18 layout with the depth of the layout being two feet deep. This is the tentative plan as of right now. There are some other options that I am considering and one of them is to run it as a point to point layout along three walls of my new train room. The length of two wall runs would be 18ft and the other would be 24ft. As there are quite a few options that I have, I have yet to come to a set plan but when I do, it will be presented here.

Goal Almost Complete

Well I had a goal of getting the Griifin area to a stage of being complete without all the details by the end of 2012. This goal was to have the area completed enough to give a non-modeler a sense that it was complete. Well I did not meet that goal completely but I made enormous headway in the past 2 months that I have been working on the area. From the previous post that I have made, I had to work on buildings, build a road and form a hill for the road bridge, do scenery, make trees etc. Well I would say that I achieved 85% of my goal. There is a section of the town that has an open space that I have decided to fill with two buildings that I have to build, paint and eventually detail. Also the tree making project continues. I think that I still need to make about 20 something trees to get the scene where I want it to be. Well here are the current pics of the progress.
I also built a fence and placed around the parking lot of the freight house to break up the openness of the scene.

Some Glue is Still Wet.....

Well some of the glue is still drying from my tree planting party I had today. Here is the latest batch of the updated photos of the work I have completed. Hope that you all enjoy.

Here is a video update of the latest progress on the layout.
Enjoy!!