Some new pictures at last

First up in photos is the fascia work at Wildcat canyon, just below Ophir. Rico is on the right, and the end of the Telluride peninsula is near the tissue box.




Here's a couple shots of the Durango yard, and engine terminal. Eli has found the turntable pit, as you can see!




Here's the siding at Dolores. This area is also serving at tool storage at the moment, so it's kinda messy. The peninsula with Telluride is on the left, and the line descending from Lizard Head on its way to Rico is on the right, above Dolores. As you can see, Eli has been busy with his toy cars, while the layout is out-of-operation during this phase of construction.



Here's the new wye at Vance Junction; Telluride is up a steep 4% grade beginning at the bottom of the photo. Vance proper is to the left, and the tunnels on the right lead to Ridgway. That's a little of Dolores on the far right, and the staging tracks at McPhee sneaking under the wye. The Christmas-tree lights are hanging from the line to Lizard Head (out-of-view in the upper right-hand corner). The lights are to help me see the McPhee staging once the scenery is in place, in case of derailments or whatever.

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Here's the yard at Telluride, looking back toward Vance Jct. The high-line to Ophir is on the far left.




Here's a couple shots of the Ridgway yard. The wide tunnel in the first show leads to the staging tracks in the bathroom, and the mainline punches thru here on its way to Vance Jct. You can also see the beginnings of the engine termal at Ridgway tucked off on the left side.





















In other news, I've run out of track (and money!), so further tracklaying will be on hold for a while. I've just started to work on the fascia at Durango, which is more difficult than the others because of tight clearances at the bottom. At locations like Rico, the bottom edge of the fascia pivots as it drops, because the hinge is a good ways above the bottom edge. This works because the benchwork framing is several inches back here. But at Durango, the benchwork is only about 1" back from the fascia, and there's no room at all for the bottom to pivot in. So, the hinge point needs to be at the very bottom of the fasica. I'm building extra bracing there to support the hinges at the right locations there, and know that I've figured out what to do, the work should be straight-forward (but we'll see!).

Two towns complete; back to wiring

I've continued to find time to lay track, and have laid all of the code 55 ME flex that I have. Ridgway yard is now complete (except for the engine terminal), and the wye at Vance Jct and all of Telluride is completed as well. All of the passing sidings are laid, and spurs are completed in Hesperus, Mancos, Ophir, and Vance Jct.

In the course of this, I changed the track plan of the Ridgway yard slightly (see updated drawings), moving the runaround track alongside the yard ladder, and adding two more classification tracks.

In laying Telluride, and 'test operating' it my head, I also realized that track plan needed changes. On paper, or in my Trainplayer design, I could switch the town by leaving parts of a train on the line coming into town, toward the wye. But in reality, I realized that stretch of track is on a steep 4% grade, so it can't be used for switching, and would make switching the town very challenging. So - I've added another runaround track, behind the depot (which is what the prototype did at most towns anyway). I lose a little real estate for buildings, but I thought this was really needed for (again) operational sanity.

And now that I'm out of track, it's back to wiring (since none of this new track is wired yet). A friend at work also convinced me it's time to get my block detectors installed. This isn't a signaled railroad by any means (the poor RGS hardly had the money for track, let alone signals). But, I'm designing this layout for operation, and with the hidden track I have I, some type of detection is necessary for operator sanity.

After a fairly long search, I've settled on BD8 detectors from The Signaling Solution. I plan to install one at Ridgway's panel (to handle hidden and staging tracks in that area) and another in Durango's wiring panel (to handle Durango staging, hidden tracks, and the hidden track under Rico).

Makin' more tracks

I've finally figured out (or think I have) how to lay ME's code 55 track. I've been going great guns the last couple weekends, and have laid all of the passing sidings (Rico, Hesperus, Ophir, Vance and Dolores), and have nearly completed the staging area and main yard at Ridgway.

None of this is wired yet, but it feels great to be making progress on track laying like this.

Off to Iowa this weekend

Well, this posting has nothing to do with trains. I didn't work on the layout at all, but instead spent Saturday with Vineyard's mercy response team in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, helping w/ flood-damaged houses there. I was really not expecting the level of damage this town has suffered - block after block of empty homes and deserted streets (except for the Salvation Army truck distributing food & water to folks gutting houses).

It was a good experience. Our national arm of our church - Vineyard USA - has set up a full-time operation in Cedar Rapids (modeled on it's continuing program in New Orleans), managing volunteer teams that go out and help families with flood-damaged homes. The water rose to 10' in many neighborhoods, and many of the homes being worked on were flooded to the top of the first floor.

We sent about 40 people out, but stayed only for Friday night and Saturday. My group of 6 gutted a house that hadn't been touched since the floods in mid-June, and it was RIPE! It was low-income rental managed by a Four Square church (whose building is also trashed). It was great old frame home, built around 1900, very large. It had been coverted into two apartments, and the lower one's family apparently just ran and left most of their stuff. It was pretty heart-breaking to drag out piles of clothes, toys, electronics, school backpacks still full of books, etc - a whole family's life of belongings, nearly. We pulled the belongings, appliances, and other stuff out, then ripped out the carpet, then started demoing the interior of the first floor down to the studs.

They tell me houses like this can be saved, and it would be nice - it's a great old place. But the damage was pretty bad.

Anyway - perhaps back to trains next week!

Still in fascia land...

I must admit I've been outdoors more these last few weeks, given the great weather, so the layout is languishing a bit. I did get some more work done this weekend - still working on fascia. I installed three more drop-down panels - two at Dolores, and one at Hesperus - although these will be secured with screws instead of magnets, as I don't intend to open them unless I'm working under the layout in those areas.

With these three completed, there's a only a couple small areas left now.