Saturday, December 26, 2009

Planning ahead.....


I'm almost done with laying track so I'm starting to plan for the next stage; scenery and structures. One of the first structures I want to tackle is Crawford Grain pictured here. I've been trying to find some large grain bins that match these but not had much luck. The Walther's bins are about as close as I can find but aren't anywhere near big enough. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Lots of progress since my last update!!

I've made a good bit of progress since my last update. Here's a few shots. 

This is a view of the "Louisville" yard on the upper deck. That right hand turnout will lead to one more yard track that will have the Georgia Pacific lead off of it. This is the only track left to install on the upper deck. My goal was to have ALL track in by Christmas. Not sure that I'll make that but I do plan on having all the upper deck done. 

This is a shot of the East end of the Meridian yard on the lower deck. The yard is KCS while the double track on the right is the NS. This yard is complete. The only track left here is a four track hidden staging yard behind the backdrop. The switch for this yard is on the other end of the yard and will go though the backdrop via an industry roll up door. 

This is a shot of the KCS main from Artesia as it approaches the NS crossing at the East end of the Meridian yard. I'm starting to get more bridges in. This is another Scale Segmental Bridge Co. kit that was a joy to build. The double track in the background is the NS, I've got another concrete bridge that I hope to get in next week. 

This is a shot of the Crawford siding and the Crawford Grain spur. This was the last siding that I had to get in on the lower deck. There is very little track left to install. On the lower deck, I've got that hidden staging behind the Meridian yard, another four track hidden staging behind Artesia yard, the Wye track at the North end of Artesia and finally the TXI Cement plant South of Artesia. On the upper deck is that one yard track and the Georgia Pacific track. Once I get all that in, I'll be done with track and ready to move to structures and scenery. I'm ready for that.

Been a slow layout week...

I've had a slow week working on the layout as I got involved in a few DCC installs on some locomotives. One thing I've learned is DC...