With my 30th birthday rapidly approaching, I took a moment to reflect on my layout's 5 years of construction. The current layout is the longest lived and most complete of my endeavors.
When I started building 5 years ago, little did I know how my skills would increase, and my views on the how I practiced the hobby would change.
Before I wouldn't dreamt of kitbashing or scratchbuilding. But after some prodding, I kitbashed my first structure. Now the majority of my major buildings are kitbashes of some sort. Same with scratchbuilding. After scratchbuilding a few small bridges, I had the courage to tackle my biggest project to date, the reinforced concrete viaduct over the Bourbon River valley.
I railroad for a living, so the layout wasn't designed for operation, a la Tony Koester. After some intriguing articles in MR and threads here, however, I gave it a try. Guess what, I actually enjoyed it. That was a big reason for adding a second switching area at North Falls. A productive discussion here, lead to the design of an engine terminal that is an operational center in it's own right, rather then simply a place to store my excess engines. A hostler to while way the hours here, and not need to venture beyond Lampson Yard.
I wasn't too keen on DCC. The cost. The learning curve. Installing all those decoders. Then I ran on a few DCC layouts, and started changing my mind. Adding the engine terminal sealed the deal. It's difficult to REALLY hostle engines around using DC. So as soon as the bank allows, the Bourbon River Sub, will go DCC.
At first, I had a hodge podge of equipment from different eras, and locations. As construction progressed, and my knowledge of several prototypes grew, I found myself drawn toward a more prototypical approach. Soon, I was acquiring equipment based on correct road and era. This also led the need for some custom painted equipment, something I hadn't wanted to do before. I will admit, I still contract out the complex paint work to a buddy, but I have since painted several simple (read one color) projects myself.
Enough of my rambling, and on to the before and after pics.
First off, the relatively current track plan. Three more tracks were added to the Lampson Yard, as well as, an engine service facility.
The focal point of the layout is Lackawanna Junction, located directly across from the entry door. It's the first thing you see.
Here with the scenery just underway:
Lackawanna Junction's current look:This area represents some of the earliest scenery I did. Consequently, I'm not happy with the way some of it looks compared to my later efforts. Also, the lack of cross over between the Mains and Plaster Falls Branch (at CP Greg, bottom front is photo) is an operational handicap. So, this area will be redone in the near future to incorporate said crossover and upgraded scenery.
Plaster Falls is one of two industrial switching areas. This area is accessed by the Plaster Falls Branch, and contains four customers, and an the PRR interchange.
This early photo shows mostly building mock ups:
With the buildings mostly complete, the area has a good deal of character:After the changes to Lackawanna Junction, I plan on shifting the interchange around, and adding a team track.
The other main switching area is North Falls, and is served from Lampson Yard. Three customers are located here. Before any real plans:
With some concrete ideas, and construction:Consalvi Concrete, at the back still needs some silos, and an unloading shed. For Ristuccia Plastics, middle right, I have to extend the track some, and add some plastic pellet unloading facilities.
Next we move on to some of the more scenic areas.
Huntington Ridge/CP Haines:
Gindin Mountain:
Nick
Take a Ride on the Reading with the: Reading Company Technical & Historical Society http://www.readingrailroad.org/
Wow, Nick! You've really made some progress in the five last years. Congratulations. Your efforts have really paid off. Can't wait to see how much better it is in the next five years.
Tom
Life is simple - eat, drink, play with trains!
Go Big Red!
PA&ERR "If you think you are doing something stupid, you're probably right!"
Rummaging around some I found the original track plan:
Now compare to the current up to date track plan:
Note the vastly increased yard capacity and switching operations. For the most part, I laid out the main line according to the original plan, but adding in the branch, yard and industrial tracks as I built.
Here's a few more pics of the switching areas.
North Falls from it's operating aisle:
Plaster Falls from the opposite side: