I had been meaning to start a thread on the progress of my new layout and finally got around to it. This first part is what I have been up to the past two weeks.
Last week I tore up my old layout. Based on some feed back I had gotten on here I decided that I probably wouldn't get as much as I had hoped for the layout. So I used it for scrap. I was surprised at how much usable flex track I was able to pull up. Some of the switches came up ok, others had some problems with the ties pulling away from the cork roadbed. But the good news is that they were fixed up pretty easily. I was even able to reuse some of the foam to cover the new layout.
The original plan was the first image that I was using up until this weekend. A yard running the full 80 in. of the layout seemed a bit long for my switcher to be running up and down. I laid out some flex track and cars on the layout to get a sense of the scale and confirmed that it really did feel like an expanse compared to my old layout. I redesigned the layout to replace the yard with an interchange track (now at the top of the layout). A hill or scenic divider will obscure the top left part of the interchange track from the rest of the layout so it can double as a sort of staging area.
I reworked it and came up with the second version. This arrangement fits in better with my operational plan of having cars be delivered by a foreign road, have the local switch crew do the set outs and pickups from the industries and then send off the cars back to another road. It also means I have to buy fewer switches. Before I would to have purchased 3 switches, now I can do this plan with only buying one, or none if I decide to scratch the extra siding by the interchange track.
The last to pictures are of the frame before the plywood and foam, and with the foam in its new home. It takes up most of the room so I am not even able to fit it all in the picture. It also has a coat of brown paint on it which I haven't gotten around to photographing.
Last week I tore up my old layout. Based on some feed back I had gotten on here I decided that I probably wouldn't get as much as I had hoped for the layout. So I used it for scrap. I was surprised at how much usable flex track I was able to pull up. Some of the switches came up ok, others had some problems with the ties pulling away from the cork roadbed. But the good news is that they were fixed up pretty easily. I was even able to reuse some of the foam to cover the new layout.
The original plan was the first image that I was using up until this weekend. A yard running the full 80 in. of the layout seemed a bit long for my switcher to be running up and down. I laid out some flex track and cars on the layout to get a sense of the scale and confirmed that it really did feel like an expanse compared to my old layout. I redesigned the layout to replace the yard with an interchange track (now at the top of the layout). A hill or scenic divider will obscure the top left part of the interchange track from the rest of the layout so it can double as a sort of staging area.
I reworked it and came up with the second version. This arrangement fits in better with my operational plan of having cars be delivered by a foreign road, have the local switch crew do the set outs and pickups from the industries and then send off the cars back to another road. It also means I have to buy fewer switches. Before I would to have purchased 3 switches, now I can do this plan with only buying one, or none if I decide to scratch the extra siding by the interchange track.
The last to pictures are of the frame before the plywood and foam, and with the foam in its new home. It takes up most of the room so I am not even able to fit it all in the picture. It also has a coat of brown paint on it which I haven't gotten around to photographing.