So far I have torn down the closet wall and expanded the room. I have decided not to close in the door between the rooms because it really isn't necessary. The door is in a wide wall, so it won't be in the way. I'll just build my new benchwork over the opening.
Today I got the last of the demo materials removed and pulled up the tack strips. I got the hole in the ceiling patched, and then made a dump run to empty the trailer. This is what I have so far.
This is the view from the door looking to the left. Along this wall will run my staging yard. I'm still finalizing plans on this yard, but it will contain engine and car repair facilities, including a 12 stall roundhouse and turntable.
This is the view to the right. Along this wall will be the main part of the layout. My current plans, subject to change, is to have an expanded version of my current layout in this area.
Let's take a look inside, shall we?
This is the door coming in, the one we were just looking through. The staging yard will start in the gray area to the right of the door as we are looking at it now and extend along the wall to our right. To the left of this door will likely be the narrow gauge portion of the layout, built on the Woodland Scenics Scenic Ridge layout with some slight modifications. I have right at 8 feet of wall from the corner to the door.
This wall is 10 feet 10 inches long. The yard will extend almost 8 feet along this wall from the left side, and there will be a 15' radius turnaround loop in the corner on the right for the main part of the layout, extending along the wall to the right. I haven't yet made a final determination how that yard will tie into the main part of the layout, but there will likely be a Y involved, so there will be some fancy wiring needed.
This wall is 13 feet in length. The main part of the layout will be along this wall. So far as current plans go, it will be an extended version of my current switching layout. There will be a 15' radius turning loop on the left, and then the mainline will extend along the wall to the right. (Note the patch in the ceiling right above the ladder. When the room was used for storage a critter of undetermined nature got in there. I think it was a squirrel looking for building materials.)
This is another 10' 10" wall. The mainline will extend along this wall to another turnaround loop in the corner by the window. This turnaround loop will be almost totally disguised by a tunnel mimicking the CSX mainline at Point of Rocks, MD. A branch line will come out from the main here going to an interchange to the narrow gauge portion of the layout, which will be located on the wall to the right.
This is the tunnel at Point of Rocks. It originally contained a dual main line when the B&O built it, but since then trains have gotten taller with longer cars. The C&O Canal ran along the side of the cliff between it and the Potomac River. Eventually the canal closed, and sometime later the railroad center-lined one track in the tunnel and filled in the canal to build a bypass around the river side for the other main. I first saw this tunnel from the Highway 15 bridge above, and thought it was the perfect disguise for a turnaround loop. The link takes you to the page where I found the photo. But I digress.
I have two options for positioning the narrow gauge layout. As I said before, there is right at 8 feet from the corner to the door. If I butt the roadbed of the lower narrow gauge track loop on the Scenic Ridge layout right up to the roadbed of the standard gauge track on the turnaround loop, I will be able to build a single mountain for the two and run the narrow gauge 6 feet lengthwise along the wall. However, that leaves a problem with accessing the tunnel when the inevitable stall or train wreck occurs.
I can cut an access in the bottom, along with the access that will be needed for the turnaround loop, but that means climbing under the layout to get to it. Alternately, I can cut access holes in the top for both standard and narrow gauge loops, but since both will be on a 3 foot wide bench that is probably going to be too long a stretch to reach from the top. The advantage to this arrangement is there would be a single mountain in the corner which ties the standard and narrow gauge portions of the layout together and gives it some continuity.
Another option is to put the turnaround loop in the corner, extend 2 feet along the wall, and finish off with the 3 foot mountain end of the Scenic Ridge narrow gauge against the wall with the 6 foot portion sticking out into the room. I can then cut my access holes in the back, beside the entry door, for the narrow gauge and I won't have to crawl underneath to get to the track. I would still have to have a hole under the standard gauge loop because 3 feet into the corner is still a long stretch. The advantage here is two more feet of branch line, which gives some separation between the mainline and the narrow gauge, suggesting more distance between the two.
Mrs Hades asked me if I was going to build a 2 level layout, and I replied in the negative because it's really too much for a single modeler to deal with. However, I have since considered building an HO shelf layout above the N scale. I would lower the N scale a bit, perhaps making it comfortable to operate while seated, and put the HO scale at a comfortable level to operate while standing.
I have also considered moving the switching portion of the layout to the front of the yard extension, pushing the yard to the back side of that extension, and putting the dual mainline ending in Point of Rocks along the long wall. This would allow me to put the narrow gauge on the wall with the window and put the HO on the wall by the entry door.
That's the thing about an empty room. It's not really empty at all, it's filled with possibilities.
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