Image 1
My combined Colorado & Kansas and Missouri Western Engine facility is stub ended at my workbench. it is also now my main charging station for locomotives which have internal non removable batteries. It is also track powered to test DC locomotives being worked on. In spite of being almost 100% battery powered I do have some switchers which are DC. The mainline for now will not have track power, if ever.
Image 2
One of my major additions has been the new railyard. I really wanted a run through yard, but had to settle for a stub end yard ending at the right side of my workbench. These two tracks coming off the main are my yard leads. They cross over the aisle on a hinged bridge to the yard. In the distance you can see the crossovers that allow trains from the yard to use either main.
Image 3
Here is a long view of the new yard. The yard had proven great for switching and making up trains. The long double leads serve as a runaround track and the track on the right allows for a lot of room to make up really long trains. The stub tracks on the right with the plow will be covered by a car repair shed. The plow was kitbashed from a Bachmann eight wheel caboose.
Image 4
here is a close up of what will be a car repair shop. I haven't decided yet but the car repair shop will probably be open sided to show detail. The box car shed and the tank are from parted out junk cars I found left in the crawl space when we moved in. The box car shed will probable be moved elsewhere once the shed gets built. You get a little better view of the plow kit bash as well. The yard will also be track powered and the wires are just temporarily in place in this picture and will be completely hidden.
Image 5
MW 202, an NW 2, sits on the caboose track. The piggy back flats with the green Missouri Western Trailers are Bachmann Flat cars modernized by removing the tie rods adding deck rails, Brettendorf trucks and a modern brake wheel, they are then weighted enough to be used anywhere in a long train. The cabooses on the shelf are from left to right a kit bashed drovers caboose, a shorty one window caboose and the stock eight wheel caboose. The yard stubs on the right side of the the workbench which is convenient for moving cars to and from the shelves. I would have liked one additional yard track, but so far the existing tracks have provided a lot of great switching fun.
Image 6
Even with one less track the distance between tracks is still tight. The aluminum uncoupler rod is a made from a thin piece of aluminum I bought at Lowe's and bent with pliers to an L shape. Works very well in the tight spaces of the yard. I use both Bachmann and USA Trains couplers since they are very compatible together without modification. I do put USA TRAINS couplers on many of my modernized Bachmann cars like the the piggyback flats in the background. Because of the height of the yard, I have to use a stool to reach over all the tracks. I will build a step up shelf on the floor the entire length of the yard to eliminate the need for moving a stool around.
Image 7
At this point I will go around the main line showing the newer construction, industry ideas, and operations possibilities as we go. Looking back at Photo 2 of this update we see the yard track leading out to the double track mainline and a crossover that allows trains to move to either main line from the yard. The track then parallels the aisle, curves over the lower main and over to the wall on the other side of the room heading down grade back toward the the yard and engine facility end of the layout.
Image 8
As we continue on the main along the outside wall past the temporary mural we see the crossover here which allows trains or locomotives going to the engine facility to enter from either main line. It also allows switching at the oil refinery seen in the very far right.
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Image 10
The oil refinery will be one of my major industries. The track in front of the pickup trucks is the lead track to the engine facility. My plan is to apply a photo mural of the Commerce City, Colorado oil refinery to the wall with only the real loading platform and a few actual storage tanks in the foreground to add depth. I staged these photos to illustrate my scale problem. The tank cars on the left are 1:22.5 Bachmann standard line cars. The pickup on the left is 1:24th scale and it along with 1:24 scale buildings are what I used to go along with the 1:22.5 scale trains on my old indoor layout. On the right are the 1:29th scale tanks cars and the red pickup is 1:32nd scale is what I used on the outdoor layout. In my train world, I use my Bachmann standard line narrow gauge trains to represent standard gauge rather than the narrow gauge. So now I only have one layout for both sizes. I can decide what scale to use for people, buildings and vehicles. So far I am leaning to using 1:24 scale for the buildings, 1:32 scale for vehicles, since there are many available. As for people I will go with whatever looks decent with whatever scene I am doing.
I am going to stop for now, but as always I am open to comments, questions, criticism, and ideas you may have about what I am doing. Everything I learned about model railroading I learned from others, and even at 75 years old I am still willing to learn.
More coming soon.
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