The Ascent to the Stone Arches

 Made more progress this weekend than I expected. We’ve been having a yard sale on Friday and Saturday, so that cut into my weekend morning routine of early layout work before everyone else gets out of bed.

First thing accomplished was the installation of a switch and all the track for the chemical plant. This is the first industry “north” of staging before you get to the rolling mill and electric furnace on the opposite side of the peninsula.

Next was adjusting the approaches and setting the final grade for the stone arch bridge. I need to enclose the staging access track behind it, then I can paint behind the bridge, fasten it to the base and get track laid on it. 

Finally, I turned an idea into reality. On previous layouts, I borrowed a friend’s method of mounting ground throws at the front edge of the layout. I wanted to go a step further and mount the ground throws to the fascia. I found wooden oval plaques (3”x 5”) at the craft store and cut them in half lengthwise and drilled two holes so they could be mounted to the fascia. Here is how it turned out. Should work well. They’ll protect the ground throws from getting bumped into, but won’t inflict pain on operaters who might bump into them.

A Plethora of Peninsula Progress

Since the last update, benchwork construction has resumed and the basic peninsula framework has been completed. Also, the staging track work is completed all the way to the false wall in which the lower level begins (working railroad north)

Also, the radial benchwork at the end of the peninsula has been completed for both the lower and upper levels. Temporary fascia will be installed to prevent injury (ouch!).

All of the staging-level track work is complete and is now progressing at the lowest visible part of the layout as the main track proceeds from staging to the classification yard at Charleston, WV. The goal is to be able to have trains running between staging and a functional classification yard by the end of 2021. Backdrop installation will go far to “tidy up” the room.

Benchwork Progress

First train through the wall! The beefy little Atlas S4 took the first train to the end of the current progress. It took 22 cars up the 1.5% grade with no trouble. 

Saturday night, I installed the lower level benchwork over staging level to the left of the HVAC. If you refer back to the track plans, the ends of the four coal yard tracks will peek out from behind the HVAC blower by a foot or two. There is room for another industry to the left, but I may leave this alone to be a scenic area.

 Lower level benchwork is now complete in a counter clockwise direction from the classification yard, engine service tracks and coal yard. The next part will be to raise the stone viaduct up about 5-1/2 inches to meet the benchwork height. Speaking of the stone viaduct, it has been temporarily set in place again to determine the height difference. The main track to/from staging is now in place behind it, which will be hidden beneath the Elk River. 

Beyond raising the viaduct, I’m going to have to decide whether to start building the false wall for the peninsula or start on putting plywood down on the lower level benchwork and lay track in the classification yard.

Plotting and Execution

 I love it when a plan comes together!

Last night I fastened down two 8’ sheets of plywood cut down to 30” width. This morning, I plotted out the track plan from the XTrackCAD plan and made a couple of minor adjustments.

view of Watt St Yard at Charleston looking North. Cars are drilled from the south end, but all tracks are accessible from the north end. Potential “escape route” if the A/D tracks get full.

North end looking back. The N&W boxcar is spotted at East Side Printing. To the left, at the front of the layout, is the. Caboose track, off of the thoroughfare/ overflow track, will be accessed mostly from the other end.

View of the north end of the yard.

The curve to the right goes to the RIP tracks over the work bench. The two stub tracks at center-right are MoW/storage tracks. The track left of the storage tracks will go through the wall to a chemical plant on the Hillsdale Spur. The main track in red also goes through the wall to a helix up to the upper level.

City Bakery to the left where the covered hopper is spotted.