Several years back I made the decision to go only with smaller motive power and shorter cars to run on a more compact smaller layout with tighter radius than is found only on narrow gauge layouts. I then in a series of sales reduced my inventory rather drastically having no further use of locomotives and cars, both passenger and freight that would not run well if at all on the layout I was planning. So the big steam and diesel are now gone. All the 50 foot freight cars are now gone along with all the passenger cars over 34 foot. So here is the Turtle Creek Railroad final inventory. Inventory of cars and locomotives used for the Turtle Creek Central Railroad Passenger operations inventory One Railbus Mack chassis combined with bus body. Kato power chassis. One Concor Galloping Goose. Two Bandai B Trains of three units with two cabs/coaches each and one center coach. Yellow Trains all powered with either Kat or Bandai power chassises. One Bandai B unit Train with one express baggage/cab one coach/cab each powered by a Kato power chassis. One RPO, one LCL boxcar, one container flatcar known as the Blue Train. Two Bandai B unit passenger cars converted to private cars. Two open excursion cars homemade. Freight operations motive power One boxcab powered by a Bandai eight wheel powered chassis. Five Bachmann 44 tonners. Four Bachmann 70 tonners. One Lifelike SW-9. One Lifelike SW-8. One Kato RS-1. Three Bandai B Train DD-51s all with Bandai 8 wheel power chassis. Four Atlas Two truck Shays. Two Class A Climax locomotives. One with A Bachmann 70 ton mechanism, one with a Bachmann 44 ton mechanism. One MiniTrix 0-6-0 wood burner. One Athearn 2-8-0. Two Atlas 2-6-0s. One Atlas 4-4-0. One MicroAce 0-6-6-0 And the locomotives that are in storage and probably never be used and what is left of my caboose fleet. Surplus Locomotives One 4-4-2 Model Power conversion. One Bachmann FM HH 16-44. Six Atlas/Kato RS-3s. One Kato RS-3 Mechanism. Caboose Fleet Two 34 foot Overtons combines converted to caboose with a cupola added. One 21 foot four wheel bobber. Six 34 footers. One 34 foot Drovers caboose. One 34 foot bay window. One 36 foot caboose. My freight car fleet is down to about 200 cars and all the 50 foot flatcars are going to get reused as docks and piers in the port area. So I will roster no longer than 34 to 42 foot flats. All my motive power is or will be bi-directional as soon as I add some pilots to the tender of the rod steamers. The Shays and the Climaxes are already bidirectional. That has allowed me to eliminate a roundhouse and two turntables and everything either oil fired or diesel allow me to declare surplus my coaling towers. I will have a straight pull in engine shed in the port, and a sand and oil/diesel facility. Still debating on a water column or a water tank and if I go with the column I will create more space. So when part two of the layout goes in this Fall anything left over structure wise will go and after the layout gets populated with trains anything left over there will also go.
Since it was cool day outside I spent the afternoon going through my freight cars and eliminating some more while salvaging parts off of them. I now have enough 50 foot flatcar bodies to do 1000 N scale feet of piers and docks which will save me time and money re-purposing them. When the dust settled I have 340 freight cars which is more than enough to populate my layout with ice reefers, 40 foot boxcars, tankcars, 36 and 40 foot flatcars, hoppers, gondolas, and special purpose cars.
