The turnout I installed a couple of days ago is now connected to the newly redesigned yard. Next up is cleaning all the older rail, installing turnout springs and testing it all out. More progress after years of lethargy! Also got my new Harbor Freight compressor all set up with quick disconnects and filter. It was hoped it would be quieter than my old Miller compressor, but alas, it was not to be! But it will give me better control of air pressure and flow! Here it is, along with the revised Cadrail diagram (inverted to show normal operating view).
Actually achieved my goal of track cleanup and installation of flicking springs yesterday. The spring installation took a lot less time than I had anticipated. Test runs were successful on all the newly installed yard tracks and now I'm into general cleanup and deciding what my next steps will be. Got an old, unassembled, Accurail 40ft box car from CB&Q out to work on, including my first real attempt at weathering. We'll see how that goes.
John, I'm not the track planning maestro by anyone's measure, but just had a thought as I was studying your track plan. For what it's worth and If you can do it, adding a crossover in the area of the red line would allow you to do out and back operation from the yard without a backup move and also more convenient access to the roundhouse. Might be worth the extra wiring. There's already a lot to like here, like being able to let a train run on the mainline while you switch the industrial branch. Great operating potential.
Thanks for the suggestion, but from left to right, the outer arc is already climbing to go over the track in the upper left corner. I should probably learn how to do 3d views in Cadrail, but am too lazy and/or busy to learn! lol Edited to correct statement to "from left to right". Couldn't even get that right!
First attempt at some actual scenery. After choosing the only scenic element that I have at this time, the coaling company, I used some plaster of paris lightly covering area and then misted with plant mister, then playing around with some block work on 40# cold press water color paper printed on my Canon MP160 printer. It may turn out alright! The block work is from Textures (https://www.textures.com/) with three images stitched together and the brightness/contrast adjusted, the top row of bricks copied and added to the top of the image to form the tops of the blocks. Some photo editing to eliminate some patterns that would give that away. Will also emboss the paper to get more of a 3D effect, so this is to just perform proof of concept.
That turned out great. I've experimented with similar concepts in N Scale and it makes such a difference and gives you a lot of control over just the look you're going for. Tweak a color here, add a stain there - you get to iterate ideas without making too much of a mess or wasting a lot of time! Mike
Of course, the coal bins need coal! Couldn't see filling them with loose coal and gluing it all together. Instead, I made forms from the riser styrofoam. Obviously couldn't leave them white, so used India ink. I was surprised how good they looked without even adding loose coal, which will be the next step.
As you can tell, I have a tendency to go off on tangents which is why major progress is not being made. Working on the coal yard scenic element made me realize I wanted a guy with a shovel. Of course, I don't have a shovel, so I decided to try making one. Here is the attempt which is not completed yet with a figure that will need to be painted to be appropriate. My incomplete coal pile makes a good background to demonstrate. Needs some trimming and then paint. It's some thin aluminum (or aluminium for the Rule Britannia folks) and some bronze wire.