Ground has been broken (kinda)

After going thru numerous sketches, sheets of paper, computer-generated diagrams, and poring over several trackplans online, I have finally overcome my personal paralysis-by-analysis and begun bencehwork construction on my HO scale SLSF Arthur Sub layout. Using three shelf brackets and an extra hollow-core door gleaned from my house remodeling, I have begun the first steps toward recreating the Frisco in my spare room.

Benchwork will be no more expensive than the price of shelf brackets at my neighborhood megalumbermart, as I have plenty of HCDs to choose from to use. Even the HCD from my N scale layout will be stripped to the bare foam & put to use.

I have a 6x11 1/2 foot room in which to work, and the layout, which will depict the Paris, TX area 1975-1978, will be going around the walls on a shelf, with track level about 57" off the floor. I have some leftover code 83 track to use from previous HO efforts, but I'm also going code 70 on some spurs. All I can say is, one of our advertisers has a price on flextrack that is too sweet to pass by.

Since my budget is kinda limited, I will build as I get the shelf brackets, and will also used angled supports for the wider HCDs.

Code 70 and 83 track on N scale roadbed should do the trick, as I'm modeling a secondary line of the Frisco in a small Texas town whose major shipper is Campbell Soup (and has been since 1964).

Nothing like starting benchwork to get one's hobby jones satisfied.........I recommend it heartily!

And for the record- my trackplan isn't cast is stone, as I may even switch around certain spurs, yard tracks, and even industries. I'm shooting for prototypical here (a la Tony Koester's LDE concept), but I may have to sprinkle a little modeler's license around to get what I need.

 

Oh yeah, here's an idea of what I'm shooting for:



This is a topo map of the north side of Paris, Texas. As you can see, the Frisco comes from the north past the Campbell's Soup plant, (and the yard next to the plant, which in the Frisco timetables is labelled Betner) and gones south to the joint Frisco-Santa Fe yard and depot. In between, a spur comes off & heads west to serve Merico/Earth Grains and Flex-o-Lite. For the sake of operation, I'm only going to focus on the industries served by Frisco, which were on the north side of town. The line to the depot will largely be ignored, or may become staging for interchange with Santa Fe, Cotton Belt, and MoPac as well as a staging to represent Hugo, Oklahoma (where the Frsico had a smalll yard and base of operations for this part of the Central Division, as well as interchange with the Paris Switchers and road freights 738/739 between Tulsa, OK and Hope, AR.). Had I more room, I would have included at least the Hugo yard, but alas I do not.

Motive power will be the ubiquitous GP7s that Frisco had (total of 128 at one time), as well as a couple of GP15-1s which started showing up on the Central Division in 1977. Got 5 GP7s and two GP15-1s, so motive power is covered. Add one ex-Santa Fe caboose in Frisco lettering (which they had), and I'm set.

It'll be operated in DC (Digitally Challenged) at first, but I'll have it where it can easily be converted to DCC, as I like what DCC offers.


Moral of the story- stop thinkin', and start buildin'! :mbiggrin::mbiggrin:

 

I'd love to model that far south into town, but alas the monument (as well as the courthouse itself) is a distance away from the trackage I'll be modeling (about 1/2 mile east of the depot, which is 1/2 mile south of where I'm modeling).