Thanks Boxcab. Every once in a while I come up with a good idea. Just finishing up version 3 and will post later. I am starting to get excited again. Anyrail is getting a little easier so planning is less drudgery. Of course a piece of paper and a pencil is easier and will let you do whatever you want... until you try to build it. I got some great feedback and input from chooch.42 who used to ride the line I am modelling. This version reflects some of the things he pointed out that I was completely missing in the stretch between Federal St. station and Avalon. The last version cut Avalon and Bellevue stations. Those folks were probably all taking the streetcar to town anyway. Given the available space I am skipping the Allegheny yard and engine facilities, as well as Conway yard. My operations will be mainly commuter runs so I tried to keep as many stations as possible. The (short) 1964 schedule is below. I will be running the 1954 schedule with even more stops. There are still four L-girder sections left to build and I am sure the plan will change again. But the L-girder sections will be built to fill the space and enforce limits before the final exact plan is drawn up. It's going to take more track and roadbed than originally planned. Time to up the budget a little...
This is version 3.1. It includes the ramps down to staging. These are a compromise as the outside of the mainline should have nothing but riverbanks. But the trade-off is that they won't be hidden trackage. Some cliffs and retaining walls and they should look pretty good, if not prototypical. I closed up the center aisle a little in the interest of having more scenery area between the two sides of the peninsula. There will be no view block, Just cliffs and hillsides between the two halves. I was hoping that the upper part with the stacked loops would be a little more organic. It would be nice to curve the main outward to the left of the freighthouse before entering the loop. My attempts at this resulted in a loop that did not fit into the space. Anyone have ideas how that might be able to happen? Still looking for an 1950's industry or two to go between Sewickley and New Brighton. I am not as familiar with that stretch of road. The American Bridge division of US Steel was in Ambridge (clever, huh?) but that might be hard to compress enough for this layout. The roadbed has arrived and 5 cases of track are on their way. I think it will take two more now that the ramps to the staging and the staging yard itself are in the picture.
