07-03-2010, 09:47 AM
O'D ...
Your story sounds a lot like mine (except for the ATSF -- mine was all Pennsy), and, as with you, the research and planning became the substitute for actual layout building. I have now subscribed to this thread and will be following it very closely, as you and I are in very much the same place ... right-of-way identified and surveyed, track plan drawn and reviewed, and construction about to commence.
My original track plan is now under serious review due to concerns uncovered by my entry in the 2010 Summer Structure Challenge, and what had been merely a collection of boringly uninteresting unrelated structures has morphed into a "campus" of interesting industrial structures, all related to one large industry. This newly introduced industry will solve one problem (hiding the entrance to hidden staging) but since it will be requiring another siding or two, a different problem has risen its very ugly head ... a 24"R curve which (on paper) hadn't been a problem as it ran behind the boringly uninteresting, unrelated structures and some judiciously placed trees and fences, I now realize takes up SPACE that hadn't been a problem when I layed out the original track plan prior to adding this "campus" of structures. So ... some re-alignment of visible track in this corner of the proposed layout, as well as what leads up to it and what is beyond it will need to be addressed for everything to become "copasetic" again. But the result will be much more interesting and probably become an area that is a lot more fun to switch when we get around to Operation!
So, while I scratch my head about how to hide a "hidden" track, and busy myself with trying to fit a complex of buildings that I must complete building by 7 September into an area of which I'm not quite sure of its eventual size ...
hock:
I will be watching this thread with great interest, stealing as many good ideas as I can (don't we all ... at least use them as "starting off points?") and observing how much farther along you get in the construction of a layout than I do. I say that because I'm legendary for second-guessing everything and coming up to the "last blow of the horn" on a project with too much to do and having to ignite the midnight oil to meet a deadline!
It's a damn good thing I'm retired!
So ... Let's get building! :!:
Your story sounds a lot like mine (except for the ATSF -- mine was all Pennsy), and, as with you, the research and planning became the substitute for actual layout building. I have now subscribed to this thread and will be following it very closely, as you and I are in very much the same place ... right-of-way identified and surveyed, track plan drawn and reviewed, and construction about to commence.
My original track plan is now under serious review due to concerns uncovered by my entry in the 2010 Summer Structure Challenge, and what had been merely a collection of boringly uninteresting unrelated structures has morphed into a "campus" of interesting industrial structures, all related to one large industry. This newly introduced industry will solve one problem (hiding the entrance to hidden staging) but since it will be requiring another siding or two, a different problem has risen its very ugly head ... a 24"R curve which (on paper) hadn't been a problem as it ran behind the boringly uninteresting, unrelated structures and some judiciously placed trees and fences, I now realize takes up SPACE that hadn't been a problem when I layed out the original track plan prior to adding this "campus" of structures. So ... some re-alignment of visible track in this corner of the proposed layout, as well as what leads up to it and what is beyond it will need to be addressed for everything to become "copasetic" again. But the result will be much more interesting and probably become an area that is a lot more fun to switch when we get around to Operation!
So, while I scratch my head about how to hide a "hidden" track, and busy myself with trying to fit a complex of buildings that I must complete building by 7 September into an area of which I'm not quite sure of its eventual size ...
hock: I will be watching this thread with great interest, stealing as many good ideas as I can (don't we all ... at least use them as "starting off points?") and observing how much farther along you get in the construction of a layout than I do. I say that because I'm legendary for second-guessing everything and coming up to the "last blow of the horn" on a project with too much to do and having to ignite the midnight oil to meet a deadline!
It's a damn good thing I'm retired!
So ... Let's get building! :!:
biL
Lehigh Susquehanna & WesternÂ
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." ~~Abraham Lincoln
Lehigh Susquehanna & WesternÂ
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." ~~Abraham Lincoln