Running Again - Santa will be pleased!

The new "bridge" module connecting the new layout construction is in, the electrical gremlins have been squashed, and we are running again! A lot of work remains but we are once again functional.

The completed layout is designed to run as a 2 tower system. Brown Tower (Camden & Philly) will pass electrical control to trains entering Red Oak tower (Brooklawn, Westville, & Woodbury).  Each tower will have 2 cabs. Everything runs with  common rail (all block's south feeds looped together) wiring.

Here is a scribbled track plan. This is a DC layout using Atlas Selectors for 2 train block control in each section. All my power packs are MRC Tech II 2500s. There are more than 30 electrical blocks and 100+ track leads. In the end I needed to separate the commons at the tower sections meets. Now everything runs fine.

It seems like a whole new world. The previous 2 construction phases left me with a glorified oval. Even though it was an irregular 5'-7'x17' it still had the feel of an oval. When this phase was added it seems like a whole new world. The trains now feel like they are going somewhere. With a mainline run of ~ 3 scale miles it takes a while to get back to the start. Now I need to get the 7 track yard operational. The feeders are wired to terminal blocks but now I need to get a control panel installed. That means miniature SPDT center-off toggles and a soldering nightmare. That will be an after-Christmas project. Now we have to get ready for our 4 kids, spouses, 12 grandkids and monkey bread! Where did I store the Christmas lights (and when is it going to warm up enough outside to put them up)?

INSPIRATION Month- Week 3

This week I went north to Trenton to visit Rick Spano's famous Scenic and Undecided Railroad. Animation is his forte and you cannot turn anywhere on his large layout and not find something animated. He even has working, noisy fireworks all in N Scale.

He has two mines that load coal into hopper cars, giant moving earth excavators, and fork lifts and trucks moving in and out of animated factories. The star of the show is a working rotary car dump that dumps coal into ships and then runs the empty car down a kick-back track that puts the empty car on an outbound track.

INSPIRATION Month- Week 2

This week I took an hour's drive (and got lost in Philadelphia several times) in order to visit Ted McLean's open house. And boy was it worth it! He built a layout meant for train watching.

He runs mostly modern CSX through ex-B&O's "Sand Patch" territory. I was amazed that the prototype built most of their bridge supports for 2 tracks but never got around to adding the second track in this area. He has faithfully modeled many of the signature scenes in the area.

November is Inspiration Month - aka MR Open House Month

Grabbed an MR buddy and visited Konrad Richter's layout. After 10 years of labor he opened his doors for "Model Railroad Open House Month" for the first time this year. Beautiful structures, shear rock mountains and some nice track work.

Enjoy the tour: