A Yard Out of Time!

I am in the process of building 2 side by side staging yards for my revamped PRSL layout. I thought I was pretty smart when I acquired 2 boxes of old AMI roadbed to start the yards. That stuff was great! You could slap it down on plywood and it would stay in place without nails. Then you could slap the track down and it also would stay in place and hold alignment without nails.

I used it on the double ended yard on my old layout (see photo). The remnants of it (single sided) live on as the Camden Pavonia yard on my current PRSL layout.

Double-ended Island Yard on my old layout

The single-ended remnants of Island Yard serving as Camden's Pavonia Yard on the current PRSL layout

Alas time has taken its toll. AMI has been out of business for 15-20 years and the surviving product has dried out. It is still sticky on both sides but not enough to stay in place or hold the track in alignment. (At least it is sticky enough that I won’t have to use glue for the cinders and ground cover.).

I completed the 4 track north end staging yard (capacity: 114 40’ cars) which holds the coal, sand, and tank drags and the Philadelphia transfer with ease (30 to 50 car trains). Now I need to begin on the south end 5 terminus yard tracks. The capacity will actually be less since the yard needs to be double ended to permit the prototypical run-around out and back train movements.

Time to go back to cork! (I miss live AMI roadbed!)