So today was the day the old Eerie/Lackamoney had to close down. Lack of revenue finally caught up and so I started tearing out track. Fortunately, with the promise of modernization, an infusion of funds have allowed the construction of a new and much larger version of the old railroad. So fear not, the Eerie/Lackamoney lives to fight another day!

Despite fighting the incursion of thigh high grass and keeping up with the vegetable garden, progress has been made with the lower staging.  I am now the proud owner of 6x15ft storage lines which have been tested for continuity and await the all important DCC test with the shorting instrument!

The Sudbury Division recently woke from a long sleep. Maybe it’s more like it came out from under anaesthetic, since it was undergoing surgery for the past two years. It had been that long since the layout was being operated regularly and in the meantime we had been making a brave attempt to extend its mainlines up to the second floor.

With the coming of spring my basement has once again become a hospitable habitat suitable for the migration of Model Railroaders. Once the wife goes back to work, I expect to have more time to myself to spend working on my layout. I figured it was time to fire up the Journal again..

Pictures are still forthcoming. I have taken a number of shots during the current construction but they still need a little editing.

5/5/2009 Pictures added at the bottom

The Prototype and Gauge Decisions

Following the "completion" of my latest scratchbuilding project (see Update #9), I have started to get back to work on the layout.  Since I'm running a lot of diapering actions, and mowing the lawn, doing the dishes, etc, I'm trying to keep the work simple and small.

I installed the first two of my Humpyard Purveyance Switch controllers:

 Well, we're down to crunch time.  I have one more week at home before my daughter has to show her diorama at the school arts fair.  She's really been down and discouraged and hard to motivate this last couple weeks.  I forced her to keep at it, but we still have a lot to do.  I'm now doing all the prep and cleanup, which I guess is OK - she's still doing the work (although admittedly, I've done a little touchup on occasion).  She doesn't think it looks realistic at all, but she has lots more to do before she's done.

With testing on the benchwork, roadbed, Fast Track turnouts and hand layed track behind me, it's now time to begin putting some of this into practice. As I've noted in other posts, I've already made a Code 83 No. 6 crossover and now all of my Code 83's,  which leaves me with 2 left, 4 right, and a crossover in Code 70 (No. 5), and one left Code 70. No. 6.for the yard area.

I had originally planned on  just No. 5 turnouts; but as I got a No. 6 jig on eBay, I've converted the mainline turnouts to 6's (not reflected on these plans.)

I am looking for information on the Yreka Western's terminal track layout.  I have lots of info on the railroad (history, tourist schedules, going out of business, etc.) but need the actual track layout for Yreka and Montague, the only two cities on the railroad.  I even tried to get the info using satellite imaging but couldn't get close enough to discern what was track and what was dirt road.  Any info, please help! glen

I was recently asked a question about using a railroad timetable as a modeling reference. A friend of mine was interested in some information about modeling the Penn Central here in the northeast. He was interested in modeling  a specific region (the Mohawk Valley near Utica, NY) and wanted some information about the PC. So I gave him a PC timetable to browse through to see if that would help. It did, I was sure that it would. I wanted to share the story with all of you.