April 28th, 2010

Wow, how time flys even when you are not having fun. This year sure didn't start the way I wanted it to. In fact, this year has been pretty hard on me so far. But there is light at the end of the tunnel, although it's not very bright. Just after New Years my girlfriend of 3 1/2 years that I loved dearly decided she wanted different things in her life, and I was not part of them. We split up, and pretty much everything I did for fun went out the door. Depressed, yes. The layout didn't get touched, and I rarely went to my usual online train sites.

It wasn't till the first week of April that I even thought much about trains. My friend Frank Kenny said I should come out to California to visit him to get me out of my depressed state of mind and help him work on his layout. Our mutual friend Mark Lestico was hosting an op session on his Cascade Sub layout at the beginning of the month, and I would be more than welcome to come run trains. So I packed my bags, got the plane tix, and off I went. And it was the best thing that could have happened. Working on Frank's layout was alot of fun, and operating on Mark's layout was awesome. Here is a link to a video of that op session: op-session, april 2010 We even took a side trip up to Tehachapi with another guy, Jeff Abbott, who also has a superb layout. (check the links page for his layout)

It was a good week away from Sedona, and it helped clear my mind and get me back in the mood to work on my layout. Speaking of my layout, here is the progress I made the weekend and following week after I returned. I cleaned off the entire area at Mammoth, since it was covered with scenery stuff from when I was working on the Walker River Canyon on the upper level. I figured out where the industry tracks will be located, and drew in the lines for the main and siding tracks. I already had some homasote cut out, so that went down pretty quick. I started putting down the track as soon as the glue for the homasote had dried enough. That got me around the curve and to the point where I needed to put down 2 turnouts leading to industries. Those slowed me down some, but I still got them done faster than I first figured. At this point, I have one more #10 to lay, and then wire up the main/siding for detection, and then it's a smooth ride down to Bishop and the yard. At that point, the main..... can I really say it??? The main will be done! Ok, enough of this, here's some pictures.

After cleaning off this area, I determined where the main and siding will be located. Looks like I was running trains also, there are 2 detection lights lit up on the pannel below.

The main line ends at the turnout to the right, at the bottom of the helix. I have laid out where the industry tracks will be located here at Mammoth.

The two tracks at the top will run to an off-layout sawmill, so they will hold many styles of cars. I'll hide the track ends behind some pine trees. The 4 spurs in the front will be for Mammoth Brewery.

Weights do a great job of getting your body ripped..... and holding down homasote while the glue drys.

Pepsi does a great job adding fat back to your body..... and holding the track down while the glue drys.

Turnouts located, homasote pieces cut out

Ties for the 3 turnous are glued down

The #8 off the main is going in. This spur will run up to the Brewery and sawmill tracks.

#8 done, #7 started.

Both done. Guard rails will be put in when I get this area wired and trains running through the turnouts.

Elevated view of the whole Mammoth area. Even during work, I was still running trains on the upper level

Gotta get the #10 in, cross the bridge, and it's smooth sailing down to the yard at Bishop.

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