August 12th, 2007

Now that I had the yard lead and caboose track installed, it was time to turn to the engine service facility. The building I'm going to use is Bachmann's "Car Repair Shop" building. I also bought their Engine Service building, but it just didn't fit the style of what I had in mind. A plus about the car shop building is it has large see thru windows in the roof, so interior detailing is gonna be needed. I'll also be able to see what loco's are in there. I also like the fact that is has 3 service doors for tracks to be put thru. Once I figured out where the building was to be located, I squeezed in the tracks and turnouts. I also staged some locos to see how it'll look when I'm done. I think it will be quite an interesting place on the layout. =)
Along with the engine service, I also started on the yard throat. All those tie strips that were hanging from the 2nd level are now glued in and have some rails spiked down. Although I find enjoyment handlaying my turnouts, this will take me quite a while to do, so I'm surpressing the excitement of seeing the yard up and running till I get a bit closer to completion.

Here is a mock up of the Engine Service Area with the caboose track right next door.

Another shot. Looks quite busy!

Top down view. The windows that will be installed in the building's roof are almost as big as having no roof at all, so you can see how much detail will have to be put in.

Here are all the ties glued down for each turnout into the service facility. To the left of the loco building, you can see the light blue colored car repair building with a boxcar sticking half way out. The piece of flextrack will run to that area.

Here is an overall view of the completed turnouts.

Another view. You can see how the handlaid turnouts gives the trackwork a smooth flow to it.

Here are all the ties glued down for the yard throat. I was able to squeeze in 8 classification tracks, 2 arrival/departure tracks, a siding, and the mainline in 16" of benchwork.

And with this last view, you can see I've already begun to spike down some rail. Yep, this is gonna take a while.

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