Click photos to enlarge. Photo #1 from left shows ground level curve and one switch of the two placed for a passing siding. #2 is looking down from the deck. #3 is trestle with stepping stones placed to prevent slipping down the slope. #4 shows club member Greg admiring his AristoCraft SanteFe passenger train zipping by at highest possible speed. Greg's layout is the club's oldest featuring many buildings and landscaping. I have much landscaping and more track to lay before this is more than track in a yard.
The loop was completed October 16, 2000. Now I plan to install the passing siding and a dead end siding. In the future I will create a short line going through a small hill behind the trestle only to emerge and pass under the trestle before crossing the slope to a small town (where winter of 2001 landslide occurred). A mine or logging skid housing cluster will be placed on top of the hill.
From left above ~ Photo #1: LGB forney pulls a mixed train over the trestle
Photo #2 & 3: Ore and log trains work their way up the 1% grade to the top of the trestle. Phoenix Sound synchronized to revolutions of the axles clearly reflects the extra work going up hill and the ease of going down! Some day I may detail the ore cars. So far I have raised the couplers so they mate to LGB and Kadee couplers. I just removed the short arm and connected the couplers directly to the frame omitting the pivoting short arm that also served to lower the couplers preventing hook up with all other non Bachmann couplers.
Photo #4: Forney pulls skid shacks over the trestle. Shacks are made of styrene and cedar. Glenda Bockel of Portland, OR, a retired architectual model maker, taught many to scratch build using a variety of materials. I returned from a class and taught Emerald Empire Garden Railway Society members how to make styrene logging shacks.
