The Lower Staging Yard & The South Kentucky Transfer (Pre 2nd Knee Replacement)
With the upper level staging tracks and reverse loop installed, wired, and tested, it was time to finish off the lower staging yard and the South Kentucky Transfer at Smith Grove. At this point, it is important to note that my original plan for a hidden lower level staging yard built on a removable section across an 8' gap in front of the garage door was not going to work for a couple of reasons; the main one being expansion and contraction and the other being the number of tracks involved. As a result, I built my standard L-Girder covered by 3" of pink foam bench work across the opening.
Here's what the area looked like after the back drop was installed, The South Kentucky Transfer at Smith Grove will be in the left foreground. The lead for the South Kentucky Transfer is in the center foreground, the ladder for the staging will be directly behind the lead. And, the old L&N crossing/interlocking is on the right. The lower level staging passes through the wall on the left and into the dispatchers office directly below the upper level staging yard.
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The South Kentucky Transfer consists of three tracks. The code 70 Micro Engineering flex is glued to N-Scale cork. The area in between the tracks is filled in with O-Scale cork. There is a fourth track about 2" from the back drop that will service Pace Chemicals and Bowling Green Metal Works. Pace Chemicals replaced Trace Diecast. Eventually most of this area will be covered with styrene, painted, and scribed to represent a large concrete pad. These tracks can easily handle 10-15 in bounds a day putting additional stress on Preston Miller Yard (More on that later).
As I noted in the last update, I have also been setting up the files for
the CAROUTE software and running some tests. It wasn't long before I
realized that the yard at Preston Miller couldn't handle the traffic in
and out of Bowling Green. Initially, I transferred some of the work to
the small yard at Gemco but the relief was short lived. The addition of the "new" South Kentucky Transfer added another 10-15 cars to the mix. Over the years, one of my favorite Model Railroader authors has been David Burrows. On one of earlier versions of the Cat Mountain & Santa Fe, he came up with the idea of a visible staging yard that he used more like an arrival/departure yard. I plan to use the Madisonville Staging yard in a similar manner.
This photo illustrates the South Kentucky Transfer lead and run around
track. The five track Madisonville staging yard is on the right.
The back side of lower staging yard with the upper level staging and reverse loop above the window. Eventually I want to put the dispatchers desk and possibly a CTC machine underneath the lower level staging. Current plans call for most of the lower level to be operated under "yard limit" rules while the helx and upper level, to include the upper level staging, controlled by CTC. These tracks are capable of holding 18-22 cars each. There is room for at least 2 additional tracks
Locomotive Updates (Post Knee Replacement)
On Tuesday, the 6th, I had my second knee replacement. A full recovery takes about 6 months so I won't be spending a lot of time working on the layout. Instead, I will be working on locomotives, rolling stock and structures. I can only sit at the desk for an hour or two at a time so I decided to add a couple of NS locomotives for run through service between Preston Miller (Bowling Green) and NS's DeButts Yard in Chattanooga.
First up is Norfolk Southern #3675. The 3675 is a Atlas Master Series NS B23-7 in factory paint. These locomotives were set up by Southern to run long hood first. It got my standard install of a Tsunam2 sound decoder, a TCS Keep-Alive, and Kadee #58 couplers. In addition it is one of my first locomotives equipped with LED lighting using Evan Designs surface mounted and pre-wired "yellow glow" LED's. It still needs a second set of horns on the long hood some weathering.
Next up is Norfolk Southern #1388. Again the 1388 is a Atlas Mater Series NS GP-40 in factory paint. These locomotives were also set up to run long hood first by the Norfolk & Western. It got my standard install of a Tsunam2 sound decoder, a TCS Keep-Alive, Kadee #58 couplers. and Evans Designs LED lighting. It too needs some light weathering.
Next out will be CSX #2107. The 2107 is an ex B&O GP-38 that hung around in B&O paint for nearly 10 years following the 1986 merger between the Chessie and the Seaboard System. I have been purchasing CSX and some NS slides on ebay for about 18 months and to date I have accumulated over 400 photos. This photo was taken in Brunswick, MD during October of 1989. The photographer's name is not on the slide so I am unable to credit this very cool photo. As it turns out, I have 3 different photos of the 2107 in this paint scheme.
To facilitate this project, I picked up another Atlas Master Series GP-38 for this project on ebay for around $60.00 including shipping. I need to pick up some B&O decals and a few detail parts for this model to include that distinctive plow.
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