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My layout was originally started in 1992 in La Mirada, California. It was then cut it into seven sections and crated up to move it to Arkansas in 1999. A group of Bellevista model railroaders came down to help me un-crate it and put it back together about two years after the move.
Trackage was never the same after the move, but I never had the time to do much about it until retiring. It was completely rewired by volunteers. Some of the work was very good, some not so good. But, again, I had no time to do anything about it until retiring.
Since retiring, I have widened the aisles, rewired most of it again, have added a whole new town, expanded an existing town, reworked the track plan so that it is now a point-to-point instead of round-n-round, and I’ve fixed the trackage that didn’t go back together correctly after the move.
So, for the people who have worked on, have run trains on, or have just seen the layout before, and are curious as to what has happened to it, here are a few photos to show some of those changes and additions.
The first big change I made was to widen the aisles. If you remember, the aisles were only two feet wide—wide enough for one, but difficult to pass by another. They’re now three feet wide. I did this by cutting the crotch in the base between the peninsulas, and adding one foot to each. |
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This is the second big change I made. This is in the back of the mountain where only a staging yard existed before. I still have staging here, behind the building facade—you can see trains there behind the it.
The building facades were drawn with a typical Macintosh draw program and printed out on peel-n-stick paper, which was stuck to 1/8” masonite squares. The brown industry to the right (Pappy’s Paper Plant) has four squares. Each square, approximately 7 x 7.5 inches, is easily removable to get to staging trains if necessary.
I have two more facades to make to fill in the gaps between the buildings—where you can see the staging trains between buildings. They’ll have a grassy area with trees. I also have ground cover and roads to put in for the rest of ‘Motor City’, and other details (cars, trucks, chippers, conveyors, fork lifts, hand trucks, etc.)
The large plant at the far end is the back end of an automobile assembly plant, so it gets lots of action during operations. |
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This is the third big change. It’s the end of the middle peninsula, where the turntable and roundhouse use to be. As you can see, I’ve started a major renovation on it. There’s now six industries, plus the museum (middle trackage) and a team track. I’ve still got a few more buildings to put in and, as with Motor City, more ground cover, roads, parking lots, and industrial details. |
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You may remember the double crossover at the base of the middle peninsula; well, here’s what it looks like now. The double x-over tied the two top tracks together. Eliminating that x-over removed part of the capability to run round-n-round.
As with most layouts, this one is obviously still under construction, and probably will never be finished. But here’s what I have planned for the future. |
You may remember the helix mountain. A mining facility was started there by one guy, and worked on by a couple others. Due to circumstances, it didn't get far and was abandoned.
Anyway, this is my next project. But instead of mining, I’ll put a mountain ridge down the middle and have a large cattle operation on one side, and a logging operation on the other. |
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BTW, since the helix is not used in point-to-point operations, the track and roadbed has been removed to be used elsewhere. |
Another planned addition is to add a town to the end (base) of the layout.
This will be done after the logging and farming is put in. |
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Following this addition, I plan to add about 6 feet to the yard peninsula. With this, I can make the yard 6 feet longer, so can make it a few tracks narrower—making enough room to add another town, with a half dozen more industries, beside the yard.
Here’s the current track plan. |
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Who knows what else will get changed in the future. As with most layouts, it will probably never be finished. But at least I now have time to work and run on it on a regular basis.
Come visit us.
This is an open invitation for any of our past customers and acquaintances to stop by any time you’re in this area. We’ll run some trains, or even have a full operating session if I can get a group together while you’re here. And if you’ll be in the area long enough, I can also try to arrange an operating session at one or more of the HogRails layouts up in Bellevista.
Just let me know in advance to be sure we’ll be here when you get here, and to give me time to arrange for operating sessions—if that’s what you want.
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