Well, summer housing is taken care of, by means of my trailer; and summer work has been taken care of. So now I can start focusing on the Bard Creek Railroad again. All the previous posts looked at a modular design, which I still want to do, but first I'll need to go a bit smaller, so behold the micro layout (for large scale):
This will be 44" by 96", so a little narrower than 4x8 feet. I need to build the railroad in this manner because of insufficient room for anything larger. What will be great about this layout is that later I can convert it to 1:13.7 when I am able to construct the actual Bard Creek.
The main problem is storage. Since the Bard Creek Railroad will be taken to shows, I'll need a much lighter, and larger trailer than what I have now, so instead I'm building a fully enclosed micro that fits in the back of a pickup truck or an SUV.
One module will be a mining camp while the other will be a mine tipple set in a rocky valley with a small creek. There will be two turnouts, one per module. The mine has it's own spur, and then the other acts as an interchange. Operations will be basic, but fun. The interchange can be expanded later on to include more mines and such, or I can add modules in between the two halves to create the start of the true Bard Creek.
I wouldn't call this new design a setback, but it is simpler and will be easier to build than the three or four modules I originally envisioned. Plus it will be highly portable and able to make (hopefully) the following train shows for 2014-2015:
The main problem is storage. Since the Bard Creek Railroad will be taken to shows, I'll need a much lighter, and larger trailer than what I have now, so instead I'm building a fully enclosed micro that fits in the back of a pickup truck or an SUV.
One module will be a mining camp while the other will be a mine tipple set in a rocky valley with a small creek. There will be two turnouts, one per module. The mine has it's own spur, and then the other acts as an interchange. Operations will be basic, but fun. The interchange can be expanded later on to include more mines and such, or I can add modules in between the two halves to create the start of the true Bard Creek.
I wouldn't call this new design a setback, but it is simpler and will be easier to build than the three or four modules I originally envisioned. Plus it will be highly portable and able to make (hopefully) the following train shows for 2014-2015:
- Granite City Train Show, Saint Cloud, MN. Nov 15, 2014
- Trees and Trains, Sioux Falls, SD. (TBD)
- Granite City Train Show, Saint Cloud, MN. April, 2015
- NMRA Thousand Lakes Region, 2015 (TBD)
And perhaps more, depending on dates and schedules and of course the weather and cost of gasoline. I'm giving myself $500 next winter to use for gas to get to and from train shows, so the above list might just max the budget.
--James
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