Spencer Yard, Linwood NC

I worked last week on the yard at Linwood. I've had the track roughed in for several months, waiting to make sure I had covered all the interchanges between the Receiving Yard, Forwarding Yard and Class tracks, Engine Shop, etc.

Finally, I just jumped in and started soldering and glueing track. I extended the forwarding yard about a foot. It handles 3 trains each 16 cars long. (That seems to be a decent size). There are 3 tracks going to the Car Shop, another 2 to the Engine Shop and a bypass around the Shop to the servicing facility.
There are 3 tracks in the receiving yard. In addition, there is the lead-in "behind the tower" to access the receiving yard southbound, and the "thoroughfare" which runs from Lee at the north entrance to Duke on the south.

There are 8 tracks on the class yard and a drill long enough to handle them. There is also a "working " hump. Well, maybe not working, but there is a hump there and I was able to push a string up and decouple them one at a time and gravity roll down the class track. The cars roll about 2/3-3/4 down the track, but as they begin to stack closer to the hump, they hit pretty hard. If I could fix it so that I could vary the height of the hump, I could vary the amount of roll.

I Have Been Working... Really !!

I just haven't thought to post anything. Most of what I've been doing since June wasn't very photogenic and thus I didn't consider post worthy.

It took a couple of weeks to put down the final flooring. After that, I worked to finish all the lower fascia so I could be done with the wood construction and put away some of those tools. I also completed all the Loconet wiring and panels. I alternated a UP5 panel with a standard single jack every 8 feet.

I then turned my focus towards staging trains and working on paperwork, etc. for a preliminary Operations sessions. That has to be the hardest part of the whole layout. Thinking about what trains to send where so the could be returned without major problems was quite a chore. I think I am finally ready for the first session on Oct 12.

Workin' The WSS In The Heat

With record-breaking temps the last 2 weeks, I haven't been able to do a lot on the layout. By the time the AC units get it cool, it's almost time to quit for the night. What little I did was to continue on the WSS/HPT&D island. I am trying to get as much scenicked as possible so I can put on the lower valance. The top level is pretty much done as far as wooded areas, and I just have to come back and add in the industry buildings as I get them done.

I am not really looking forward to all the scratchbuilt buildings I have to do, mainly because it's not my strongest suit. I guess I can look at it as a chance to improve.......yeah right. For today's Show & Tell, I have a couple of areas on the WSS. First, the interchange with the NS in downtown Lexington. My version ended up in a corner as the track passes thru the island wall, thus the curve right.

South of the interchange the WSS crosses I-85. I still have work to do here including striping the southbound lane. This is another spot where I had to try out the Grassinator.

Down the road from I-85 is a siding leading into the PPG plant. Cut banks line both side of the tracks here.

The Grassinator!

Thanks to Ztrains.com, I have built a Grassinator (Plans are Here). What is it? What does it do? Several different manufacturers make static grass flock, small filaments that when a static charge is applied, stand on end to resemble grasses (see a how-to video here). Noch makes a static applicator, but costs around $150. Ztrains has plans for one for under $30. I just followed the instructions there and now have my own Grassinator.

The first time I tried it, there was a problem. I shook the applicator, but little of the flock fell out. I had tried to shortcut and used the wire from an old tea strainer instead of buying a piece of screen wire. I finally gave in and bought the wire and found it to work as it should.

The first areas I tried it on are pictured to the right. This was with a Medium Green flocking. I later went back and overseeded with a darker green, although the Medium is probably better for field grass.

Various From Around The Layout

Have been working on the upper level HPT&D for the last week. I've found it very important to get as much done on the upper level as possible because of all the mess I make dropping stuff down onto the lower level.

As of today, I have one small area to "forest" and I'll have all the upper WSS/HPT&D generally scenicked. I'll just have to go back and blend in as I complete the industry buildings and sites.

The first picture is the HPT&D south of the Wye in High Point. To the left of the wooded area will be KAO Specialties which I think used to be High Point Chemicals.

The last picture is just a random shot from the opposite upper deck. This is not visible from the floor and represents the HPT&D just south of the Georgia-Pacific formaldehyde plant in Healing Springs.

More Fall Scenery

Continuing to get the feel for the fall scenery. Tammy keeps telling me to hold down on the reds and let them blend into the green. I've learned that some people have a red/green colorblindness, which makes sense as I can't tell a red LED from a green one. I hate it when I look at electronics and someone asks "Is the light red or green?" IDK.

I'm not finishing the scenery 100%, just trying to cover some of the blank foam in between where the industries will be. It'll be easy enough to come back later and add more trees and details.

I think I hold up on the NS line and go back to the WSS/HPT&D island and work there for awhile. There's a good bit to be done on the upper level. I've learned that it's easier to finish major work on the upper before doing the lower.... less chance of dropping plaster and glue down on finished scenery.

Changes To Trackplan - WSS

As I was looking over the WSS from Bill Yard to the end of the island, it dawned on me that there was a lot of space for more industries. My problem was that just wasn't prototypical. In a blinding flash of light I realized that whole thing wasn't perfectly prototypical anyway, so I decided to make a few changes.

First, where I had added the house track and planned the old Lexington Depot near 5th Avenue I would change to be the siding for Owens-Illinois in Welcome. There is also room for another industry and haven't totally decided what to do. It could be a fake Carter Lumber (although there is not really a spur there) or it could be Carolane Gas (no longer receives rail shipments).

The entire other side of the WSS is the NS interchange, PPG and Cotton Grove siding. There really is nothing else there unless I just add something in.