The On30 Guy

Since I know someone’s bound to ask about the track arrangement for the modules … Here’s an aerial view, as of this morning. The track arrangement is based on the prototype arrangement at Lake Placid, NY., though I’ve taken a couple of liberties.

The first is the addition of the switcher pocket, which is the little spur at the upper left of the photograph. The second is the engine facility. The prototype had a turntable, which would have appeared in the big, sandy area in the left half of the picture. However, there just wasn’t room to get a large enough turntable in there. About 9″ (36 scale feet) was all I could wedge in.

 After some discussion and scheming with fellow moduleer David, is the addition of a “turntable module” as shown to the left. The space required to get an appropriate curve and track alignment onto the turntable left ample room for additional engine servicing tracks. I guess I could conceivably bring the track back to the “main” station track, as well, though it would be a fairly major undertaking at this point. We’ll see about that as work progresses. It boils down to whether or not I have time, at this point, to add it prior to the Kimberton meet. This would be a major departure from the prototype’s arrangement.

I cheated to take the picture. I’m doing a little cleanup in the layout room, so that I have room to move these modules to something approximating their final location when they’re a part of the layout, and so, they were (still attached together!) leaning against a wall.

I was surprised by a couple of things. First, even at 2ft x 8ft, the pair of modules was amazingly light — less than 35lbs! Second, there were only a few, tiny bits of loose scenic materials. Usually, when I turn a module on its end or side for the first time, I lose a good amount of ground foam.

Tags: Design and Construction, Modular //