Early February 2016 Update

I have been working on the railroad as time allows.  Some recent projects include, weathering rolling stock and locomotives, building structures, and working toward completion of the base layer of scenery.  I am amazed that a little bit of work on scenery can so drastically change the look of the layout!  I guess I have been seeing pink foam for so long, that any little change is a welcome change!

A couple of recent photos show some of the changes...

Recently added DCC Throttle Pockets... in lieu of sticky-back Velcro, which can be temporary at times and allow throttles to fall to the floor!

 Various photos of some base scenery work underway.

Happy Railroading!
Scott

Mid March Update

This update is long over due... some significant progress has been made on the Dragonfly Sub in recent months.  I have focused on many things including building structures, scenery, operational changes, and adding/modifying industrial tracks.  Some on-going projects worth noting:

•  Eliminated towns, in favor of modeling two towns (Walnut, Illinois and Prophetstown, Illinois).  This major change will require modification to the Operating Plan.  It appears now that two local turns will leave Mendota (staging) with one traveling to Prophetstown and the other traveling to Walnut.  The turns will switch the respective towns and return to Mendota.  This scheme would work if multiple operators are available... if not...  then a single turn could be run to handle all of the work.
• Removed the Green River in favor of more Midwest style flatland.  My initial thought in including the Green River was to provide a visual barrier between towns (switching areas).  In the end, this was not effective and was more of a stumbling block, trying to tie two industrial areas into a "country scene".   It has been removed and replaced with flatland.
• Started to build structures and place them on the railroad.  This is a trial and error process.  A building can look very different if placed at various locations on the railroad.  With that in mind, some time has been spent moving structures around and determining if 1) Does the building look believable in that location, does if fit (both physically and conceptually) and 2) Can rail be used to serve it?  This has been a fun process and the moving about of the buildings seems to be about done.
• Added a coal unloading dock in Walnut.  This will add some coal hopper traffic from both the Q at Mendota and the CNW at Walnut.
• Added two additional industrial sidings in Prophetstown to generate more traffic.  The tracks will serve a grain company, warehouse, bulk oil dealer, and lumber yard.

As time allows, pictures of the various projects will be posted.
Happy Railroading!
Scott