My New Year's resolution for the railroad, finish up a number of the projects that are already started before starting new ones, did not make it past New Years!
So, I went down a rabbit hole between Christmas and New Years. I have an MR flyer about 4' X 8' model railroads on my iPad which includes several by Iain Rice, One of them has always fascinated me: "Loleta & Mad River." It is a handsome, yet quite impractical harbor scene, designed for turn of the 20th century logging type railroading--too tight curves and too steep grades. Other issues with his plan included impossible reach in distances and the inner harbor being too small for much beyond a row boat to turn around. On the other hand, so charming, so evocative, so not finishing an ongoing project! Deep in this
forum thread about the search for this plan, is a reproduction of the plan. Readers can view it with someone other than me breaking copyright laws.
But, what if I opened it up as an L-shaped plan instead and stretched it out a bit? One task was to get an accurate notion of the space that it might occupy. Somehow, in my long range planning drawings the space on this side of the stairs is a void. Beyond it is the laundry and utilities, but where exactly the wall might be was empty white space. Taking some measurements and doing some sketches, it turns out that stretching out the plan and still having a four foot pathway to the laundry was possible. Instead of a fixed bridge, what about a bascule bridge? Instead of a 16.5" radius curve, what about a 22" curve? It is still smaller than my minimum, but maybe possible? by stretching the length of the S-curve out to ten feet, the four percent incline might be reduced to something more doable closer to three percent. Using this plan for my Port Gulick harbor scene would potentially add to the mainline run and add lots of atmosphere, but come on, this is phase five of the plan. This armchair modeling is not finishing any of my many uncompleted projects or making actual progress on phase one.
Instead of resolutions that are already broken, what if I focused on goal setting with a deadline? In my NMRA division, we have been planning our schedule for the year, and it includes a virtual meeting on Zoom in April where we are thinking of having modelers open their railroads for live visitors around the region afterwards. My goal would be to have the "train room" and phase one complete enough for visitors.
The other side of the main basement is currently a disaster and a gumption trap. It needs serious organization and clean up. I still have half-unpacked train stuff and general basement clutter piled in the middle of the space. While the area around Nooksack and East Branch have been painted and had electrical upgrades, this part is in serious need of work. Beyond the pile of clutter is a "bar" scabbed in by previous owners of the house. I have removed the electrical line to it, but need to get help from my wife to tear out that section of wall. Maybe having a deadline will help me get motivated.
In looking back over the blog for 2024, I am somewhat disheartened at my slow progress on phase one. Beyond feeling behind with scenery and operations planning which obviously need additional work, I would like to improve the surroundings before opening up to visitors. A valance to hide the light tubes and create the shadow box look I prefer would be an excellent step. Again, a deadline might just be the motivation I need.
I hope that my next post can focus on one area of actual progress.
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