Great Northwestern Railway

The hallway will soon be cut off since benchwork will be going in.  The "hall" will become a dispatcher's office.  So figured I might as well get on installing a door for the office.  I always liked what my friend Dave did on the Castle Rock & Pacific  - a split door to allow handing out orders, but enough of a barrier to keep the riff-raff out.  Still needs a board as a table top between the upper and lower sections.  And of course, the framing needs some finishing.  But feels good to get this done.

Tweaked a few things, and took a screen shot in 3D view.  Atsa lotta track!

Starting to take shape!  Also included a couple pix of how to make up the adjustable legs.  I used 5/16" T-nuts and carriage bolts.  Starting to look like a layout!

At least 20 versions later, and countless sub-versions, I think I am homing in on a track plan.  Below is what it looks like as of now.  Some industrial areas are still pending detailed design.  But basic arrangement is there.  Some key features: Think of it as an expanded version of previous.  Not a lot of “new” stuff going on – well except a new yard; just ballooning out the tight area… into an area twice as big!  All in, layout is right around 750 sq ft, including old and new space. Staging yard went from dead end to run through.  This will be very nice when restaging the layout for ops.  About 30’ long on each track should easily allow 2 trains per track.  Total of 9 tracks.  Plan is for 8 to be used for ops, and one to be kept open for continuous run.  Elevation is at 35" at the lowest end and 37" at the other. Main deck is at 47”, same as Valley Gate.  Valley Gate becomes an industrial yard, handling “shorts” for Warm Springs, etc.  The new yard will handle interch