Time For Expansion, Already?

After staring at the track layout for 2 days and then discussing it with the wife to get her opinion, I decided to already do an expansion to the existing “Manning Oaks” layout. I was not very fond of the idea of a ‘dead end’ track, and seeing that I had 2 loops and half of a 3rd loop, I thought why not have the ability to have 3 loops. Once all the wiring is completed I will be running DCC on this track (with also the ability to run DC) and one of the benefits of running DCC is to be able to control multiple trains at different speeds. Also one of the reasons for building this layout is just to be able to watch the trains run. So by adding a 3rd loop I can have the enjoyment of watching 3 trains go around the track without having to work any of the turnouts.

I put my existing “Manning Oaks” track layout into a program called SCARM, and then I was able to remove the pieces that I no longer was going to use and add the pieces I needed to complete the 3rd loop, I came up with the following layout.

“Coloma Rails”

Seeing how it was no longer “Manning Oaks”, the name “Coloma Rails” was born. The above image is also flipped from the original “Manning Oaks” since this will be the view from the Engineer’s station.

Once I finalized this layout, it was time to place an order for the remaining track pieces that I will need, and the wait now begins. I am hoping to get my track sometime early next week. In the mean time I will probably start to work on a shelf for the command stations.

Holding Pattern

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Scenery: December 2017 WIP (City and Park)

It has been aboout three weeks since my last update and things are moving along on my little N Scale layout. The first week in December I had my son visiting from out of town so not much was accomplished, then doing scenery work takes a lot of time. Waiting for paint to dry, waiting for glue to dry and so on. So here is a litte update on how things are going with my City and Park. It is still all a work in progress, and it will probably still be awhile before I get to any actual buildings. I am working on the areas where the building will go first, then the actual buildings.

Michigan City Swap Meet...Recap

Now that I am ready to start to add some buildings and terrain to my layout I decided to hit up a swap meet in Michigan City, IN today to see if I can get lucky. My goal was to mainly shop for N scale buildings first, then anything that I could find that was C&NW related. Majority of the vedors that were on hand were selling HO scale and Lionel. I knew that getting into N scale I would have a harder time finding items, but I really do like the look of N scale over HO, I am probably in the minority but I feel N scale actually has more detail than HO scale. I did an initial pass of all the vendor tables and did find two C&NW boxcars along with a N scale Freight Depot building all for $20, so I was pretty happy so far. I decided to go and double back now and search more throughly to see if I could find anything else. I cam across a C&NW gondola car, another N scale Soda Shoppe building, then buried under a lot of boxes, I found a KATO Chicago METRA Gallery Bi-Level Commute

Coloma Rails - N Scale Model Railroading

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