Crooked Post Junction

Yes the post is crooked, but it has been there for 85 years and has not failed yet.  I chose not to mess with it. This is the joint standard gauge/narrow gauge yard at the black sand mine loading facility.  This benchwork will be cut and added to .  The yard itself will bend around into the alcove where the plywood walls are and the lead will continue clear around 180 degrees to the town of Bridge. More of the yard will extend out to about where the picture was taken. Reference the drawing.

Layout progress

The basement is undergoing transformation, albeit slowly.  Sheetrock is nasty slow work when you are basically alone. No thing that looks like a functioning layout is yet in place though I can see it in my minds eye. I have included some photo's and a small sketch of the proposed track plan for the area shown.  The master drawing that I started with has already undergone it's own transformation and you will have to wait for a really good clean up to understand what's going on.

Basically I have changed from the desert scenery to mountainous forested Oregon but still retaining the original concept of a non railroad corporate entity owning the operation.  This time instead of salt the commodity is black sand, a material full of heavy metals and common in this area.  It follows that former logging lines might be the venue to haul this stuff to the ocean to exploit overseas markets. It will be much easier for me to reference scenery work out my back door than to try to remember what Tucson looked like. And there are local American Indian tribes here who are involved in the community economy in a major way.  It lays the foundation for a similar scenario to the original Tucson and Baja Northern story.
The time frame is now, always moving forward.  However, I would like to use a minimum of structures and vehicles so that I can change era's by simply taking the diesels and rolling stock off the layout and running my Shay's and Ten wheelers.  Maybe a K-27 with a whaleback tender.  I'm an old Espee guy, remember, and if I can find a way to tick off the purist's out there.....I will. LOL.  You got to have fun with this stuff.

The angled compartment aft of the cab houses the air compressor...I think.

The pilot is still just propped in place

The missing door will be displayed open on the finished model

Firemans Side View

U6b's and Layout's "Progress"

Time cures most anything and I've finally been able to get back to the models.  They unpacked with no damage what so ever. Unfortunately I discovered a few (?) errors that had been made and had to fix them before I went forward. Little things. Crooked things, sloppy things, ugly things. Much better now though the relentless pursuit of perfectness is always relentless because I am a long way from perfect.
The first one is really beginning to look like something though.  The photo's reveal that there is a lot of work still to be done, much trimming and adding of mountains of detail not to mention roofs and, oh yes, power train, sound system ad infinitum it seems at this point but I am much bouyed by the progress.
Have still not quite figured out how to secure the trucks to the underframe. It will require only a small amount of friction, something like a circlip.  The problem is it will be located between the frame members and difficult to get at when it comes time to remove them. Something will come along to solve it I'm sure but it is frustrating.
I also have a "fit" problem between the cab, which is now assembled as a unit, and the long hood. Something went awry and I didn't get a perfectly vertical joint on the rear cab wall.  Thankfully GE used a closure trim piece in that exact place to seal those two components together.  I'm counting on that to solve my problem. The styrene floor of the underframe may even be to blame.....
You've probably noticed the brass overlay on the cab front.....Here's the scenario.  Some dope in the roundhouse swung the portable crane around with excess aplomb and knocked a "chunk" out of the engineer's side of the cab with the compressor he was dangling at the end of the chain.  Had to replace the windshield and that piece of sheetmetal that is now welded into the place that was crunched. You can't see the welds yet, but you will when the model is done. (Actually I screwed up the plastic there after it warped a little and I tried to straighten it out. Didn't work very well.  I like the solution though)