Sequencing indicated in next steps

Following a bit of a lull due to medical issues (cataract surgery for me and upcoming back surgery for Sue) and a bout of procrastination, it's time to get started again. I'm at a stage where sequencing is indicated. For example, it works best if the pegboard behind the work bench is put in place before the track is cleared and hardboard is laid on the 2' x 8' section of former benchwork that becomes the work bench is placed. Then the new benchwork can be cleared so the backdrop can get its blue sky coat of paint. Finally, after these tasks are complete, I can install a nine inch by eight foot board on the short section of the "L" to make it 2'-9" x 8'. THEN, I can start laying roadbed and track.  I will be using Woodland Scenics N-scale foam roadbed, and Atlas Code 100 flex track. Turnouts will be hand thrown Peco. I already have the track and turnouts from the previous layout.

New Power

With the room walls and floor freshly painted, it's time to start thinking about bringing the new concept to reality. As I outlined in my first post in this blog, I plan to have three engines. Two are RS-3s, that I am bringing from the previous model railroad, but the third, and primary power, is steam. To that end, I purchased a Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0 "Consolidation", complete with a sound decoder. The 2-8-0 is what the Winston Salem Southbound - the road that's serving as the inspiration for Paducah Switching - used until 1958, three years after the year in which I'm setting this layout.

One last look at the "empty" room. This time, with the walls and floor freshly painted. I'll have to continue the "blue sky" down to the new height of the layout, now about 30", which will allow me to roll around on an office chair to work and operate the railroad.

Railroad Room Gets Facelift

With the old out, and before the new comes in, it seems like a good time to give the room a facelift. To that end a painter, Jay, is here today to repaint all walls white, except for the blue sky above  the reconfigured layout, and the floor. With the help of wife Sue, the room is ready for the update.

The painting of the sky becomes my job after Jay is finished. I have vowed, that on this layout (my fourth), I will do it right this time, i.e., all the preparatory work first such as painting the room and bench work, organizing the workbench and model-building space, etc., instead of rushing headlong into laying track and running wire just to get something running as soon as I can. I know, a novel concept, but what can I say.

A day later ... Paducah Switching!

After a long day of deconstruction and loading into a 26-foot trailer, the Paducah & Lake Erie is no more.

The way it looked a month ago ...

The way it looks today!

This is the footprint, if you will, of the Paducah Switching railroad. A subsidiary of the Paducah & Lake Erie, the new layout is a two-foot wide 10' x 16' switching railroad. It's built at a 29" height, to allow me to sit in an office chair and roll around to work and operate. Control is NCE (blue boxes in center of photo). As stated in previous post, inspiration for this effort is the "Tar Branch" of the Winston Salem Southbound.

I can't say enough about the efforts of David James and Kenny Orchard of Brecksville, Ohio, and my wife Sue. David and Kenny arrived here Saturday evening, and after a dinner at The Big Chief (a nearby  historic Route 66 eatery) spent about an hour and a half planning their moves the following day. Sunday morning, after a Sue-prepared breakfast, they attacked the project, taking down and loading the old, and finally at 9:30 Sunday night, breaking only for Sue's dinner, mounted the above sections, repurposed from the peninsula of the former layout. A fourth 2' x 8' section is mounted on the wall out-of-site to the left, and will serve as a work table.

Next on my agenda is getting the walls and floor painted.

It's moving day ...

The big day, actually weekend, has arrived. David James of Brecksville, Ohio, who is taking the P&LE layout back to Ohio, arrived Saturday night with friend Kenny Orchard, and after dinner, spent an hour planning and scheming on how to best remove the layout without destroying it.

First thing tackled Sunday morning was the 2 1/2 turn helix, built on a 6' x 6' platform, and covered with a mountain, built with 2" pink foam. After removing the foam mountain - intact -, it was cutting wires and rails.

David looks at the deconstructed helix, prior to moving it to the trailer. This is the single largest section of the railroad, but next comes the Paducah Engine House yard with its eleven turnouts.

Kenny (in the lead) and David start loading the sections into the 26' foot trailer. At this point, still a lot to go, but still looks like they can get it done today.

Decisions ... decisions ...decisions

There is some pre-planning ... even pre pre-planning ... going into this project, and that's the stage I'm in currently. Three primary caveats: 1) I'm continuing with DCC, but changing to NCE, which I've been assured even I can install and maintain; 2) nothing will be a part of the layout that I cannot install and maintain (such as hand thrown turnouts); and 3) it will be at a height at which I can sit in a chair (office or drafting table chair) and roll around to work and operate.

But first comes the removal of the current layout. David James of Brecksville, Ohio, is scheduled to come the weekend of August 24, and take it back to Ohio.

I know I want at least some steam power, but I still love the Alco RS-3s, thus, the 1955 time frame, which allows the 2-8-0 Consolidation I'm purchasing, and an RS-3. I've checked and continue to check Google and other websites to insure time period accuracy.

Inspiration, and some copying, comes from the Winston Salem Southbound - the Tar Branch - featured in Model Railroader, January-April, 2018.  It has everything I'm looking for: small, simple, a shelf railroad devoted to industrial switching, and the transitional period between steam and diesel. It even has a 2-8-0 as its primary power and diesels (although the prototype has GP-9s, I'm sticking with the RS-3 ... what can I say?).

And finally, I already have much of what I need to get started, including bench work that can be reconfigured, a partial box of new track, used track and turnouts, two RS-3s with sound decoders, period appropriate rolling stock, and a few structures. I'll still to have acquire the NCE control system, the 2-8-0 engine (I already have one spotted), roadbed, and additional rolling stock and structures.