Four days of the whole Locomotive Engineer thing I do took me away from the Toledo branch for a bit. Long enough to re-think the whole East end of Toledo... Studying the station map, and satellite photos brought me to the conclusion that the chip dump needed to be the full 180 degrees from the yard office and plywood plant in order to look right. Compression is a must when building a model railroad, but things were just too bunched up. Wrapping the chip dump around to the outside of the helix area gives me a more accurate track layout, along with being able to slide Standard Oil, the House track and Georgia Pacific Plywood to the left. This will also lengthen the siding and back tracks as well. I am going to attempt to add in the boat dock that is between the plywood plant and Guy Roberts Lumber, another signature Toledo scene.
The curves will be a little tight, but I would rather sacrifice radius for a more accurate track layout. Scenery will trick the eye into thinking the curves are a little broader. And no, I will not be using that funky unitrack...
And a milestone was made tonight, the final pieces of sub roadbed have been cut! Depot Slough now runs the correct direction and I gained about 16" of space for the town's track layout.
Next step will be working the risers for the helix and upper level as there are minimal risers that are only clamped in place at the moment. Cork and track will be installed on the lower level and helix before I bolt down the upper level. I might go ahead and re-vamp the left side of the staging yard to straighten it out some and ease up some of the curvature.
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