Changing Plans
The nice thing about plans on paper is that they are easy to change.
Last Friday's post on Knott's Calico Mine Train inspired me to go back and take another look at the expansion plans I have for the TMMC, and especially at the corner Calico section. To be honest, I was never fully satisfied with the plans for that corner and taking a fresh look at Calico had me wanting to incorporate more of the look and feel of the Knott's original in my layout. To that end, I spent a couple of days figuring things out and now have a revised plan for the Thunder Mesa expansion.
I've had to give up a wee bit of aisle space with this new scheme but the trade off in scenic potential should be more than worth it. A 3% grade still brings trains up to Calico, and the natural bridge, balancing rocks, deep canyon and Indian pueblo are largely unchanged. I did change the size of the Calico section from 3'x4' to 6'x4', and this in turn now makes the canyon section 5'x3' instead of 8'x3'. It just seemed to make more sense to have two medium sized sections.
Construction has officially begun on the Calico section, with the benchwork already completed and the 1/2" plywood sub-roadbed well underway. And that bring us to this month's aerial views.
Last month: April 4, 2014. |
In the next section of benchwork, the scenery will plunge dramatically as the trains cross Bright Angel Canyon on their way up to Calico. With any luck I'll be able to get that built later this month and can start looking forward to running trains through the new sections. Stay tuned! Thanks for checking in, folks. Adios for now!
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