Monday, May 27, 2019

My Port Costa-Avon SP Layout Soon to Start Construction


The ceiling in the previous blog post has finally been repaired and I am gradually moving back into the office/trainroom. 

This is the tentative drawing of a plan to fill a nine by eleven foot space of the eleven by eleven foot room with three of my favorite scences from near my home. The objective (and preference) is not to create an operations oriented pike, but model a set of scenes mostly for display of my rolling stock. Any SP Western Division trains Eastbound to Sacramento or Tracy and Westbound to Crockett and Oakland will be able to move only a few feet. What action there is would be moving a few cars to and from Avon and Walnut Creek.

This layout will be built on a series of removable tables not attached to the walls of my townhouse office and trainroom. The Walnut Creek module is freestanding with a two foot space between it and a wall completely covered with built in cabinets and bookshelves along with a wet bar. The design of the freestanding shelf/table like structures is still in flux. The height is limited to 40 inches at the sub roadbed surface. I plan to maximize storage of rolling stock, parts and painting supplies under the layout. I can no longer do any carpentry so the sub-roadbed will likely be a foam board of some type. Under the Avon side is a 28 by 48 inch workbench. That wall also has a 6 foot long window. and Avon yard will run in front of the window.

Port Costa with its 70 foot turntable small engine terminal is a favorite. I have tried to include as much of the trackage as possible but have had to resort to curved turnouts at both ends and considerable compression through shortened trackage. Outside the engine terminal trackage the turnout placement is fictional. The Martinez junction has been moved to the east end of Port Costa. Avon is a truncated small yard with the east wye leg omitted. Walnut Creek is shortened at the south end with about 500 yards missing. It is primarily to display the depot and railroad related structures I am building.

I have not sufficiently mastered any of the available free layout design or drawing software packages so my planning is stil pencil and graph paper.