But Wait Ther's More.....

Both Raymond and I had discussed what our objectives were for the Christmas Break. We had decided that we needed to start work on the locomotive depot planned for the upper terminus before we continued with the plywood base and track laying on the top deck of the centre modules.



The upper and lower decks at right angles to the right hand walls ready for the plywood track supports and track laying to commence

The centre peninsula also clearly showing the overhang extension of the framing outside the footprint of the standard layout space.


Following instructions suggested by Darren we had made the 4 X 1 supports extend beyond the footprint of the rest of the modules as it was on this front corner we were planning to install the Raggs to Riches Durango Depot kit as a feature that could be easily seen when firt entering The Shed. The Durango Depot is some 48 inches long and 11 inches wide. I also wanted to have an extra space in front of the depot for scenery. With this extension of width for the baseboard framing we needed to know that the walkway between this corner and the two proposed (upper and lower) locomotive depots on the left hand wall would be sufficient. I am hoping for preferably 3 feet.


The corner modules again showing the overhang outside the layout footprint. These extensions will be shortened to suit the requirements for the Durango Depot on the upper level and also keeping in mind the need to maintain sufficient accessway between this module and the lower level locomotive depot on the left hand wall

Now we knew that the upper level locomotive depot along the left hand wall would not be a problem as it would be no wider than 2 ft 6 ins and narrowing down to only about 6 inches wide towards the entry door to The Shed. The lower level could be a potential problem, however. I planned to have an 18 inch wide accessway between the left hand wall and the lower locomotive depot (under the upper level loco depot). The lower level loco depot like that on the upper level would incorporate a Walthers HO Scale 130 ft turntable which equates to a 65 ft turntable in O Scale and therefore big enough to accomodate those large Colorado narrow gauge engines of the K-36 and K-37 Class. Obviously the bridges on these turntables would have to be modified to accomodate the widths of these locomotives. The turntable and locomotive depot on the bottom level is also intended to be a layout feature on entry into The Shed as it will be outside the footprint of the upper level locomotive depot..


The upper level locomotive depot baseboard under construction.

The upper level locomotive depot baseboard under construction. The open space underneath will be occupied by the lower locomotive depot extending on from the baseboard framing that can be seen on the lower right.

The Walthers HO Scale 130 ft turntable in position for the upper locomotive depot. The turntable bridge has handrails and a cabin for HO Scale locomotives. These will have to be removed for the O Scale locomotives and new basswood decking, cabin and handrails fitted to suit the "big" engines.

I had purchased this Walthers turntable some years ago as I had always planned to have a locomotive depot and turntable capable of handling the K-36 and K-37 Class locomotives. Now we would need two of these turntables as another would be required for the lower deck. Raymond gave me the second 130 ft turntable for Christmas with this one in a blue box and clearly labelled as being fitted with DCC as distinct from my original which came in a red box and was DC only but was supposedly "DCC convertible".

We have since investigated the DCC Conversion Kit and found their RRP is almost $200 and that they are very difficult to install. We have decided that in the long run it will be best that we purchase yet another DCC turntable (in the blue box) at about $450 and since the original has not been used we will try to sell it "as new". We obviously will not get back our original outlay.

The turntable bridge is fitted with Code 83 Rail so this again is a problem and we have decided not to lay any track on the new loco depot module until we purchase a box of Code 83 Peco FlexTrack and a number of Code100/Code83 Adapter pieces. We will us the adapter pieces for the two tracks leading omto and off the turntable connecting to the main track and all dead-end tracks off the turntable will be laid in Code 83. Austral Modelcraft is open again this weekend after Ray and Aileen have had their Christmas break so we will, hopefully, be able to purchase our Code 83 requirements and also our third (!!!!!) 130 ft turntable. If we can purchase our Code 83 requirements we should be able to lay the track in the loco depot area before the end of the weekend.