Topic: Progress Reports
This is not the entry I had intended to be posting. Late last week I attempted to post a new entry I'd been working on for a couple of weeks. The entry was to detail the steps I have taken in coloring the rocks of the newest mountain area. I say "was" because it vanished into the black hole of Tripod's newest version of it's publishing software. All attempts to retrieve the entry have failed so I must start from scratch to recreate an entry on the topic. That will take some time. Until then here's a brief note about what we've been up to.
Augusta Station is open only on Saturdays and Sundays in January. This has allowed Doug and I to take some mainline track out of service while we make alterations in the track alignments. We are working where the transit is made between the visible layout and staging. The project is made challenging by the fact that much of the track is inside a tunnel. Because of the redesign of other portions of the track plan, I decided to replace these tracks which were laid in the very early days of construction . The new design altered the operating patterns expected in the original plan. In the initial design all staging tracks were to be in the workshop area. As part of s major redesign of the track plan after the first year of construction I found I could add numerous staging tracks under the tall mountains at the opposite end of the layout. This shifted the primary staging for the mainline from the workshop to the new subterranean staging yard. What was to have been the main staging area in the workshop now primarily serves the Mound City area next to the workshop. The mainline currently uses a reverse loop in the workshop, but little else. The double track line in Mound City is now pretty much the domain of the Manufacturers' Terminal Railway and the eastern railroads, CSX and NS, which intersect the MKP/BNSF line from the west.
The new alignment will eliminate a turnout and a crossing. Removing the crossing allows closer track spacing and the number of tracks traversing between the layout and staging increase from three to four. Previously, the five approacing tracks have been required to merge into just three tracks. So this new alignment will improve traffic flow allowing for trains running simultaneously and without conflict on both the mainline and the double tracked Mound City line. It also locates the remaining turnout wholly outside the tunnel for improved accessability. The turnouts were partially inside the tunnel. Long passenger cars have had some difficulties navigating this complex track. I am hoping a new, simpler track arrangement will eliminate those problems. Several adjustments and relocation of a crossover are being made in the staging area as well. We should never be reluctant to go back and make changes if they will result in better operations.
