Looking Back...

 

It's 2018 and the layout is in the midst of its fifth year of construction. A lot has changed to say the least. It's hard to believe most of the layout is sceniced already. But there's still a ways to go.

Let's start with motive power. Five years ago, there wasn't a lot in the way of road specific power available. In terms of steam, all you had were the Minitrix K4, B6 and 2-10-0 (which needed some bashing to become an I1). All of them required a lot of tinkering to get them to run well. You also had the GHQ L1 conversion kit for the Kato Mikado. They weren't great, but unless you wanted to spend plutocrat money on brass, that was all you had. Of course Broadway Limited was taking preorders for their M1, but it appeared destined to be vaporware forever.

But then, in 2015, Bachmann came out with their K4 with DCC and sound. It was the first piece of road-specific PRR steam released since the 1970s. Of course, they did it right after I'd dropped a few Benjamins to have Max Magliaro remotor my Minitirx K4!

If that weren't enough, a few months after the Bachmann K4's debut, Broadway Limited finally delivered their long-awaited Centipede and M1 models. If that's not enough, they've announced a T1. I preordered one and hopefully I get it before my 3-year-old leaves for college. So in terms of motive power, we're getting there. What I'd really love to see are some H class 2-8-0s and maybe an E6 Atlantic.

Speaking of E6 Atlantics, one was produced way back in the early 1990s by Black River Locomotive works. According to Spookshow (link) only a few hundred were ever produced and in five years of modeling the Pennsy, I've yet to see one on eBay.

That's enough about motive power, now let's talk about DCC. When I started, I was using an MRC Tech 4 to run the layout. I kidded myself about using DC cab control to operate the layout. But then, one night, I had some friends over to run some trains and the shortcomings of this idea were laid bare. I bought an MRC Tech 6, which allows one to run both DCC and analog. Honestly I don't think I've run an analog locomotive on the layout since 2015!

Looking back at Horseshoe Curve, I have to say I'm not all that happy with how it turned out. Here's the deal, I had gotten the layout to the point of being operational back in February of 2014 and started on the scenery. But that summer, my wife said "honey, I'm pregnant!" Knowing that once the baby arrived, time for modeling would be nonexistent, I plowed full throttle into scenery. Through the fall of 2014 and into the winter of 2015, I spent every spare moment working on the layout. I wanted to at least have the curve finished before my son was born.

Ultimately, I fell short of this goal. And to top it off, the sense of "beat the clock" over-urgency caused the scenery to look a bit slapdash. I slowed down and took my time on the rest of the layout. But that only makes this section look even worse.  So, if you're wondering what I'm going to do when the layout is finished, I'll tell you: rip out and redo the scenery at the Curve. Specifically, the lake and the road. I may even remove these entirely, which brings me to my next point.

Through the eyes of 20/20 hindsight, I realize I made the center peninsula far too wide. While it gives amazing depths to both the Curve and Gallitzin, it makes them both really, really hard to access. This is especially true of the curve. There is an access hatch, but even still parts of the track are out of reach. This makes cleaning and/or rescuing stalled trains a very difficult proposition. So, I'm torn between redoing the scenery or simply removing the lake and road to create an aisle. Either way, this is a few years off.

The Altoona Shop complex was another victim of my pre-baby modeling scramble. And the more I look at it, the less I like it. The real PRR Juniata Shop complex was (and still is) massive. As a result, I would probably need the entire train room to recreate it accurately. The whole thing looks really kluged in where it is. I think the shops ultimately belong inside the Altoona yard loop. And the cheap-looking Atlas turntable? Yeah, that has to go.

The space where the shops currently sit could be better used for a few more rail-served industries. There should be enough space there to keep a local crew busy for a while.

So yeah, a whole lot of blather. In fact, I'm kind of impressed you read all the way to the bottom. But, when you get this far into a layout, you start to realize what you like and don't like about it. The good news is there's a lot more of the former than the latter. The better news is the things that fall into the latter category are correctable. That's certainly good news as I aven't the time, money or energy to start over at this point.