Trains are running again!

I have the trains going again! 

Actually, they have been going for some time now.  To be honest, I have spent all of this time running circles and switching out the yard and completely neglected updating the blog.  It has been an absolute blast!

I have had the yard and main line operational for a while now, but due to how I arranged the trackwork they could never really interchange.  So to fix this (and satisfy the need to just have trains running un-attended) I set up the leftovers of the original layout and added some new pieces.  The new pieces are built-to-fit sections that satisfied the constraints of the area.  They were also built with leftovers and look like it so don't get your hopes up for super fancy handi-work.  The first was on the back side of the room.  I used some 1x4s to build a curved section and topped it with some 24" radius Atlas Code 82 sectional track.  Then I secured it to the layout frame and set it on an existing wall support.  Some trial and error proved it needed some extra support so I added some legs and voila!

It is in the far corner and hard to see but it is there.

 

After that I put in the long straight-away seen above, and then the corner and last straight-away seen below:

 

Next up was the most difficult part: a lift out section.  I don't mind crawling under the layout any but if I am going to be in and out without much train action then I wanted to be able to quickly removed and replace anything across the entry way.  The below contraption is what I came up with.  It has the ame section track connecting to the layout, some flextrack to follow and transitions to a spare piece of Code 100 track that connects to the EZ Track.

 

To remove it, I pull back the joiners on the layout side and pop off the EZ Track and set it out of the way.  There is also a guide piece of wood under the layout end to make sure the bridge always settles into the right spot to align with the main.  I will get a picture of that up here next time.

So there you have it!  Trains are up and running along and I haven't had any problems with this setup.  One day it may all be replaced with more actual layout but for now I have what I need :)

Now for the random picture of the post:

 

This is a slug engine, with the various info here.  Note the removed fuel tank and blanked windows.  It seems to be paired with SD40N in front as there are a lot of pictures of the two together,  I caught these on a random freight heading south on the BNSF line along Mykawa Rd in Houston on 10/15/14.