Layout Updates-New Information

1. Still waiting out the drywall job...otherwise, not much to report on. I have received two large orders of coal hoppers. Galesburg was a mild success...I have about 60 Walthers coal hoppers left to sell off. I am planning on building these up and getting rid of them this fall. I will be attending the Collinsville Great Train Expo this winter as well...The show is Thanksgiving weekend. The coal hoppers received were 64 custom Accurail Coal hoppers in the black ICG schemes of the 1979-1980's flavor...Centralia rebuilds...and I bought a 36 car UP "original red" train from Tangent scale models...possibly the finest coal hoppers I have ever owned!!!

2. The new layout will encompass these concepts: free-standing benchwork with 16" centers...as "pseudo stud walls" that brace themselves...and are attached to the floor with screws. These moveable stud walls will be made out of 3/4" birch plywood ripped to my dimensional lumber needs...birch is the best wood for the climate we have here with the high humidity. In-expensive shelf brackets will replace all that wood...and allow a 3 deck layout inside the confines of the room...with narrow shelves made of 2" extruded foam insulation board, which will be secured to 1/8" luan with liquid nails adhesive; which, in turn will be secured to the shelf brackets via 1" x 2" furring strips cut to the appropriate length. See, I've struggled all year with the idea of having to tear this layout down in 10 years...with all the neat track work, switches and such...it just wore me OUT. This way...when moving day comes...I can simply remove the screws from the underside of the shelf brackets...and take the foam sections out....in fact, the entire layout could be disassembled and re-assembled in the new HUGE basement as a single-level layout....but, heck, even my new helix is a plastic re-useable one with threaded rods!!

3. I am planning an RPM meet in Centralia in conjunction with the Fall Festival next year...2011. The Meet will be at the Centralia Recreational Complex...right next to the IC and BN main tracks. I have been given the green light from the City of Centralia and the Chamber of Commerce to go ahead and plan this...and I'll be putting up a website for it as well. I had planned for the meet this year if possible...but I think it's too late in the game to try it for this year...