End of May Update

Well June is almost upon us and the capital maintenance gangs are out in full force on the "Clair". This past week the gangs wrapped up laying track on the storage siding between Grays Lake and Buhler. This siding is used for setting out or picking up cars from manifest freights for the Grays Lake Switcher (L-GLBU).

Storage track with cut of cars left by Grays Lake Switcher for pickup.

The gangs were also working on the Upper Huron Wye. Focus for the project was to broaden the curve radius more originally built. While working the west leg, the gangs also rebuilt the east leg including a new switch and lead for the Sugar Beet / Cogeneration plant.

This morning was the first enroute pickup made at Gray's Lake, MI utilizing the new trackwork recently installed. The M-PHBA-31 made the headend fill. 

Everyone have a safe summer, stay tuned for another post next week on Upper Huron trackwork.

GM

The L.U. (Laid Up) Line

At one point all locomotives come to the end of their life cycle and end up on the L.U. (Laid Up) Line. It's a matter of what L.U. status the motor gets.

LUGO - laid up good order

LUBO - laid up bad order

LUMO - laid up for modification 

LUPE - laid up pending 

LUFS - laid up for sale

The MCIS had a fleet of 6 (2 modeled) GP30s over the years acquired from various sources and they served their time well in the first generation MCIS paint scheme (1975-1990). As of May 1st the fleet was down to 4 units on the roster. With arrival of EMD SD70ACe's last year, their time became limited in service. On May 16th the engines were pulled from service and are now stored at Mt. Pleasant in LUMO status. Rumor has it they could be rebuilt with 710 V8 prime movers and become GP22-ECOs or part of GP40-2 slug-mate set.

Walt Disney and Model Railroading

A little change from my normal layout progress posts today. Instead I want to focus on inspiration and the ability to dream it, design it, and create it.

This past week my family vacationed to Walt Disney World which is an awesome place filled with creative ingenuity created by Disney's Imagineers. While there I always feel re-inspired to focus on my model railroad and its a shot of inspiration that all of us modelers need.

The Disney parks and rides all start as dreams which are put on paper. How many of us can relate to sketching trackplans or ideas on napkins, I know I have plenty of times. These sketches then become models just like our layouts which go on to full size construction. What sets us modelers apart from the dreamers is the ability to then take this concept a create it through our model railroads just as the Imagineers do. As Walt Disney would say:

“If you can dream it, you can do it.”

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

“Whatever you do, do it well.”

Beyond the creative inspiration part, Walt had a backyard railroad at his house in California called the Carolwood and Pacific. Below I have provided a few photos of his model railroad on display at the Walt Disney: One Man's Dream exhibit at Disney's Hollywood Studios. 

You can find plenty more on Walt and the Carolwood & Pacific via the web.

If you visit Disney's Wilderness Lodge in Florida there is also a Carolwood & Pacific room that has two of the railcars from the layout on display.

Recently I hit a road block designing an area that will host a sugar beet plant. Staying true to dreaming and designing I now have a solid plan for the scene (fall 2014 posts).

So the conclusion for all of you reading this post is enjoy the dream, design, construction, and operation of your model railroad. If you hit a roadblock rethink it and work around it. After all it's about enjoyment of the hobby and having fun. Sometimes the hardest critic of our layouts happens to be well....ourselves.

Mid-April Update 3

Finished all primary trackwork at Buhler as planned, hope to install the industry sidings and blue point controllers tomorrow.

Gotta love flowing trackwork - looking west from atop backdrop wall. The Elevator Facility in town will be a fictional terminal for "Cooperative Elevator" who has numerous facilities in Michigan's thumb.

             Track level looking west.

View looking east towards staging "Gerhard and beyond to Port Huron"

Sweeping curve heading west towards Grays Lake. Tracks left to right: "one track aka. Setout / pickup", passing siding which was the old main, and the mainline now consisting of concrete ties.

Mid-April Update 2

As promised I wanted to keep up on my updates as track goes in the upper deck at Buhler. Made great progress yesterday and I wanted to share the just a few photos of the almost end result.

Great progress has been made in the past few days - the switches in the background and foreground on the passing siding and "Long Lead" are installed along with the flextrack on the "Long Lead with connects as the continuous run for the upper deck.

Cab view of the switches - the connector track between the mainline and passing siding switch still need to be connected and is currently held in place with the red thumb tacks. Concrete flex track on the main will be installed tonight getting rid of the "kinked" looked that you see in the photo.

Weekly Ops. photo showing off one of the many fleet workhorses. Stay tuned; next week for a post about the EMD SD40-2 fleet.



M-BAPH-22 (manifest train Bay City to Port Huron of 22nd) led by EMD SD40-2 4052 and EMD SD45-2 4571 holds the main at Grays Lake awaiting the U-MYPB-21 (unit train Marysville to Port Belle of 21st) to clear the east wye switch heading back for another aggregate loadout.



Mid-April Update

Quick update on the trackwork being completed at Buhler. 

Roadbed has been installed for the mainline, passing siding, and storage siding. Beyond Buhler in East Staging roadbed work has also been completed for the connection to staging and continuous run / Upper Huron North wye track. The last two nights have been spent sanding the cork to ensure smooth transitions and level surfaces.

The main will consist of concrete flex track and the passing / sidings will be standard Atlas code 83 flew track.

My goal will be to get the mainline this week - stay tuned more updates to follow.

Looking down at Buhler - back to front mainline, passing siding, industry spur.



Tracklevel view from east staging looking into the station of Buhler.



Viewing the workarea facing west - we can see right to left the main, siding, industry track / storage siding.



Early April Update

For just being four days into the month it sure has been busy.

Modeller Visit:
On Tuesday fellow modeller Dan Munson stopped by while in town and took a quick tour and provided some great feedback on areas that have been completed or are currently in progress.

Capital Work:
Wednesday evening proved to be very productive with roadbed going in at Grays Lake and West Grays for the mainline, passing siding, and storage siding. The finalization of industry location at West Grays has really taken shape and should prove to be a very awesome customer to switch and provide a great view block for trains going into and out of East Staging. Enjoy the photo updates - plan to have more this weekend as the flextrack and switches are secured in place.

Looking east at Grays Lake - (L to R) Mainline, passing siding, storage siding. The siding in lower left foreground is the "Grays Industrial Lead" which leads to AmCan Salt, PolyPak, and Suburban Propane. A highway overpass will bridge the tracks in the curve so seperate the scenes between Grays Lake and West Grays.

Viewing west from atop the Cooperative Elevators conveyor bridge we see the (R to L) Mainline, passing siding, storage siding. The foreground switches lead off into staging where the mainline connects to the three track East Staging and the passing siding connects to a continuous run that re-appears at Upper Huron.

Same area now viewed east with the industry and car loading areas visible. You can see the mainline and passing siding which becomes the "long lead" and continues on a continous run track. The break in the backdrop will be concealed with the elevator and conveyor bridge that will cross the tracks.

West Grays has one customer "Cooperative Elevator Co." but there will be plenty of work for the L-GLBU-XX to work daily as the facility will loadout covered hoppers of wheat, soybeans, and corn and load boxcars with dry beans. I plan to have an update later this weekend with the completion of trackwork in this area. GM