A big thank you to Lee and his lovely wife for opening their home for us this last weekend. They graciously allowed a group of Railpro die-hard's and some other regulars to descend on their basement and generally make a mess of the layout. A great time was had by all. I really enjoyed meeting in person all the people who are part of this forum.
Lee's layout is simply a masterpiece. It ran nearly flawlessly, has full CTC signaling, dispatcher with CTC board, integrated phone system, ingenious powered switches, and every scene is complete with full scenery and backdrop. It's almost as much fun to just walk around and look at it as it is to operate on it.
Following are a few pictures I took while waiting for my name to get called on the pool jobs. I didn't bring my tripod so the pictures aren't as good as I would like.
One of the many coal mines on the layout that is served by CB&Q
These next pictures are all from Flannigan....an operator works the yard here and services all these industries. Trains come in and drop/pickup whatever cars are on their list.
Everything has finished scenery like this:
Engine terminal at East Yard
Power for the Jiggs Tramp
Bill working the Jiggs Tramp and Bruce drilling in the East Yard
Lee and Ed discussing how the sugar beets are to spotted and pulled at Brimley Sugar
UCW power on one of the mixed freights
A really bad picture of East Yard
Tower at East Yard. The switches operate by pushing down on the switch stand....it activates the switch motor to flip the switch points
Dispatcher's office. That CTC is no joke....it works just like a prototype CTC board.
Signals at Clayton Yard. I worked this yard on the second day and didn't screw things up too badly.
My absolute favorite scene on the layout. Rob Spangler painted the backdrops.
Loading dock at Brimley Sugar, as well as coal and aggregate pits. Every door is a car spot.
Shasta Station at East Yard. Passenger trains stop at designated stations throughout the layout.
Some of the detail around Clayton Yard
From right to left....CB&Q mainline, UCW siding, UCW mainline, Brimley Sugar spur and industry tracks.
-Kevin