Basic Layout for 1998 (year 1)
Click on any of the images to see a larger version.
The
first thing to go in was the pond. Keep in mind that the layout is in a "L"
shape and this is on the inside corner of the "L". Here it has most of the stone
work done. In 1998 we had about 2 dozen fish, some frogs and just a few water plants. The
layouts only trestle will be curved and running on the front edge of the pond. The narrow
portion of the pond (in the center) is the location of the 6 foot long Howe Truss bridge
and finally, the very back of the picture shows the beginning of the mountain. The
mainline will travel around the backside while short tunnels on either side give the
illusion of the train going under the mountain. There will also be a waterfall on the top
front edge of the mountain.
This
was a shot of the bottom portion of the layout, the foot of the "L" if you will,
taken late in September of 1998. I know it’s not much to visualize yet but hey, I had
to start someplace. You may also notice that there are two different colors of dirt in the
picture, the lighter colored dirt is more sandy and packs down like cement. The darker
dirt is of course rich topsoil. The foundation of the layout is no less than 12 yards of
compressed dirt with 6 yard of the topsoil on top. This is how I have maintained a
level of control over mother nature. The entire layout has been pre settled to the best of
my ability so I won't run into sink holes here and there over the next few years.
A shot of the longest part of the layout (the long part of the "L").
This picture is pretty bad but it’s the only one I have with this angle of
perspective. If you can see it, there is a small opening just to the left of the closest
pine tree in the picture. It's not really as small as it looks, it's about 4 feet across.
There will be a double arch viaduct bridging the gap for the single mainline that
will run along the entire front edge of the layout.
This was about all that was really done to the basic layout in 1998. You can’t see it in any of these pictures but there is also a new sundeck to the left of the layout. Its starts about 6’ from the edge of the layout on the backside of the house. It will be the main viewing area for the layout and the central location for the engineer. The deck is roughly 14 ½’ by 22’. There’s also a new door wall heading strait into the kitchen. Its gonna be great sitting up there playing with trains and drinking a cold Mountain Dew under the umbrella!