20 years ago I started to built the layout for 3 DC throttles (and a yard master)... not thinking much about operations in the long run. I liked the idea of trains running at eye level on the highest sections of the layout... but not everyone stands at over 6' like I do. So now we operate with a regular crew of 10 people running the railroad (not all as tall as me). I never really got it, when some of the guys said they couldn't "see" the layout...
Lately I was painting the last of the blue sky sections to complete the basic backdrops (finally), so I had to tear out some old scenery left behind from before the peninsula expansion project went in (a lumber mill for the Klamath Northern short line will be going in where a hill used to stand). It suddenly dawned on me that there was a problem at the west end of Cascade Summit siding, as its view was blocked by a hill rising up from the fascia...
Wow, how do some of these guys know where the fouling point is when they come to the end of the siding?
Sorry guys!
So I continued tearing out more plaster and got a tool out that I thought I would never need for the layout again... the jigsaw! I cut down about a two foot section of fascia closer to near roadbed level.
This has opened up the view of that end of the siding from a couple angles, and I hope it makes life a little easier on the crews. Not to worry, I will still put some more pine trees in to help obscure the view of that fouling point! LOL ...but it will sure be a lot better than it was.
A work in progress...
At 6'2" even I had to get very close or on my toes to be sure I was not infringing on the clearance point, so glad to see the change.
ReplyDeleteWhen Jeff did the expansion I had him add some roadbed to extend Summit siding to match Natron if he gets around to it.:)
ReplyDeleteRay