I've taken small steps toward re-development of the uppermost level of my layout for some time now: removing buildings and such, doing a lot of measuring and planning, but today i took the plunge, and hammers and chisels in hand . . . its an eleven by three foot area inside a kind of figure eight as seen below.
Here is that upper level a couple of years ago - I made tiny changes in the time since, but it was mostly like this up to a month ago: open soutwestern country nearest the camera, the car dealerships and Ferrari factory in the far off inner loop.
Here it is just as I broke for lunch . . . really torn up. Even though it looks (at the far end) like there is scenery in place, that is an old layer that was under "level ground" - in this case heavy foamboard forming the car dealership lots, that I tore off . . . In the foreground you can see down into the inside of my hills to the lower part of some of my track that passes underneath other parts of it . . .
This weird blue thing is my "clearance car." A caboose with blocks of wood taped to it to simulate the width and height I want the new scenery and tunnels to accomodate. This will be a challenge as it is 1/4 inch wider and taller that what the previous scenery would accomodate.
My plan calls for two loops of 'Streets making a two lane loop inside the tracks in the area, with an industrial area to the background (Menards feed and seed and cabinet factory, etc., numerous shops in the foreground (Menards Train store, IGA, a TV repair and candy store, etc.,
and a Santa Fe train station in the area shaded, scratch built, as in Trinidad, Co (where I was born), long ago.
It's a mess now, and means I am one loop down on trains I can run (and sometimes none, when I'm leaning over to work on things). But I will post picturs as I work it, as I love such threads and hope others will like this.
It'll be neat to see what you come up with.
; I like the clearance car
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