75 Progress 102913 25 by Verryl V Fosnight Jr
Verryl V Fosnight Jr's Gallery Verryl V Fosnight Jr's Gallery
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  1. Verryl V Fosnight Jr's Gallery
  2. Wyoming Division HO Operation LayoutWyoming Division HO Operation Layout
  3. 75 Progress 102913 2575 Progress 102913 25

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Pauls Cath Rock thru swing 01302020
Track Plan Upper Level12_9_1 (01  Top level of 2 shown in 50x75 foot building--Cheyenne upper left corner on bench between aisles 8 and 9 and the Cheyenne yard along aisle 0.  Tracks 1 and 2 go up Sherman Hill along the wall over aisle 1, and Harriman Cutoff, Track #3 on on bench 1/2, Dale Junction joins 1, 2 and 3 on the end cap and bench 2/3 goes into Laramie on bench 3/4.  Medicine Bow and Hanna are on 4/5, and the helix is temporily at the end of 4/5, but to be build 5/6 will have Sinclair Oil and Rawlins, Wyo, and 6/7 and 7/8 will be the Red Desert prairie to the final location of the helix.)
Track Plan Lower Level12_9_1 (02  Lower level--big helix connects levels, small connects both levels to lower level staging.  I have not updated this drawing yet to include the as built configuration of Downtown Ogden in the lower left corner (see #42).  Staging is at the top between aisles 8 and 9, Ogden along aisle 0, west out of Ogden is into Echo to the right of bench 1/2, Curvo and Wasatch, Utah is on 2/3, Evanston, Wyo on 3/4 Westvaco Trona mining on 4/5, Green River on 5/6, Rock Springs on 6/7, and 7/8 to the final location of the helix.  See 01 description for present temporary location of helix.)
OSL and Park city Branch Hidden Track (Level 3) (This is the Hidden Track Level or Level 3 of the Wyoming Division layout. showing the Oregon Short Line (OSL) leaving Granger, Wyo on Bench 4/5 at the center right and looping around back to the left and winding under the lower Level into the Portland Staging Yard on Bench 7/8.  Also shown is the Portland Turning Loop under the Helix to turn passenger trains so that they can be returned back toward Granger and beyond heading locomotive first.     Also shown is the Park City Branch and the Ideal Cement plant tracks at the lower right, and the probable location of the Reliance Coal Tipple and directing of tracks connecting it to rock springs on the lower level (now Mid Level) Bench 7/8.  The mines and start of the Rock springs Wye are also drawn off the edge of the sheet, to be moved into place when completed.)
03 Wyo Div Building (03  50x75 foot steel building and 30 x 36 foot garage/shop 1249 S Eastern Drive, Cornville, AZ just S of Family Dollar Store.  This view is looking east, so Family Dollar is to left on Cornville Road.)
04 Bench Layout 1 03 (04  Red painted lines for benches with 41 inch aisles, varying bench widths, and large end caps for mines and other industries.)
05 Bench Layout 2 04 (05  Yellow stairs up to view mezzanine running length of building 7x50 feet and for Dispatchers)
06 Bench Work 05 copy (06  Detaill of "F" frame tubular steel bench skeleton and front hinged wire trays open grid supports 1/2 inch plywood with spline roadbed on top of that)
07 Progress 033013 05 (07  A bit of Scenery as a test using Bragdon Enterprises geodesic foam product)
08 Progress 033013 06 copy (08  Geodesic foam is expensive, but very high speed of application makes it economical.  Also very flexible in ability to modify it.)
09 Progress 033013 09 (09  Main helix in first temporary position after 1st 4 benches (top, left, bottom, and next up on track plan), so track and  DCC could be tested.)
10 Progress 033013 12 (10  Helix in second temporary position after next two benches built with track and DCC installed.  3 benches left to be built inside red lines on floor, and helix will go at far end of the last of those three.)
11 Progress 033013 13 (11  True mushroom (no benches attached to walls so operators can walk around all benches)--operators on other level or next aisle are hidden from view, just like out on the prairie.)
11A Progress 033013 17 (11  The obligatory "stoop under."  Access to lower level downtown Ogden with 11 industries and 32 car spots.)
12 Progress 033013 08 (12  Looking up Sherman Hill along Track #3 (Harriman Cutoff) which leaves Speer Wye in foreground (Denver to left in staging), Cheyenne via #4 track in near foreground curving off to left.)
12AA Progress 033013 18 (12 AA View of Speer Wye from mezzanine.  Note stoop under steps and lower level Ogden industrial area access hole in upper level deck.  Spline roadbed starts at curve just beyond Cheyenne Tower A turnouts (5 crossovers connecting 4 tracks).  Speer is the wye, and Denver route is down past turnout near the tape measure.)
12A Chey Pass House Brick Wall and Windows (12A  Passenger House walls of Cheyenne roundhouse.  Lenny drew them on AutoCad then colored them and printed them to match photos of the Cheyenne prototype.  There will be a separate section for the Freight House with more stalls, just like the prototype.)
12B Progress 043013  01 (12B  Early shot of Lenny Wyatt's Passenger House (Passenger part of full roundhouse) showing scratch built wood framework and roofs.  West bound tracks are the five to the left beside the Passenger House, and the Omaha track is the single east bound track between the Passenger house and the soon be be built Freight house.  In other words, the Freight House will be all the tracks not into the Passenger House except for the left hand 5 and the right hand one.)
13 Progress 033013 07 (13  View "east" into Cheyenne through Tower A area from Sherman Hill direction (west of Cheyenne).  Round house will be just beyond the coal tower.  Passenger House is back on Lenny's work bench.)
13A Progress 033013 07 (13A  Higher view east into Cheyenne showing more of the steam engine facility.  We are modeling all of it in HO.  Coal tower shown just east of turntable and Passenger House.  Freight House for freight train locos to come.  Large building is the back shop that connects to the Freight House at one end.)
13B 030813 Layout Progress 07 (13B  Cheyenne Turntable and Passenger house (left) and Freight House (right) locations.  Large Back Shop building is 5 Walther kits built together as one for the back shop.  This view is a better look at the Omaha track east past the Passenger House and past the Back Shop, and at the 5 tracks onto the turntable, 4 out of the coal chute and one that bypasses it.)
14 Progress 033013 10 (14  Further east view of Cheyenne steam facility. Atttached to the rear of the Machine shop is the Tank, Tin, and Boiler Shops (larger building with sky light and attached to it is the Electrical Shop (only east end visible). To left is Steel Car Shop and Storehouse and the Wheel Shop and Tank Shop separated by the Transfer Table, and beside it is the 2 stall car shop.  Not visible is the Wood Working Shop and other sheds served by the 90 foot turntable (not visible here).)
15 Progress 033013 07 (15  Far east end of Cheyenne on top of staging (lower level) bench.  Cheyenne or East Passenger staging yard on left and Cheyenne freight classification yard on right.  This is an early picture showing location of 90 foot turntable (in back shop area).)
16 Progress 033013 11 (16  East Cheyenne Yard in distance with staging below.  Power house (two stacks) yard office to its right, and to left of it is the Blacksmith Shop.  Electrical panel on upper facia controls access to classification yard from Arrival/Departure tracks foreground behind Machine Shop building. Small panel to turn on or off passenger tracks on Cheyenne Passenger Staaging area on far side of top bench.)
17 Progress 033013 16 (17  More panels.  All turnouts on wide Cheyenne bench (and others hard to reach) are Tortoise machine controlled, and Lenny drew and made the panels which tilt out to reveal the wiring.  The rocker switches are accessible through 1" finger holds to avoid being bumped, an idea I stole from Rick Fortrin in Santa Clara.  Green LEDs light up for the route selected (straight or diverging), and some pairs of turnouts are synchronized to operate from one switch if they always have to be aligned together.)
18 Progress 033013 15 (18  More panels and some LEDs can be seen illuminted for the panels powered up.  The corked area on the lower level is to be "North Platte," that is the arrival/departure yard in staging to feed trains up the small helix onto the upper level into east Cheyenne as if coming from Nebraska (think Chicago; Marysville, Kansas; Kansas City, St. Louis, New Orleans....).  Behind this 8 track staging (1/5 of the main staging) will be the Ogden Ice Dock (6 feet long), Ogden stock yards, and a packing plant.)
19 Progress 033013 14 (19  More Panels, Tower A and to select route to West end of the Depot.  Foreground area will have 3 or 4 industries on the west end of Cheyenne to switch cars into and out of for operations.)
20 Progress 033013 (20  Staging Panel to route trains into Ogden from the west.  Open corked area in foreground is for Ogden UP turntable and roundhouse.  4/5 of staging is on this bench, Ogden Classification, Ogden Passenger staging, Ogden arrival/departure tracks, and unit train stub yard.  Altogether over 500 feet of staging tracks for 17 foot trains.)
20A 060212 Progress 10 copy (20A  Staging helix at end of Cheyenne east (upper level) and staging (lower level).  Note upper level passenger train turning loop on top of helix.  There is a lower leve loop to turn east bound trains through Cheyenne, so they poiint back west for their return trip from...ahh, Chicago??  There is an west bound loop not visible on the lower level to turn passenger tains heading for the Coast so they can return pointed correctly.)
21 Progress 033013 (21  Some spline roadbed being glued up while laying flat on the plywood bench.  After the glue sets it will be raised up on riser blocks to the model elevation to match the prototype elevation at that location.)
22 032412 LorneNoyes 12 (22  I bought 1/4" thick sheet cork in 50 foot rolls 4 feet wide and cut in into roadbed with tapered edges.  A roll is shown here on a vacuum hold down table I built, a box with a peg board top and a hole in one end for a 6 hp shop vac hose.  We cut the cork on a sharp angle to simulate the ballast shape then split the 4 foot piece in two halves so it will bend easily to make the curves.)
23 061112 Layout Progress 06 23 copy (23  I also imported 1,000 24 inch T8 florescent light fixtures from China rather than pay the Home Depot or Wall Mart prices.  This is the illumination on the cork for the future Ogden Ready Tracks and Passenger tracks at the depot.  Both Ogden (now) and Cheyenne have 4 passenger tracks at the depots, because the era is 1957 when railroads were still invested in trying to maintain their passenger business.  They did not know it in 1957 but the trend was definitely to airline and auto travel.)
24 101012 TV Shoot 07 (24  This is the main helix, an oval with 39 inch radius ends with 11 foot long straight sides.  It was temporarily in this place which is now Laramie, Wyo, before being moved to the end of the next two benches built.  Both temporary places were to have operations and to test track and the NCE DCC system.  Guy Forsythe is beside the helix and watching is Barry Adico and Lorne Noyes, all who help on the layout and are operators.)
25 080912 Track Test DCC 15 copy (25  An interesting 3 way meet for Operations.  Here we find two freights waiting at Dale. Go to the next photo, but first note the elevated spline with cork roadbed.  The main bus wires are #10 ga with #18 ga feeders up to the track.  The feeders are spot welded to the track with a nice neat and small weld filet and no melted ties.  Occasionally at the end of the #10 wire we will go down to #14 ga for a few feet if convenient, especially if we go to a PSX-AR auto reverser or a PSX-4 circuit breaker in the wire chases.  In other words the #14 wire is used sparingly and only at the end of a run.)
26 080912 Track Test DCC 16 copy (26  Here is the reason for both freights waiting at Dale.  A passenger train is coming over the Hill on track #1 running right handed.  Go to the next photo, but first note the train coming up from Laramie (foreground) is on the left hand track, that is, it is running left handed.)
27 080912 Track Test DCC 23 (27  In this third photo the passenger train has crossed over to Track #2 to continue down to Laramie running on the left hand (steeper grade on the older #1 track.  When it clears the turnouts, either the #3 freight will follow it down into Laramie, but more likely, to space the trains out more, first the freight up from Laramie will cross over to the #1 track to continue its journey to Cheyenne on Track #2 (It will change to right hand running). Thus Dale is not only a junction to join the 3 tracks, but it is one of 4 places on the layout where the current of running changes from right to left (or vice versa).  The others are the east Laramie yard limits, up the Wasatch Mountains east out of Ogden at the Ogden yard limits, and then the change back at Curvo, which is two tunnels bored at different elevations years apart with an overpass just west of the west portals of both tunnels.)
28 12 Progress 051013  02 (28  In this view the helix has been moved 2 benches to the left after those two new benches were built.  The helix has been temporarily attached to those two new benches (far left), and Laramie is now built up where the helix formerly was.  These temporary helix movements might make more sense if you review photos 01 and 02.  At the far right is the double crossover to change back to right hand running inside the Laramie yard.  The kit box is in the middle of the Laramie Tie Treating Plant location (see photo 40 below).)
28A Progress 071913 24 (28A  In this later photo Laramie is nearly complete. The kit boxes are strewn over the site of the Tie Treating Plant which will have narrow gauge tracks. The round house, turntable, and coal tower are in and at the far west end is the stock yards made from 10 kits.  Just this side of that between the 2nd and 3rd tracks will be the 6 foot long ice dock.  This photo from the mezzanine gives a good idea of the view from there. On the far bench under the blue uncompleted backdrop are #1 and #2 up to Sherman at the far post.  #3 is parallel and a few feet from them.  The yellow panel is a Tortoise panel to operate the turnouts at Granite on the other side of #1 and #2.  Granite was the ballast quarry for UP and a layout industry to operate.  Also in this view you can see how the upper layout is isolated from the lower layer--the upper level and lower level operators cannot see each other, because the upper guy is on the 17" riser, and the lower guy is on the concrete floor, and backdrops are between them.)
29 12 Progress 051013  08 (29  This view is around the end cap west of Laramie and on the lower level.  Shown is the partially to be "hidden" Oregon Short Line (OSL) track coming around the end cap under the mains.  The hidden track will be exposed for operations on the front with a geodesic foam shell rising up to furnish room to manipulate trains on it in this section.  Here a passing track plus a spare track for "arrival and departure" is visible at this location.  There is a 2 track small yard/approach tracks leaving the mains on the upper spline, and one leaves the main into a "mouse hole" in the backdrop where the OSL starts (Granger, Wyo).  It loops under the mains on the far side of the mouse hole and reverses direction to the single track shown on the lower shelf.  This OSL is a very long lead into Portland, OR staging which will be under the main helix, and that helix and Portland will be finally and permanently located to the left of the red cart at the far left of this view.)
30 12 Progress 051013  11 (30  This is the other side of the "mouse hole" for the OSL, and its loop under the mains and direction reversal can be seen here.  The eventual location for the main helix and "Portland" staging will be where the red cart is.  That cart, incidentally, holds my jewelers' spot welder that we use to weld the 18 AWG copper DCC feeders to the Ni-Au track--no cold solder joints, no melted ties, and very small beads of fused material.        With the OSL and main staging the Wyoming Division is a truly transcontinental railroad from Chicago or New Orleans in the east to LA or the Bay area in the west and Portland in the Pacific Northwest.  We don't plan on running around no Christmas tree.)
31 12 Progress 051013  09 (31  This is around the same end cap showing the spline and cork roadbed of the OSL.  The two mains above it will be mountains with the prototypical 1 mile+ long Aspen and Altamont tunnels just west of Evanston, Wyoming (13 and 17 feet on the layout). These tunnels will be accessible from the upper level aisle to the right or through a hinged hatch at the end from the concrete floor (which will eventually be carpeted) of the lower level.  The very thin and rugged hard shell of the Bragdon Enterprises Geodesic Foam makes this easily possible.  Also shown are some of my Chinese light fixtures.  See me before you buy any--I have lots left.)
32 Progress 062013  18 (32  This is another view of the same end cap looking down from the mezzanine stairs and looking east toward Laramie and the stock yards in the middle. One of the crossings of the Laramie River will be between the stock yards and the ice dock which will be between the 2nd and third track from the right just beyond the stock yards. The  Rock River will be bridged in the center of this end cap and Medicine Bow, Wyo is at the right with team track and small stock yard.  The foam insulation supports for the Geodesic Foam can be seen with Hermosa Tunnel at the left.  Some hard shell is on the left also.  The rag on the end cap has no significance whatsoever, but the nature of the true mushroom configuration can be seen well here.  Greg White is on the riser elevated 17" above the lower level concrete floor, and the backdrops block the view up and down.  Greg, Allen, and I built all the benches up to these two new ones on the right together, but Greg built these two alone.)
33 Progress 071913 01 (33 This is Cheyenne from the north of the tracks and looking from the curve at Cheyenne yard and out west toward Sherman Hill to the right and around the next curve in the distance.  This also shows some of the buildings in Cheyenne from the other side.  Lenny had a lot of trouble with the Walthers transfer table and sent it back to them a couple of times before he got it working, so it is out for repair at this point. Shown here is the full Car Shop on this side of the transfer table (see #39).)
34 Progress 071913 02 (34  This is Cheyenne from the same corner looking east along the 4 track Cheyenne passenger staging yard and the Cheyenne freight classification yard.  The main helix temporary position can also be seen.  When we start construction of our last 3 benches, it will be moved to the end of the open area at the far end of the room for its final and permanent position)
35 Progress 071913 05 (35  At the right can be seen tracks #1 and #2 up Sherman Hill, and in the center back down into Laramie.  Between them Track #3 can be seen going to Dale at the far right end. Laramie is in the left center, and nearer to the camera is the Speer Wye.  The track off the left corner of the wye is the track south to Denver.  UP trains get to Denver by leaving Cheyenne west and going down to Speer (effectively the beginning of the Harriman Cutoff) and taking the wye south.  If they take the wye west they are technically on the Borie Cutoff which turns into the Harriman Cutoff.  We do not model Borie.  This layout is not large enough! The shelf up to the right hand wall is built over the concrete floor aisle that serves the lower level bench.  The true mushroom character of the layout is not violated by this shelf, since the aisle is still there, and the new upper level shelf over that aisle is still served by a riser aisle. Note that the east route Laramie to Denver (staging) bypasses Cheyenne as in the prototype.)
36 Progress 071913 15 (36  This is a good bird's eye view from the mezzanine of Cheyenne from the turntable and over the steam facility.  the riser with the small ladder on it is built for the upper level, and the tip of red paint on the floor for the 3 benches to be built can just barely be seen on the concrete floor under the trash can.)
37 Progress 071913 21 (37  Using my new 11-19mm lens for super wide views, this view is from in front of the restrooms (see 01 in this album for room layout). The staging helix is in the right foreground and the main helix is temporarily at the end of the last benches built, so at this time the complete railroad is from the staging helix, through staging, through Cheyenne on the top, up Sherman Hill, down into Laramie and on to Medicine Bow, and (temporarily) ending at the main helix in the middle of Hanna, Wyoming.  After going down the main helix a train returns on the lower level, past the trona mines of Westvaco, past Granger (OSL Junction), through the Altamont and Aspen tunnels, Evanston, Curvo, Utah (2 tunnels and overpass), Echo Canyon through Echo, Utah, and down the Weber Canyon along the Weber River, and into Ogden and on to the main staging.  Our next major construction will move the main helix to the painted balloon on the floor under the chair and attach it to the last 3 benches in the remaining space.)
38 12 Progress 092613 02 (38  This shows the beginning of the Ogden Ice dock that will be on the lower level.  Allen is building it from 3 kits.  It will be about 9 feet long on the layout, but he will have to fit it between two posts that support the upper deck bench, so he has 8 feet of it here.  It is a unique kitbash project to make the two 1 1/2" square steel posts part of the ice dock, so we'll have to wait to see how he does it.)
39 12 Progress 092613 03 (39  Lenny finally got the transfer table working after much hassling of Walthers.  This is a view of it from the south of the Cheyenne Steam Yard flanked on the left (west) by the Steel Car Shop/Store House and on the right by the Wheel and Tank Shop and the Wood Working Shop on the far right just before the 90 foot turntable on the east end of the Cheyenne Yard.  The brass models in the rear belong on the lower level in Ogden.)
39A 12 Progress 092613 36 (39A  This shows the back side of the Wood Working Shop and the 90' turntable.  We added this turntable, which was probably one of the original ones in Cheyenne (probably rebuilt and modernized from the early 1900's), because, like the prototype, it provided convenient, compact access to all the structures from the back side.  The 126' turntable is to the left.  On the real yard there is a lot of room between this turntable and the wood shop, and a Car Shed and two Storehouses have been eliminated from the model.  Even in a 50x75foot building, "This layout is too small!"  The Car Shop that should be in this space has been moved to the left and is in back of the transfer table.  See #39 before.)
40 12 Progress 092613 04 (40  This is the Laramie Tie Treating Plant where UP creosoted ties.  The prototype is now a Super Fund Site, one of two in Wyoming, and we are modeling both.  The roofless 3 bay structure is the boiler and retort building where carts of ties were wheeled into 3 retorts where creosote from coal and oil tar penetrated the wood under heat and pressure.  To the far right with 2 tracks into it is the sawmill with its burner next door, and the other buildings are an engine house and fire house with the office on the second floor.  The track is HO/00 gauge and will remain electrically isolated from the main HO tracks.  Treated and raw ties are stacked between tracks. The roundhouse on the extreme left is Laramie's.)
41 12 Progress 092613 11 (41  This is Frontier Oil's refinery on the east end of Cheyenne.  I scratch built a lot of units and detail around 2 kits and had a lot of fun scavenging parts to incorporate in some rather fanciful refinery units.  For example the two wood cooling towers are old computer fans.  Yet to be done is the extensive piping that will run around the elevated pipe tray (white on grey posts), and the tank farm surrounding it.  The 3 tank car loading dock will be to load and ship lubricating oils and greases and fuel oil throughout the layout area, or at least up to Rawlins where the Sinclair Refinery will be.  Naturally, a pipeline supplies both refineries with crude, but the few cars loaded at each will be nice industries for shipments of tank cars all over thelayout.)
42 Downtown Ogden Track Plan 092613 (42  Is a 3rdPlanIt drawing of the Downtown Ogden area not on 02.  It features 13 industries to be serviced by UP which sets out cars delivered to an interchange yard (the three tracks a the lower left of the drawing) from SP (staging) through the main Ogden yard.  During an operating session an SP switcher will pull a string of cars out of staging and through the UP Ogden yard at the upper left delivering them to the 3 track interchange.  That SP engine will then pick up a string of cars left there from the industries shown and return them back through Ogden yard to staging.  This will be a continuous job for a session if we have an operator who wants to do the cycle more than once.  The grid is one foot squares.)
43 12 Progress 092613 14 (43  On the right is the downtown Ogden industrial area shown in the previous track plan and looking up the left side is the UP Ogden Yard through which SP pulls cars into a 3 track interchange yard which is just out of the picture at the lower right.  Other industries, Sperry Mills is at the right edge of the picture, and a packing plant is in the center.  The Ogden depot and large freight house will be against the backdrop further deep into the picture.  Actually the 5 left side tracks are what I have called the Ogden Yard, but they will be used as ready tracks in operations and get complete trains from around the far corner in staging.  The right hand 4 tracks are the Passenger tracks in front of the station, and the through tracks are down the center.)
44 12 Progress 092613 16 (44  I interrupted Lenny Wyatt who was working on the Staging-Ogden turnout panel just over the bench edge on the left of this photo.  From there the Staging Yardmaster or his designate can control the turnouts from staging, shown in the distance starting at the Ogden roundhouse, from where Lenny is standing looking into the Ogden ready tracks or yard to the right in the photo.  Staging is about 45 feet long, and it will be difficult for the Yardmaster to see to the end to verify turnout positions, so we are investigating a CCTV there.  Any suggestions as to equipment?)
45 12 Progress 092613 29 (45 This is the completed Laramie Round House and Turntable.  The passenger trains will be forced to go on the inside tracks of this endcap to get the depot on the right hand side, which places it prototypically correctly on the east side of the tracks which happen to run N-S through Laramie.  The radius of these inner tracks is still about 32 inches.  The town of Laramie is beginning to form in the distance.  The freight house is done and the depot is on its way.)
46 12 Progress 092613 37 (46  Taken from the mezzanine this shows the west end of Laramie, some of the town, and the stockyards for the 28 hour rule.  Raymond Kukulsr built this model of the stockyards from 10 Walther kits we supplied him, and they look great.  He has built quite a few models of structures including the large gas tank in the left rear of the refinery picture and a grain elevator, and the one in the next picture.  the wide space between the two left tracks will hold the 6 foot long Laramie Ice Docks, which Allen is now building along with the 9 foot Ogden Icing platform.  Jim Byfield, Barry Adico, and Stan Ramey are building the foam and cardboard strip supports seen here for the Bragden geodesic foam we will use for hills and prairie. Tracks #1 and #2 wind up Sherman Hill at the support post on the wall, around Dale and back down toward Laramie just off the lower right corner and on around Laramie and up and back through Medicine Bow where the 3 kit stock yards is at the left.)
47 12 Progress 092613 33 (47  Here is a close up of the 10 kit Laramie stock yards with the mains passing behind it.  The open wire chase door reveals the back of the lower level's curved up backdrop Masonite.  We started out calling this space a "wire chase," but the #10 gauge stranded bus wires pass along on the underneath of the decks directly under the tracks.  We use #14 gauge stranded wire for sub buses where convenient at the end of #10 runs, and #18 ga solid feeder wires up through the deck or spline roadbed where it is spot welded to the rails.  All other wire joints are soldered, as are most rail joiners.  Here there is no spline since we use 1/2" plywood for all yards, changing to spline outside the yards.)
48 12 Progress 092613 31 (48  This is the Medicine Bow 3 kit stock yards Raymond also built for us viewed from the opposite direction as the last photos.  The freight house spur has, inexplicably, a tank car on it. The gently rolling prairie foundation can be seen.  Here the track is on spline road base and the small "yard" is plywood.  The Medicine Bow picturesque wood depot will be directly to the right in this photo across from these tracks and behind it across Highway US 30 will be the Virginian Hotel, where Owen Wister wrote the first full length novel ever, "The Virginian" ("Smile, when you call me that").)
49 12 Progress 092613 32 (49  From the direction now looking back from Medicine Bow towards Laramie (east) the geodesic foam foundation is seen with a cut through low hills.  Rock River is just out of sight to the right.  The Bragden foam is laid up on a 4x8 sheet of plywood table. On a protective sheet of plastic is laid fiber screen "wire" mesh (window screen), and the epoxy like two part mixture is poured over it and spread with a scrap of plywood, another layer of mesh and more mixture is added and spread.  When the two layers set in a few minutes two men pick it up from the end and carry it to the layout and lay it over the foundation.  A third guy trims the solid but still flexible 1/8" thick layer with heavy scissors and together they hot glue it to the foundation, pulling and pushing it up to give the desired contour.  Even after it fully cures and sets rigid, it can be cut, and/or heated with a heat gun and pulled and bent to vary the shape.  The product is expensive, but the savings in time is great.)
50 12 Progress 092613 34 (50  This a a poor photo of Lenny's scratch built round house made from wood and paper brick he printed on AutoCad.  This is the smaller of two he will make for Cheyenne.  It is the "Passenger House."  The larger "Freight House" will sit on the paper, but it will be cut away in the middle to allow access to the turntable and the cut out section will be used for a scenic diorama like view of the insides with tools and equipment in place.  The 5 Walthers kit Back shop is on the right, and the first track just past the Passenger House to the right is the "Omaha" track east out of Cheyenne towards Nebraska, about 37 miles away.  So far we have roundhouses and turntables for Cheyenne, Laramie, Ogden, and Evanston, plus the second 90' one in east Cheyenne yard.  We will also have one in Green River, Wyoming.)
51 Progress 102913 01 (This is the first Photo I took of the progress as of 10/29/13 following the First Formal Op Session of 10/25/13.  For this session we straightened up the layout for visitors and taped and seamed and painted the hardboard fascia, put up maps--Downtown Ogden is shown here and its maps on the fascia--put up compass stars in strategic locations (like when an engineer would be leaving a town), and the stars showed the next few locations ahead in the proper E or W direction and those behind him.  We also put up some other signs that I'll show later.)
52 Progress 102913 02 (This is Ogden.  The main east bound classification yard that UP uses in the Ogden area is a very few miles just east of Ogden and is the Riverdale yard, but on the Wyoming Division layout that classification yard is just inside staging, so properly we should call it Riverdale (in staging).  This yard viewed here makes more sense as Ogden, because the Ogden Depot and Freight house will be here when we get them built, and this is where the passenger trains stop as if the Depot were here.  So on this layout Ogden is east of Riverdale unlike in the real Utah.  Sometimes it is impossible to get things positioned correctly even on this huge layout.  For example, Devil's Slide, a natural geological wonder will be on the wrong side of the tracks so it can run up the steep mountain at the back of the next bench from here, and the Ideal Cement Plant junction should be directly across the tracks from it, but we needed the plant on an end cap for the room to model it, so its junction is about 15 feet too far west.)
53 Progress 102913 03 (Consequently, following from the last photo, our Ogden on this bench is reduced to the 4 passenger tracks branching on the right diverging turnout on the left center of this photo, then to the left of the turnout, the two through tracks from which the turnout leaves, and 4 Ready tracks or Departure East tracks, and finally at the edge of the bench the Locomotive Track to the Coal Tower, Turntable, and Roundhouse at the far end of the bench.  Around the corner is the staging bench.)
54 Progress 102913 04 (This is Ogden from the other direction (west end) and at the back beyond the Passenger Tracks with passenger trains on them is the space for the Depot and Annex to right and the large Freight House at the left.  It will extend out of the picture to the left.)
55 Progress 102913 05 (Here can be see the cardboard footprints for the Depot and Freight House and smaller associated buildings.  Also in front of the left end of the cardboard cutouts are the 3 freight house stub tracks, the third one nearest the bench being the automobile unloading stub.  The round house and part of the unpainted brass model of the coal tower is on the corner of this bench, and staging is just around the corner.  You will recall that the layout models Cheyenne in the east to Ogden in the west, so this is the east entrance to staging.  The west entrance is from the staging helix down from Cheyenne on the top level above this bench and above staging.)
56 Progress 102913 06 (This is the fascia pockets Lenny made from polycarbonate sheet and standoffs for the Single Trick Car Cards which are 1/4 of a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 card stock.  No envelops are used.  They are much larger than the tiny 2 1/8 x 4" 4 cycle type, so these fit on a clipboard and are easier to handle.  The car ID is the top line, and the rest of the lines are blank origins, destinations, "Full," or "LCL," and the last space is for the date of the move.  One of the "Full," or "LCL" columns is checked to characterize the load, and if it is an LCL (Less than Carload Lot) car, then multiple lines can be used to move the car along from stop to stop in one "move" in which case is a series of moves rather than a single "Full" move.  Each line that is used is dated when that line is completed, and that makes a permanent record to plan further moves for the setup of the next session.)
57 Progress 102913 07 (I guess I took duplicate photos.  Anyway, this Single Trick Car Card system may seem to take more fascia room than the tiny 4 cycle car cards, but making the fascia pocket this way allows them to be stacked as many as 4 deep, and we only need 2 (off spot and on spot) because a paper clip on the card notes a car as empty.  Note that several sessions can be added to each card, one after the last (17 in all) or multiple moves can be made in the same session even for "Full" car loads by simply using the next line with and new "To" ("From" is where it is now), "FUL" or "LCL" checked and the "Date" left blank. The next engineer that comes along in this session or the next moves the car along.  MT's can be captured this way also and sent back to the yard in the middle of a session if needed there, and this flowing feature of move to move is more prototypical than 4 cycles ahead, and is self healing.  If a car pick up, or even a set out is missed, it is soon seen by the next train which takes it to the right place.)
58 Progress 102913 08 (This is the Ogden Turntable, part of the brass unpainted yet coal tower and roundhouse, and this view looks into staging.  The turntable access tracks all are connected to the single Locomotive Track at the edge of the bench so the hostler can move locos from the roundhouse to the head of a departing train (refer to the previous photo #53), or remove them from the train on the Arrival track.  It is the Hostler's job to move locos onto and off trains leaving and arriving in each yard.  Another yard man moves the train with his switch engine and starts the classification process or whatever is next needed for each train.  Road engineers are really road engineers.  The large 1/2 sheet card from card stock is a Block Card describing blocks of cars.  More about them later.)
59 Progress 102913 09 (This wide angle view shows staging to the left and Ogden to the right with the Engine facility between them.  The clipboard has a Locomotive Card on it showing the parameters of each loco, tonnage rating in cars on the flat or up hills, speed in both areas, and for coal (or fuel), water, sand and ashes requirements.  Loco Cards are used by Hostlers to pick locos for a particular train.  Like the prototype, the Dispatcher does NOT do this.  They are also used by the Road Engineer along with the Train Order sheet to plan his run for service (coal, etc.) stops.  So a clip board for a Road Engineer has Cars for Loco, Blocks, and head end Cars and a Train Order Sheet.  It may seem overcomplicated, but it actually makes the engineer job much more simple, because everything is called out for him.  And it is very prototypical.  Moves are planned one after the other, NOT 4 moves ahead, Locos are picked by Hostlers, NOT Dispatchers or owners, TOs give rules at all stops and what is required or available at each stop.)
60 Progress 102913 10 (I turned on the lights.  We also have 9 x 12" white boards on Velcro for yard men to plan their work.  They may make a list of what tracks are used for what blocks--#1 for LA, #2 for Oakland, #3 for Portland, etc. or anything else to help them keep organized.  The little panel to the right of the white board is the Turntable control panel and the large panels to the left are for the Ogden turnouts (first one), and for sections of staging (the other two).  A clip board is also seen hanging from Velcro.  All clipboards have clamps that have to be lifted with your thumb; you can't accidently dump the contents on the floor by picking it up by the clamp.  A Bad Order Card is leaning against two cars that need to be tuned up.  On the bottom of the upper deck are green Tortoise brand turnout actuators or machines mounted on the bottom of the upper deck and one darker green electronic circuit breaker that protects a section of the tracks.  (It may be an Autoreverser to electronically reverse the DCC power polarity.)
61 Progress 102913 11 (Back to work here with the clutter showing back up.  The brass model is the rest of the coal dock that belongs on the Ogden lower bench directly seen below.  This is the "back" side of Cheyenne, meaning it is from the side of the bench used to work Ogden on the lower level.  Cheyenne, on the upper level, is worked from the other side by operators standing on a 17 inch tall riser.  The lower level is worked from the building floor, still un-carpeted (I have the carpet in rolls out on the floor, but we have a lot of construction to do still.  Shown from right to left are the Steel Car Shop, transfer table, the Wheel and Tank Shop, and the Wood Working Shop and the 90 foot turntable.  The low lying Lumber Shed is partly hidden by the misplaced half of the Ogden coal tower.  We are doing the entire Cheyenne yard except for some minor buildings, mostly small sheds.  Lenny and Allen (with hat) are conferring across the bench.  This is also a good view of the Mezzanine, which visitors and Ops observers will use.)
62 Progress 102913 12 (Cheyenne east end with straight freight Classification Tracks on the right connecting to Arrival/Departure (A/D) Tracks curving in from the right.  These turnouts connecting the Classification Tracks with the A/D tracks select the route for disconnecting arriving road locomotives to pull forward off the road trains and back up to the coal tower, where they stop and pull forward under it.  Really.  That's how the UP did it.  don't tell anyone, but the far right track is the Denver track running "south" from the Speer wye along the edge of the yard to the staging helix at the end of this bench and thence down into staging (Denver).  It is a non-hidden hidden track.  I could not figure a way to get it under the bench and limit the grade to 2%.  The drop would have been about 9", counting the bench thickness (1/2") and the 1x6 cross braces supporting the bench and that 9" would have to occur in 32 feet, or a grade of 2.35% and then the track would be exposed on the fascia for the first 12 or 15 feet.  Messy.)
63 Progress 102913 13 (This is looking the other way, east, along the 4 passenger tracks in front of the Depot which will be a flat (or maybe a photo of the real thing on the wall to the right.  Scenery is not too important to me.  Ops are.  Don't want to have to reach over it.)
64 Progress 102913 14 (this is a super wide angle view of the last two photos.  The bench edges are perpendicular to each other.  The 95 degree field of view from the corner of the room only about 45 inches away distorts things.  The Mezzanine shows well here.  the 2 near right hand stub tracks are for the ice doc in Cheyenne and for the passenger service commissary and clean out track.   One of the two heat pumps can be seen, and the other is in line further away.  They use the geothermal heat exchangers of 10 wells in the ground outside approx 180-200 feet deep for a constant temperature tor the evaporator heat exchange medium.  Below about 12 feet the ground temperature is a constant 72 degrees--better than trying to condense freon by blowing 108 degree air across coils.)
65 Progress 102913 15 (This is at the other end of Cheyenne just out of town on the west side.  This is the west Cheyenne industrial area with a Plains Building Products, Wyoming State liquor warehouse, Puma Steel supply, and Systems Piping, and City Coal and Ice (without tracks yet).  The Speer wye is on the right edge with the Denver track heading south back toward the edge of the Cheyenne yard as a "hidden" track, and the west leg out of the wye is the Harriman Cutoff Track #3 that bypass Sherman Hill summit.  Tracks 1 and 2 along the wall head up to the summit.  The wide spot next to the wall is Granite, the rock quarry.  Dale is at the end,and then the tracks 1 and 2 drop back down into Laramie starting on the end cap in the center.  Medicine Bow is in the center of the next bench under the left edge of the Mezzanine, and the main helix is attached temporarily into the middle of what will be Hanna with the coal mines.)
66 Progress 102913 16 (A better view of the Speer wye and the 3 tracks leading up Sherman Hill.  Sherman hill is actually a 20 mile wide pass, really just a route up and over the Rockies.  When you are up there it just looks like high rolling plains with mountains north and south, but many miles away.  It is 8013 feet high (1957 location of the highest tracks).       In the foreground, the 11 turnouts (one pair out of view to the lower left) that make the 5 crossovers and one diverging track (to the Stock Yard) are faithful to the real Tower A, and we don't have a Tower A building Yet.  Any volunteers to scratch build it?  Goodness knows we don't have time.  I have all the pictures you need if you would like to do it for us.  It would be on the near side of the tracks at about the end of that 4 foot wide piece of cork.)
67 Progress 102913 17 (Looking east from about Tower A Interlocking tower toward the coal tower and the Passenger House, which is about 1/3 of the round house.  The Freight House will be on the other side, but will be cut away in the middle to reveal the interior (and to reach the turntable to operate it).  The approach to Ogden is on the lower level.  the row of white dots is the bottoms of the Sperry Mills elevators seen in a much earlier picture.)
68 Progress 102913 18 (This is looking back towards Cheyenne from just past the 7 turnouts making the crossovers and one junction at Dale, aka Dale Junction.  The bunch of wires at the right is the back of the Dale Tortoise panel to operate those turnouts.  The Sherman summit is near the very large beam at the left with the backdrop bending around it (almost).  The twin tunnel, #1 at Hermosa is on the very right in the incomplete scenery.  Eventually we will do all 10 tunnels between Cheyenne and Ogden, but many are in Utah.  We have reached #1 and #2 and #3, Aspen and Altamont, respectiverly.  #3, #4, #5, and #6 are in but not sceniced over.  The rest are yet to be built and will be on the 3 remaining benches not yet built.       There is an aisle under Tracks 1 and 2 on a shelf hung between the wall and the first bench.  I added this shelf to make the bench wide enough for #3 to swing "far" to the south around the summit.  Note that the Harriman Cutoff, #3 does not rise as high in elevation as do #1 and #2.)
69 Progress 102913 19 (another view showing the Hermosa Tunnel, a double bore job with separate portals, but with one number.  There are 2 other similar double bores running side by side with single numbers, both in Utah, #8 and #9, both listed on at least one UP listing as being at Devil's Slide, Utah.  I call them probably not too prototypically, Taggart and Mountain Green, east to west, for the communities near each.  They are less than a mile apart on the prototype. but I get way ahead of myself.  Suffice it to say, we will have all 10.)
70 Progress 102913 20 (This is down the aisle that operators stand on to work the lower level coming back from the helix.  Standing on that aisle, west is still to the left, just like it is on the upper aisle.  That means if your train is running away from the camera you are probably facing you so it is going west toward Ogden to your left.  When you fallow it back down this aisle, presumably you will turn around and west will still be to your left.  On the upper level aisles to either side to work the upper bench, the same left is west rule holds.  Notice that if you follow a train around up and down bearing to the left in this picture you will go past Sherman Hill into Cheyenne to the right or east.  Note also that lower level and upper level operators cannot see each other.  That is the beauty of the floor space hogging mushroom design.  All Wyoming Division aisles are a full 41 inches wide except for staging which is 39 inches, but no one but the 2 or 3 operators are allowed in there, and they do not move in and out of it.)
71 Progress 102913 21 (A better view to compare the upper level risered aisle and the lower level aisle on the concrete floor.  Both will be eventually carpeted, and I wish I could do so now, because I have two full rolls of carpet in dark gray that are just laying there in the way.  But with benches to build and soldering and welding to do.....)
72 Progress 102913 22 (this is the Echo aisle under the Sherman Hill shelf.  It seems more narrow because of the pinch points of the two roof and Mezzanine support posts, but you can walk straight by each post without turning.  But you do have to pause if you pass someone there.  The Echo has a small 17 foot long 2 track yard, a 2 track main line with a center siding, the coal dock track and freight house stub tracks in line, and the track at the edge of the bench is the track down to a hidden track just under the bench top to Park City Utah.  The Park City Junction is at the far end of the yard and Devil's Slide geological phenomenon will be running (on the wrong side of the tracks just 4-5 feet beyond were the solid top for the yard starts.  The Park City track runs on the edge here before starting its descent just to the right of the photo around the end cap.)
73 Progress 102913 23 (Here we see the Park City track rapidly descending down to its shelf on the far side of the end cap.  The Ideal Cement Plant, of the old Red Devil brand, is in the center of the end cap.  The tracks are in for the bulk loading (3 on the left) and the 2 delivery and sack loading on the right.  The buildings are nearly built, but since they are not in shows we are more interested in ops than scenery.  You can also see car card pockets and a switch panel to govern the turnouts.  Again most main line turnouts are easily reached from the aisle, so Caboose Hobbies ground throws are used predominantly.)
74 Progress 102913 24 (This shows the terrain east of Echo (remember left is west) at the approximate location of Tunnel #7 at Castle Rock, Utah (go ahead do a Google maps of it, sucker).  The Park City Branch is the hidden track at the bottom about 4 1/5 inches under the bench at this point.  Park city is at the bulge in the bench in the distance in this picture.  This branch makes one train to operate out of Ogden to Echo to switch it and Ideal Cement, and on to Park City, where...(con't on the next pic))
75 Progress 102913 25 ((cont from last picture)...there is a small turntable to turn the locomotive in the bench bulge, and a 2 track yard to switch.  There is a mostly coal marshaled there from further south at the mine I don't know the name of (Park City is Allen's baby, and I am really happy he talked into having it).)
76 Progress 102913 26 (Just past and over Park City is Curvo, Utah, the overpass seen here and just behind it the two tunnels #5 and #6 bored at different times years apart and at different elevations.  We have the west portal in place for the lower one, and the others are cast,but not fixed in place.)
77 Progress 102913 27 (This is the Evanston, Wyoming round house and turntable, so the Wyoming-Utah border is just to the left.  Wasatch Tunnel #4 is just to the left also in Utah very close to the Curvo Tunnels.  The yellow sign on the fascia is a compass map with east to the, which way??...that's right, class, "right," and west to the left.  Curvo Overpass and Echo are pointed out as being west and Aspen and Altamont Tunnels are right.  Usually such signs point to places that are to be switched, but this is out in the boonies on the Utah/Wyoming border.)
78 Progress 102913 28 (Evanston yard with Card Pockets, throttle holsters, UP-4 plugins for throttles,and a map of the area.  The Aspen and Altamont tunnel west portals can be seen in the distance.  This is the highest point of the layout on the other side of the long "bowl" of Wyoming, with Sherman Hill forming the other rim of the bowl.  You can't see the elevation changes of the spline roadbed here, because the yards are all level on a sheet of plywood, but the spline shows up just past the yard.)
79 Progress 102913 29 (The map of Evanston yard on the fascia, made from screen shots of sections of the 3rdPlanIt drawn track plan.  There is no easy way to print different sections of the track plan that does not require a lot of trial and error and paper.  And there is no provision that works built into the program to output in any format but the proprietary .3pi format.  I guess it is the best track program, but in my opinion, compared AutoCad or AutoSketch, it is pretty sad.  The building is the Depot with freight house/dock in one building.)
80 Progress 102913 30 (Spline Roadbed out of the yard leading into Aspen and Altamont, # 2 and #3, respectively.  On the prototype thse are each over 1 mile long, 5,941 and 6,706 feet, respectively.  Here they are abut 14 and 18 feet long.  I created a linear equation to scale the 10 tunnels, so that they are not linearly proportional, but there is reason (at least to a mathematician) as to how long the models are.  Starting with the shortest ones (#10) they get progressively longer and the longer they get the more the progression increases.)
81 Progress 102913 31 (This is the fascia fronting the Aspen and Altamont tunnels on the end cap.  The "hidden" track appearing from under the other tracks through the tunnels (not visible here) comes from the distant side of the bench through its rear in a "mouse hole" which is just visible with the tracks also just visible snaking through it and toward the slot in the foreground fascia.  (con't on next pic)...)
82 Progress 102913 32 ((con't from last picture)....Here is the hidden track angling down on a 2+% slope into a clearly hidden (nice description, huh?) track.  This is the Oregon Short Line (OSL) branch to "Portland which will be staging under the main helix.  The two tracks in the tunnel can be seen through the incomplete scenery.  Access in case of a derailment in the tunnel is unfortunately an awkward reach through from the upper level aisle.  We have yet to have an accident in this tunnel.  the mouse hole that starts the OSL is through the curved blue backdrop but not quite visible here.  the present position of the main helix it way down at the end of this bench, but as noted often before it will be moved when the last 3 benches are built.)
83 Progress 102913 33 (There's the mouse hole for the OSL track through the bench.  Look back at photo # 81 if you do nt follow this description.  Another compass map is here to label the OSL, and the hidden track is visible in the former wire chase which still has some 10 ga bus wire in it.  the blocks under the plywood are getting thinner as the track continues to fall in the down grade.)
84 Progress 102913 34 (now the decrease in hidden track elevation is clear.  It will continue under the lower level benchs to be built to end up in Portland which is staging under the Helix.        The OSL junction with track 1 which is west bound, is at Granger, Wyoming and it is a desolate community way out in the nowhere.  I imagine the few folks that live there like it, but that is the way it is.  We are only doing a siding and 2 storage tracks there to simulate the small yard there.  Our plan is to have a marshaling yard for coal from Kemmerer up the OSL, and thus more operational interest.  Other than that, for us Portland is the source or destination of blocks of cars, most notably PFE trains, but also other freight in blocks of cars.     Note all the storage under the hundreds of feet of bench.)
85 Progress 102913 35 (the mouse hole of the OSL and its label and compass star with locations west and east of this point.  Westvaco is trona (soda) mining, and Green River is a major yard and loco change place.  Rock Springs will be mainly marshaling of coal cars from the Reliance mine.  These three are on the new benches to be built soon, so for now Evanston is the loco change yard.)
86 Progress 102913 36 (The end of the benches to date.  Hanna will be on top with mines on the end cap where the helix now rests.  Westvaco will be on the bottom.  Both start their yards on the existing benches.)
87 Progress 102913 37 (Hanna on top and Wesvaco on the bottom.)
88 Progress 102913 38 (From the last picture if you step around the helix in its temporary location you step back up ontothe 17 inch high riser to the upper level.  Here is Laramie in the center with the Medicine Box-Hanna bench attached to the helix to the left.  The big panel is the turntable control panel and the small sticker is a compass star direction sign with "Laramie-Medicine Bow-Hanna" to the left (west) and "Dale Junction-Sherman-Granite-Cheyenne" to the right or east.)
89 Progress 102913 39 (This is the Laramie aisle with a clipboard attached to the fascia with Velcro.  There are 4 Block Card pockets here, and I would use them for Block Cards for the 4 available yard tracks to classify (sort) blocks to the 3 possible west and 2 possible east directions.  Obviously, this makes Laramie a difficult yard to manage, but the Car Card and Block Card system of mine makes it possible for the Yardmaster there to send out his own train to clear out part of his yard if he has a loco and Locomotive Card and the agreement of the Dispatcher.  Either one of his assistants or a road crew can run this extra train, depending on his and the Dispatcher's joint decision.  Very flexible and very prototypical.  I hope this car forwarding system of mine will eliminate clogged yards for whatever reasons that plague the sessions of other layouts I have operated on.)
90 Progress 102913 40 (Across the aisle from Laramie is Medicine Bow which will have a combined station and freight room.  Her is its stock yard, because Medicine Bow is at the heart of cattle ranching country.  Next to it is the team track.  That, and the historic Virginian hotel will be about all here.  Ops, not scenery at least for the next couple of years.)
91 Progress 102913 41 (This is the back of the Laramie roundhouse looking at the Laramie Tie Treating Plant.  Coming from the east, right, is the map of most of this aisle showing both sides.  This is the way it is drawn on the 3rdPlanIt program.  On the next aisle on the far side of this bench I had to flip the the same drawing top to bottom and copy the lettering from this version to the flipped version pasting each set of words over the upside down ones.  All that was done in Photoshop.  Beside that to the left is a schematic of the 4 places where the trains have to change tracks to run right to left or back.  This sign of over one of those places, the double crossovers that are the east yard limit of Laramie.  The buildings of the Tie Treating Plant are left to right, the roofless for now 3 stall retort building, the narrow gauge engine house, the narrow gauge steam engine, fire house with office above, and to the very right just showing the incinerator and the sawmill.  Stacks of untreated and treated ties are in two places.)
92 Progress 102913 42 (Moving on east toward Cheyenne is the panel for the Dale crossovers and the Harriman Cutoff, Track 3 climbing up to them.  Tracks 1 and 2 hug the wall, and Dale is a little lower track elevation that the summit at Sherman at the red oxide beam.  There are 3 loaded coal cars on the Harriman, Wyoming coal track for the soon to be built (i'll bet!) coal tower there to coal the locomotives up the much longer route through Harriman to Laramie through Dale than Cheyenne to Dale to Laramie.  There were 19 extra miles on Track 3 to Dale (and therefore to Laramie) compared to Track 1 which was the biggest part of the more gentle grade on that route (in addition to the 50 foot less climb.     The map on the right hand fascia is of the 17 foot long Harriman siding and the coal track.  Car card pockets are provided for the coal track   The coal track is on plywood, but the Harriman Cutoff and the mains are on spline roadbed with cork on top of the splines.  The grades are set by blocks of wood on the level benches.)
93 Progress 102913 43 (This is the open area with red paint outlines of the benches to be built and of the final resting place of the main helix which is seen in its temporary location at the end of the bench on the left.  Staging on the bottom level and the east end of Cheyenne yard are on the top right hand bench and Cheyenne on the top and Ogden is on the bottom of the far bench running across the room.)
94 Progress 102913 44 (This is the same open space for new benches from the Cheyenne end of the room looking toward the main double doors, the kitchenette and the two rest rooms.)
95 18 Progress Phase III  051014 01 (This is a clipboard with all 4 types of cards on it.  The 1/4 sheet cards are Head End Car Cards for the first few (0-6) cars on a train that will be set out as per the cards.  The 1/2 sheet yellow cards are Block Cards for a block of cars, and that block is identified by the first car and the last car and the number of cars in the block.  The full sheets are a Loco Card that give particulars about the loco on the train, and the full sheet under the Block Cards is the Train Order with instructions for that train.  Together they determine where a train goes, where it stops and what work it does at each stop.)
96 18 Progress Phase III  051014 04 (This is Green river from the west end.  The mains are the double tracks near the right edge at the top that curve out of the picture.  To their right are 3 industry and Depot and Freight House spurs.  To their left are 4 A/D tracks and the rest are classification tracks, mainly for blocks of cars being separated for OSL (Jct at Granger to Portland on the next bench to the left) or for LA or Oakland going on past Granger.)
97 18 Progress Phase III  051014 05 (this shows Green River on toward the end of the A/D tracks (the right hand ladder) and the end of the classification tracks (left hand ladder).  Beyond the ladders are the engine servicing tracks and hard to see in this view the turntable and eventual location of the roundhouse.)
98 18 Progress Phase III  051014 06 (The turntable is installed just beyond the last loco here, and the cardboard cutout for the round house footprint is v8s8boe as the warped cardboard cutout.  The rectangular cutouts at the right represent industries, Depot and Freight House.  At the upper left corner is the cutout bench part for the Green River and the bridge across it.)
99 18 Progress Phase III  051014 07 (A better view of the turntable and roundhouse footprint with Green River just to the left of them.  One of the 8 lower level phones that connect to the Lower Level Dispatcher is at the left edge.)
100 18 Progress Phase III  051014 08 (Green River looking the opposite direction (west) toward Rock Springs.)
101 18 Progress Phase III  051014 09 (Back at the west end of Green River with the tracks flowing into the double mains.  Curved turnouts were used, because this is a short bench (about 37 feet long), and the minimum track length for a yard track is 17 feet.  That 17 feet plus the ladders at each end plus the engine facility plus the room for the turntable and roundhouse exceeded the 37 feet available for Green River.  This is a good example of even with 4,000 sq feet of floor space, "This layout is too small!.")
102 18 Progress Phase III  051014 10 (On around the corner to Rock Springs which is 31 miles from Green River in Wyoming.  Here there is only about 2 trains between the tow towns.  The mains continue on to Rock springs passing several levels of tracks for coal and iron ore mines  that are folded from the prototype direction of due north to east-west along the mains.)
103 18 Progress Phase III  051014 11 (This gets the narrative out of order because this is Reliance 25 miles or so north of the mains, but the folding of the branch line to Reliance was folded to be parallel to the mains on the layout.  Here in this alcove we will scratch build the Reliance Coal mine tipple which still stands.  A photo of it that I took in 2002 (one of 100+) is next.)
104 PDR_2010 UP Coal Co Reliance Tipple copy of 2002 photo by VV Fosnight (This is the topple we are going to simplify from 5 tracks down to 3 (the main part of the left hand half, greatly abbreviate the coal loading end (at the right), and eliminate or greatly simplify the left hand single track, which we don't understand what it was for anyway.  I understand all but this left hand portion, and I would appreciate someone cluing me in as to its purpose.  I'll teach you about ion engines and electric propulsion if you'll tell me how this tipple part works or what it was for.)
105 PDR_2028 from E side (Thisis from the far side of the Reliance Coal tipple.  The mines were behind the camera and the branch line into Rock Springs was to the far west in the distance (The line across the photo is the chain link fence around the tipple).  After being filled the loaded cars were pulled away from the tipple and into the distance to the branch line which curved to the left about 90 degrees to run nearly straight south into Rock Springs.  Obviously to save space, we have that branch line running east-west parallel to the main lines.)
106 18 Progress Phase III  051014 12 (Back to our Rock Springs where the mains run roughly east-west on the right, and this is looking west.  This elevated view shows the series of mines on the center to left portion.  Remember that these left hand tracks actually run roughly due north.  The two 3 track stup yards are for UP Coal Mine #9 (foreground) and Liionkol mine in the middle distance.)
107 18 Progress Phase III  051014 13 (A better view of the Lionkol mine yard in the middle of the last photo.  The cars in two groups are other industries on single stub tracks.  Rock Springs Proper is at the end of the left bench and on the right hand bench.)
108 18 Progress Phase III  051014 14 (Toward the end of the bench with 3 industries on the right and the other 2 on the left.  The wye is beginning to be recognizable at the far end.  Under this lower level bench is a hinged panel with PSX circuit breakers for the DCC Wiring.  The panel is hinged since the OSL Hidden track takes the space usually used for the hinged wire chase doors.  The OSL is not visible here at the end of the bench, because it swings wide to the far underneath of the left, end cap, and right benches to have the largest possible radius to go around the bend from left bench to right bench.)
109  18 Progress Phase III  051014 16 (On the other side of the aisle on the Rock Springs Bench.  The OSL curves back into view underneath this bench and out to the edge as hidden track.  On the top of this view of the lower level is Rock Springs.  The mains are the two middle of the tracks where they all narrow down to 4 tracks.  The others are all insustry tracks and leads to them.)
110 18 Progress Phase III  051014 15 (This shows the Wye that left the mains and headed north on the Reliance Branch Line.  This photo is a bet deceiving as it sits here.  The base of the wye is naturally along the west bound main, and that main is curved at the two wye turnouts to make the 180 degree bend around the end cap of the tow benches.  The "point" of the wye is at the upper right, and from it the Reliance Branch bends back on the mains to the left to where it runs parallel to the east-west mains instead of a prototypical north.  (Any place you stand looking directly at any bench, you are facing north--right is east, left is west--so the far "point of the wye from this angle is north of the camera.  This is a good view of the drop down electrical panel.)
111 18 Progress Phase III  051014 17 (Looking west away from the wye through west Rock Springs with the mains the center two of the four tracks and industry spurs and leads to either side of the mains.  The helix is in the distance.)
112 18 Progress Phase III  051014 18 (More of Rock Springs with the west main crossover.  The Rock Spring west yard limit would be just beyond the last right diverging turnout.)
113 18 Progress Phase III  051014 19 (Just west  of Rock Springs is Bitter Creek, Wyoming and its single sheep loading spur.  Beyond it is the main Helix still in Wyoming.  The bottom solid shelf of the helix of 3/4" plywood holds the Porrtland passenger train turning loop.  By chance the Helix is in the very desolate part of the prairie called the Red Desert, so there is little scenery.  It may be possible to put up photo backdrops behind each shelf of the helix.)
114 18 Progress Phase III  051014 20 (An overall view of the 3 new benches from on top of the restrooms.  On the top level left to right is Sinclair Oil (rear) and Rawlins (front) open prairie with the center siding on the right hand bench.  On the lower level the west end of the Green River yard can be seen as the curved ladder around the end cap and the area between Green River and Rock Springs (not visible under the right hand bench.  The helix is the structure in the foreground.)
115 18 Progress Phase III  051014 21 (Another view of the right two of the 3 new benches with Rawlins just peeking up from the third new bench to the lower left.)
116 18 Progress Phase III  051014 22 (Some of Rawlins is seen from a lower angle on the left.  On the far right on the lower level is Rock Springs.  Cheyenne is the bench and models crossing the ends of the 3 new benches.  It is hard to realize that barely 2 years ago we were laying out Cheyenne.)
117 18 Progress Phase III  051014 23 (Much the same view because it is easier to leave it in than to go back an delete the last photo.  Rawlins on the left with Sinclair on the same bench further away, and Rock Springs down below.)
118 18 Progress Phase III  051014 24 (The wast end of Rawlins on the upper level.               Although the Reliance Coal Tipple will be worked from the lower level on the aisle to the left of this plywood risered aisle, the tipple is accessible from this side in case of trouble.  (In case of trouble, strike sharply with hammer.))
119 18 Progress Phase III  051014 26 (Another view of Sinclair Oil (foreground) and Rawlins in the rear.  Both will be worked by a single operator if one is available.  Not much work is planned here.  Some refinery pipe and steel and supplies in and some lubricating product drums out and sheep out and Freight House and Depot in Rawlins.)
120 18 Progress Phase III  051014 27 (Hanna.  Our tribute to the 4 x 8 layout we all started on.   It is an incomple figure 8 with spurs for supplies in and two mines for coal out.  In the distance on the access track is a small 4 track coal marshaling yard.  The track wind up hills to show the basin that Hanna straddles.)
120 18 Progress Phase III  051014 28 (Hanna from the end.  The mains sweep around the side on the inside of this upper level bench on the far side from the riser, from which the operator must work.)
121 18 Progress Phase III  051014 29 (The 4 track Hanna Yard.  there is only one entrance to this yard from the mains right by the mains crossover.  The crossover is necessary to send coal cars either direction on a main line train, either a Manifest or a Local.  The Hanna engineer/yardmaster would either push or pull cars out on to the east bound or the west bound main (respectively, right or left) to be picked up by a waiting main line train.     The Hanna engineer is responsible for working cars to and from west bound trains at Medicine Bow farther up these mains to the right.  By Rule 251D no train can run the wrong way on a double track main, so a west bound train has to stay on the far main headed this way.  A post on the Yahoo Wyoming Division Group describes how the Hanna switcher does it.)
998 Progress 033013 (998  I have skipped in number to #998 here to leave room for future photos.  I am building the Wyoming Division especially for formal operations, for 25 or so people to operate trains in a prototypical manner, that is, as a point to point railroad with freight and passenger revenue as the goal.  Also, I love to throw parties.  This is my favorite operations photo.)
999 Progress 033013 02 (999  The Wyoming Division Mailbox.  Duh...I made it myself.  Who would have guessed my dad was a pipefitter?)

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