Discussion About A Track Plan

As I was expecting, removing the reversing loop at Clermont stirred up some discussion about club members last Friday. I can't say we got a final answer about that. There's still room to evaluate thing down the road. In all humility, one must admit compromising three modellers' vision isn't always easy.

I've already covered the reasons why I don't see any redeeming factors in gimmick such as reversing loops. I won't repeat myself.

So far, we completed the fascia and benchwork at Villeneuve and D'Estimauville. Fiberboard was to cut to size and just need to be secured in place next time.

It has been decided the new track plan for Donohue (the one that follows the prototype) will be built first and linked to existing mainline. That way, we will be able to do some operation. Jérôme already started to mockup the trackage and it seems there's more room than I estimate, which is a good news.

Clermont yard case isn't solved yet. Whatever solution we choose, we need a mainline and two sidings to have good operability there. One siding doesn't need to be accessible from both ends.

Villeneuve: Well, we will probably follow the prototype for this one as planned. Jérôme tried a few different scenarios, but we think sticking with the real thing is the best choice.

At D'Estimauville, Jérôme wants both a reversing loop and a 5 tracks yard as I designed a few months ago. I have no problem with the reversing loop there because Murray Bay Sub ends at Hedley by branching off a wye. We can't built the wye, but I see no harm having the loop. Fellow club members told me it could be used for staging, but from experience, I can tell you it will never happen. Such staging gimmicks are hard to reach and unpractical. I still think the best staging is a long straight piece of track at the end of a layout. We will see, nothing cast in stone there too.

So as you can see, there's still a lot of issues in front of us, but nothing to stop or slow down the project. Better, it brought excellent discussions about operating a seemingly minimalist mainline. Jérôme estimated it would take at least 1 hour for a train to do the run Québec-Clermont and Clermont-Québec and switching Dominion Textile plant in the process.

Switching boxcars won't require crossing the bridge anymore at Clermont.

I'm quite enthusiastic to work again on Clermont, finally lay some track and start scenicking the place.

Now, I just need to prepare the backdrop final version, print it and glue it on the wall.