When I write too much about track planning and layout design, this is
generally a good indicator I’m not working that much on the club layout. While
this is not an optimal situation, it has at least the advantage to take a step
back and assess the project as a whole and fine tune the approach.
Also, working on other “what if” designs are not wasted time since
practice makes perfect. For this reason, I never fear to tackle such challenge
for the sake of honing my skills. And at the end of the day, this is extremely
useful hobby time since what I learn from layout planning and model railroading
can be used directly in my architecture practice.
By the way, I still have one last design in the oven until I go back to
our main subject. Such occasions also gave me time to revisit my Temiscouata
project and fine tune some aspects in regard with era, operation, rolling
stock, scenery and benchwork construction. I’m certainly taking my sweet time
with this one, but I see no reason to rush things up.
But back to Hedley-Junction…
We are progressing at a slow pace on the club layout. Conflicting
schedules and commitments are making it hard to gather together and work
efficiently. It is certainly how I expected this autumn modelling season to be,
but at least we aren’t stalled. Villeneuve yard is now entirely ballasted and
only two short sidings needs to be done at a later date when the cement plant
will be definitely installed. Given it took me about 4 sessions to bring the
ballasting up to 90% in less than 8 hours, I consider it a great achievement
for myself. Truth to be told, I no longer hate ballasting track. It also means
we will be able to run trains from D’Estimauville to Clermont again.
The next goals are quite simple and include touching up the ballast job,
modelling the roads and grade crossings, then starting to add vegetation and
ground cover. However, the biggest job will be building the cement plant. I
brought back the base board home and will soon revise my plans. However,
knowing I’m in danger of getting paralyzed by overplanning, I guess I’ll simply
go forward as best as I can and address issues on the spot. Most people would
consider my plans are more than enough for the job, but it seems my
professional background is kicking in. It’s hard setting my mind in such a way
I don’t have to plan every detail for workers to do the job.
And finally, the last but not the least, I’ve also (re) started working
on JMRI Operations to create switchlists. The learning curve is definitely
steep but the results are rewarding. As a working example, I’m using the Harlem
Station layout to better grasp the software possibilities before implementing
it on the club layout. One thing I’ve learned is that you can’t understand the
software if you are not building dozens of trains to really understand how cars
are routed. Practice makes perfect and this is both true in the real and
virtual worlds. JMRI isn’t about slapping the correct ingredients in the correct
order, you seriously need to fine tune many things since no layout is identical
to the next one and worked examples are nothing but handy templates, not ready
to go solutions. As much as I often said model railroading isn’t the sum of
technics, the same apply to operation. You need to add a sense of purpose – a
soul – into the logic behind the scene.
For those interested, you can take a look to my Harlem Station blog for
additional information. I’ve particularly explored how historic evidences can feed
the operating concept and have a sizeable impact on how you can make JMRI
behave in a more prototypical way.
No comments:
Post a Comment