Wyeland: a Tale of Two Turnouts

CN 9423 waiting for its crew at Wieland

Some more fine tuning in Wieland last week and that’s fine with me. Drawing a concept on a sheet of paper and explaining the thought process on a blog is a part of the journey. Shaping it with materials, in 3D and bringing it to life is another. Both process are concomitant and not simultaneously exclusive. As happen too often, the best intentions don’t always bring the best results. However, it is ours to witness what happens then take action bring back the balance between intentions and results.

I often remarked how implementing a working concept on the peninsula wasn’t that easy to tackle over the last few years. This observation is still hold true and I’m still figuring out a way to make the best out of the situation. Fortunately, while the geometry is somewhat ingrate, the goals are becoming clearer. It is always easier to struggle with an issue when at least you know where you want to go.

Our layout will never be much more than an elusive suggestion of railroading in Charlevoix. It would be completely foolish to believe we can replicate the subdivision. However, getting the sense of the place right is something that we can do. It is why I had to make some compromise on the track plan to better reflect our needs and aspirations.

After operating the upgraded track plans for months since September, it became quite clear we eliminated too much trackage during the revision. Was it a mistake? Were we foolish in doing so? It could be easy to affirm we went a bridge to far with theoretical concepts. Maybe it was wrong to apply a less is more approach in such a drastic way.

In fact, the answer is no. With limited resources and space, you’ve got to make the exercise of identifying the bare minimum that defines the project. Taking out the clutter was the only way to remove the noise from the signal. It is also the best way to understand what specifically represents your subject and what is merely background decoration. It’s all about defining the essence of a project. Maybe we went a little bit overboard, but not that much if you ask me. It must be noted the new track plan works wonderfully as intended and the small glitches are… small glitches.

It would be foolish to think you can tackle a complex topic and find a perfect solution from thin air. Adjustments are required and we are now working our way out. Given our biggest shortcoming was removing a leg from the wye, we can already say we were definitely quite close from our goal.

Now, you will ask me why we made that mistake. The reason is quite simple; we tried to figure out what was required to operate all aspect of Clermont without cramming too much elements. If something was redundant, it was eliminated after seriously taking into account how it would impact freight car movements. In a nutshell, our track plan worked nicely as a representation of freight operations on a shortline. However, it failed to provide an answer to locomotive management. At first, it was thought parking locomotives on a yard siding would provide an efficient solution. Unfortunately, it was in conflict with freight movement and left our story unsatisfying.

As you know, I often like to compare a layout with a story. Train operations require a starting point and an ending point. Basically, you need an introduction and a conclusion to your story to make it meaningful. In some case, these things will be minimal… the train was already there when we catch up with the story. Sometimes, it is quite simple. In another case, a more complex introduction and conclusion is required to better understand the story finer aspects.

With Clermont, it was clear we missed some point. In our story, the yard isn’t the introduction nor the conclusion. It is in fact the space where the narrative is developed. The fact the locomotives originated from somewhere else and reached the yard after a while was part of the story. It underlined the typical nature of branchline railroading. It was the only way to make it clear the paper mill is a destination you need to reach to perform a task and not simply a vague place where train movements can happen anywhere.

In that regard, what we sorely missed was the importance of that step. We overlooked it and it came back in our faces each time we operated the layout. Leaving carefully detailed and weathered locomotives in the middle of nowhere didn’t make sense and made for an uninteresting conclusion. However, I must point out many mockups were made in the past. Based on these experiments, we came to the conclusion a locomotive shop track wasn’t required and would look contrived. As the project progressed, our fears went unsubstantiated and the issues raised by the lack of track became more and more evident.

Now, what is this track all about? It was simply a wye leg that we didn’t replicate. If you ask me today, I would tell you it was foolish to model a wye with only a leg. Back then, it made sense because this wye was seldom used to turn locomotives or cars. Its basic function wasn’t required, thus a single siding was enough. Unfortunately, its other function was locomotive storage, which was incompatible with the siding role. You couldn’t merge together both function and call it a day.

The new wye leg at left with a locomotive sitting idle.

Now, on the aesthetic side of things, representing a wye with one leg won’t cut it. Visually, it was hard to believe this single siding represented a wye at all. It looked weird and incomplete. The place is called Wieland, you expect a wye… and you’ve got not enough compelling clues to believe there is one. From a story telling perspective, it was quite a fail I must admit. From a scenery perspective, it always was making it a little bit hard to create a seamless transition between the yard and the wye. One is in the woods, the other one in a light industrial setting. Something was missing to link them in a satisfying manner…

Now, this has been taken care of and the missing wye leg is now back on the layout. To be noted, the unsightly drain pipe was routed somewhere else in the room to facilitate scenery work. A grade crossing located near the new turnout will ease the transition between the light industrial park and the wooden area, just like on the prototype. While I not that much eager to add too much scenic elements in Wieland, it seems this one will definitely help in visually separating different functions and settings while providing a visual anchor in the scene. I’ve yet to figure out how this will work in 3D, but I’m quite confident it should be fine and not look contrived.

After all that said, I'm slowly coming to the realization that following a prototype or implementing drastic measures is a required step in the process, but definitely not a goal. It should be seen as a tool to analyze our subject. But at the end of the day, the artistic touch and interpretation about what we truly want to convey must prevail. The more you stick to the prototype, the more you struggle. The more you personally know the real place, the harder it becomes to make bold artistic choice. It is a double edged sword.  Working on my capacity to evoke the sense of place instead of replicating a lifeless copy of a prototype is a worthy yet capricious road to take.