9: In addition to the main line and siding at Tallman,
tracks serve an LPG farm, a oil and coal dealer; Birdseye,
National Fruit, and Simplot packing houses; a farmers
co-op, and a furniture frame maker.
13: At Minturn, with three second-generation locos pre-
pare to assault the grade to the summit.
913
MRH:
How long does it take to run a train from one end of the
layout to the other?
Rob:
That depends. If the railroad is empty so there are no
delays it takes at least 25 minutes. But during an op session
with lots of other traffic it might take almost 45 minutes.
MRH:
Double-decks come with their own set of problems. How
did you pick your deck heights?
Rob:
There's another local modeler I know, Keith Schaber,
who had a double-deck N scale layout. I visited his layout and
measured his deck heights. Then I did some trial and error,
mocking up the decks.
As with many things in model railroading there’s a lot of give
and take on what you can do. In N scale it’s nice to have a
lower deck that’s higher so you don’t have to bend over to see
the detail, but if it gets too high the upper deck gets in the way
and you can't see the lower deck very well.
MRH:
What is the lower deck height?
Rob:
The lower deck varies from about 34” to 40” because
there is a slight grade on it.
MRH:
That’s just a little higher than desk height.
Rob:
It is lower than I'd like. I have some backless office chairs
on wheels for lower deck operators to use.
The station here closed to passengers in the late '60s
and is now used by work crews for storage.
Tennessee Pass - 8
MRH-Jun 2013
