Shifting the
peninsula
Nothing is set in stone, and
nowhere is that more appar-
ent than on my home layout.
I’m constantly tweaking the
railroad in an effort to get the
finished product to look more
like my vision. I fully understand that it would have been much
easier to spend months or years developing a detailed design
and then building to that design. Of course, saws and crow-
bars are much more exciting modeling tools than a pencil and
eraser!
But I really do make changes only when I think they will notice-
ably improve the railroad.
One of the biggest changes we made, which turned out to be
a lot easier than it sounds, was shifting the position of the lobe
end of the peninsula. Testing with locomotives revealed that
Central Vermont 4-8-2s and 2-10-4s needed at least 34” curves.
The result was a peninsula slightly wider than I originally planned
– which meant the aisle between the peninsula lobe end and
one wall of the basement was just a little too tight. The answer
was to move the peninsula over, but that would make the aisle
on the other side too tight instead. The solution was to lengthen
the peninsula about 32” and then shift it about 24”.
Of course, finished wired
track and a nice hand-
painted backdrop were in
the way. I’m particularly for-
tunate to have a group of
model railroading friends
who are willing to lend their
considerable talents to this
enterprise. All I can figure is
they are sufficiently inter-
ested in the layout – or at
least bemused by my antics
at getting this thing built.
After thinking about it for
several months I put the
11. After making a few measurements and setting up
his Fadal saw, Tom Potthast sawed up through the fas-
cia and benchwork on the
neck of the peninsula. A
handsaw finished the cut
through the scenery.
11
MRH-Dec 2014
