N•RAIL update - May 2013

Hello there!

Well, I'm still fighting the good fight at work - doing two jobs...getting time for projects and paid for one. Good stuff for sure. I'm also dealing with some "real life" stuff that may be fantastic for my hobby time in the near future, but something that will be eating up a LOT of time for the next few months. However, I still have been managing to slip projects in. The pace is incredibly slow, but at least I still get some hobby time in here and there.

I made a bunch of tables for my latest building project. I'm trying to fill up some floors with offices and shops, so I took a page from Quinntopia's book and started to build my own N Scale office furniture. A grand, mindless task to take on while watching TV with my wife. :)  I still need to paint and clean up the edges, but I think they will be more than fine for the inside of the building. I'm also going to build out some displays and shop counters once I settle on the types of shops that will be inside the building.

High level planning has started on my "Bright and Glorious Future Layout®" which is exciting. I've started looking at elements from my current layout modules that I'd like to carry over into a new layout and additional elements that don't exist yet that I want to see happen.

I'll have Soyokaze and Shizuka, but they will be in the same place finally instead of the real,  1:1 spacing they have now with one at work and one at the office! Between the two, I'll have a bridge section over water. That water will be part of the current little vendor section I have going now. The bridge that I've built will cross over the pond area. Another trestle spot might come into play between mountain areas, but I'm still thinking that through.

Another item I want to try to pull off is a subway section. I'll have a light rail or trolly track running through one part of Soyokaze and it may hit a small station like I have now, then roll out of sight. Then the larger commute-style train would run above ground through Shizuka, then dive down after the bridge to run under Soyokaze. A small subway platform would be seen under Soyokaze with subtle subway station entrance visible above ground. Something like the HO image seen here:

Part of the thing I'm struggling with is the benchwork and track planning involved in this. However, seeing Vera Sepulveda's work recently has filled me with new hope for pulling this off. I just need to sort out the details and get in contact with some folks that are a little more craftsman oriented than I am so I don't accidentally saw off an arm or leg. :::grin:::

I'll also make the fishing area scene larger. It will have the same overall feel to it, but I want to add one or two additional buildings, more work elements and maybe some trackage leading out to it with a scene with a small train being loaded with a delivery of fish for Shizuka.

As usual, it's more about the scenes than the actual trains running. While I like the trains running around, my main focus across the board will be the scenes, people and scenics on the layout.

I did manage to add a few more buildings to the mix. Some nice TOMYTEC models. I really like their stuff. I plan to add about 15 more buildings to Soyokaze and about 10 more to Shizuka as time goes on. 

ONWARD!   :)

~M~