The Rob Pratte Photo album Part II...Here's the latest from Rob's Layout. Fresh off the press from October 15th. I've had the pleasure of contributing a little to this layout and glad I did. There will be a lot going on once it's done and it looks like it will make for hours of enjoyment! |
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A good look at the trestle leading from the upper level to the Roundhouse are. Some accessories are filtering in, including MTH's copy of the American Flyer sawmill and a couple of oil derricks. One Lionel, one MTH. Mark and I soon discovered they both have advantages and disadvantages. MTH's, in the foreground presents a more realistic operation but is noisy. Lionel's is less noisy but toggles quickly due to the solenoid.
From inside the trestle. I had access to the small hatch inside the helix that spirals the trains up and down from the lower yard to the overhead layout. A whole different view from here folks. Unlike traditional layouts, a lot of the wiring had to go through the rafters above. Special covers were made to hide the wiring that came down the supports from the ceiling.
Here is an awesome view of the large trestle that Mark, Rob's builder has hand made. The work is incredible and the strength of the trestle is unbelievable. This is one solid track plan.
Looking back towards the far wall from inside the loop is the passenger station that is part way up the climb to the top layout.
The same station as seen from the front of the layout. The power company has started to install the high tension lines needed to bring power to Prattesville.
Here's a new shot of the roundhouse now moved to a new location. By doing this, Mark was able to add a reversing track, seen in the foreground, so that large trains could swing back up the hill without having to backup or switch the engine to the other end. The turntable is the new Atlas O table. I was very impressed by it's smooth operation and very precise indexing. Mark warned me though that care must be taken as it does have some delicate parts to it.
A close up of the round house area shows the time put into this scratched built project. Small details to the signs and air conditioners were included. Now that the roundhouse is in this position, some of the detail not seen from it's former location come out!
A closer look at the signs. Hope a few steamers make it in there as well. I pass Conway Yards every time I go to Rob's and wonder what it was like in the day of steam.
Here is the last photo for this series. This gives you an over all look of the newly moved round house and surrounding areas. Work goes on!
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