It is both a sad day and a milestone day. All of the cork roadbed is glued in place, has been sanded super flat, the mess vacuumed up, and the train room cleared of tools and excess materials. The time to lay track has finally been reached. While certainly this is a milestone moment in the construction of the LK&O railroad, it is also a day of sadness for it is time to say goodbye to an inanimate object that has become what feels like a dear old friend. Having served its purpose well, the Paper Track Plan’s job is complete.
With the roadbed in place so you can see the track configuration it seems like a good time for a layout tour. Assembled below is a photo gallery slide show starting at Brittian Yard engine service area and ending at Kitzmiller tunnel, a trip all way round the layout upper deck.
But first, before we take the tour, let’s first pay tribute to a job well done. Join me as we bow our heads together remembering Paper Track Plan and all that it made possible.
Oh Paper Track Plan, You have served me well over the past three years. We have spent so much time together I feel as though we are soul mates. I have come to know Your every fold, Your every seam, Your every engineering mark. Your very existence in the train room gave me motivation and reassurance there would someday be a working model railroad in my life. Without Your dimensional guidance, Your 1:1 scale visualization, Your exceedingly accurate centerlines, and Your locations for lumber cuts my layout could not have been constructed with such accuracy. From Your humble beginnings as a ream of bond paper to Your ultimate room filling template form, You have been my blueprint. How fondly I remember the countless rolls of Scotch tape used in Your assembly. Equally fondly I remember the number of ink cartridges consumed in Your printing. While we may not have always gotten along harmoniously together, such as the times I needed to move You on the floor and You, due to Your shape, moved every way but the direction I wanted, I am nonetheless thankful for the opportunity to have been guided by You and Your ever constant dimensions. I will miss You paper track plan. You have become such a fixture in the train room it now seems so empty without You. Rest assured I will never forget the contribution You have made to my model railroad. Without You none of it would have been possible. Rest in peace Paper Track Plan. Amen.
Light refreshments are served in the reception hall. Join with us as we take a tour of the layout remembering the tremendous contribution made by Paper Track Plan.
Alan,
Great to see you hit this milestone.
[…] I skipped a post. In the previous post I mentioned sanding the cork roadbed. After receiving comments on the railroad forums and PMs […]
Congratulation, and fond fair well paper track plan.
Amazing work! Where did you get the detail on the Britain yard? The little diagram is the best description I have been able to find while searching for such detail on the W&LE (maybe I should have been researching the AC&Y?).
Gene,
I got drawings of Brittain Yard from AC&Y Historical Society.