It has been more than six years in the making and the day has finally arrived. The very first train to traverse the upper deck from end to end. Can I get a hallelujah?
The layout is nowhere close to ready for train operation. Minor detail. 🙂 The fascia panels don’t yet exist so the control wires are taped to the benchwork preventing shorting to one another and so I can have some measure of turnout control.
A few temporary bridges are in place. The bridge decks (3/8″ plywood) sit on brads driven into the ends of the sub-roadbed modules and are secured in place with masking tape. We’re talking high tech here!
With a contiguous upper deck route it is time to fire up the railroad and take her for a spin. Our train journey will begin as we clear Spur 4 entering the west end of Brittain Yard and continue on until we ultimately reach Kitzmiller siding.
Once we have traveled the length of the yard, at a quickened yard speed <wink wink>, we will exit the east yard limit headed for Akron. On our way through Akron we will pass the rubber shops complex – Goodyear, Firestone, and General Tire, pass through the Akron Barberton Belt RR interchange, then more industries, and finally head out of town over the River Styx bridge. A few minutes in rolling hills finds us rounding the bend where we will enter Lapeer passing by the Saginaw Street switching spur. From there it is on to the mountains of Maryland. On the mountainous side of the layout we will rumble past the Mettiki Mine loadout before taking a sweeping curve descending into the Potomac River valley. Once across the Potomac River bridge in Kitzmiller our train will slow to a stop and hold the main bringing our trip to an end. The train is 16 cars long with a single power unit which happens to be the “standard train” used during design.
Join me as we follow the first ever revenue freight on LK&O rails.
