Page 22 - January February 2016

I print the cards onto 160 gsm paper and cut them out – they fit into clear plastic wallets I get from Viking, with a slot cut in the front to create a pocket for the waybills. Waybills are from Micro-Mark and then also I have some I have scanned onto different colour card for variety of load type. Again this aids easy recognition. Nothing worse than putting cement powder into a grain car! There will need to be some form of timetable to run all trains by, so that whoever is dispatching knows what to send where next and with whom. This will be in the form of a simple sequentially numbered rota of trains, most starting from one end of the yard (to the East (left) it will be Houston Englewood Yard; to the West it will be the rest of the railroad system). Around the layout there will be a large number of switching spots, although Rosenberg is in effect even to this day one large team track. Aerial photos show just where animal feed and fertiliser gets spilled! I am adding a plastic pellet facility to the approach to the yard at the Houston end.
I plan to put a bulldog clip on each train’s cards which the conductor will hold. When he switches locations he will place with bulldog clips the relevant car cards on cup hooks for each
siding/spot, and remove the cards for the cars picked up. Simples . . .
The fun will all be in, and resulting from, the planning! Let’s see.
The Future
There should be a Part 3 but I think it will be a few years yet! I might even add another level to provide additional operation. In the meantime the priority is to install another power district successfully before expansion plans are put into action. The staging yard of at least ten tracks is to be built and much scenery is to be added. Whilst Texas is flat for the most part, there are lots of trees and it can very lush with grass and the occasional bank of bluebonnets (the State flower of Texas). However I would not rule out a tunnel appearing beyond the river crossing and the duckunder, and some rocky outcrops and pine trees reminiscent of Northern California, or Oregon even. Well it is MY railroad and I do have somewhere a McCloud River SD38-2, a souvenir of my trip to the Sacramento Convention in 2011. Happy days.
22 ROUNDHOUSE