Seven feet of T Trak, a modified Inglenook, and another big piece of Creekside finally taking shape.
Creekside Timber & Milling has been coming together a piece at a time. Some of those pieces have been built at the workbench, some have come out of the 3D printer and laser, and quite a few have started as conversations with other model railroaders who helped me work through an idea. There have been module boxes, leveling feet, wiring, power connections, backdrop mounts, buildings, scenery plans and plenty of changes along the way. Now one of the biggest pieces is finally starting to look real: the track.
Seeing the entire seven foot section stretched across the workbench is very different from looking at the track plan on a computer screen. Nothing is permanently mounted yet, and I still need a few exact length pieces where the modules separate, but everything that matters is there. For the first time I can stand back and see how the different parts of Creekside are actually going to connect and work together.
On the far left, the original Creekside Sawmill and log pond will remain part of the story. At the opposite end will be Widow Maker Whiskey and the engine maintenance house. Between them is where Creekside really starts growing, with Creekside Lumber and the new sawmill becoming the center of the operation. What started as a collection of individual modules is beginning to feel like one railroad rather than several separate scenes sitting next to each other.
The Switching Puzzle Fits
One of the bigger questions hanging over the project was the switching operation in the middle. I wanted more than track connecting one scene to another. Creekside needed to actually be fun to operate, so buried in that track work is a modified Inglenook switching puzzle, along with a runaround and a maintenance track.
There had been some concern about whether all of that would actually fit across the connected three foot and two foot center modules. It worked on paper, but there is a considerable difference between drawing a line and trying to make real Kato turnouts, curves and straight sections cooperate within fixed module dimensions.
Now I know. It fits.
There are still a few track sections to replace, the exact module breaks need to be worked out, and everything needs to be tested before a single piece gets permanently mounted.
But that’s fine. Creekside has reached the point where the parts, the people, the track work and all those little ideas we’ve been working through are starting to become one railroad.
For now, seven feet of loose track sitting on the workbench is a pretty good milestone.
