Making the Most of More Space

Moving the adjacent basement office gave the C&S Northern Division a chance to expand and realize its potential — a presentation to the Boulder Model Railroad Club in 2009.

The original layout had some nice scenes and created an enjoyable operating scheme for Rice Yard and local freights.  But short runs between staging yards made through train Time Table & Train Order (TT&TO) operations lifeless.

When the adjacent room became available, I wanted a longer mainline run realize the layout's operating potential.  How to do that was the question.

The end of the Louisville aisle had two decks, one above the other.  See the red turnback curves.  This was the key to the expanded track plan.

I pushed those stacked loops of track into and around the next room — through the partition wall and end wall of the closet.  This tripled the main line run...

...and created a much more challenging layout for TT&TO operations:  a scale mile between sidings and no peeking view blocks.

I also gained new towns for switching, better sites for scenery, the need for more trains, and some wider aisles.

The Before and After Track Profiles and schematics...

... dramatically tell the tale of this success.