Tentative Steps. Minneapolis Fork. Part 10.

After a good long think, some work in another scale, and words of encouragement from the creator of Chicago Fork Prof. Klyzlr. I tentatively looked at the warehouse again. I had managed to salvage everything undamaged, so that made me feel good as I looked at it again. I went through my stock of Foam core board, and actually found a sheet of Fome-Cor Pro in black that was flat and level. I was planning on using it for the extension to my 16mm scale layout. But needs must when the devil drives, so it was pressed into use for the warehouse.

The element of the building that I regretted not fitting in the first time, was the external stair. Perhaps the rebuild would give me an opportunity to fit it in. The track layout as planned, was a 3-3-2 inglenook. When it only needed to be a 3-2-2. Could I shorten the siding and fit the stair in? I did some measuring and figured that it was possible, and I could even extend the length of the building to 36”. I mocked up the extended length and measured it against a couple of boxcars.

Test of altered building.

The external stair mocked up.

I think you can see that it works. 

I’ll be honest with you here, I’m understating things a little. I think it’s outstanding. In cases like this I am always reminded of a TV ad from my childhood for Croft Original Sherry. The punchline is “One instinctively knows when something is right”. There’s no doubt about it in my mind. This is right. It works. The building feels imposing without overpowering things. The box cars sit well in front of it. It could be a backscene in itself. As for the external stair. It was absolutely the correct decision to add it. Wether I add a couple of workers taking a break stood on it, or just leave it as is. It’s the correct decision to lose some siding length for a little scenic development.

For me, this is what micro layout design is all about. The delicate balance between operation and scenery. Some people want to cram as much track into the small space as possible. There are track plans from the early days of the Micro Layouts for Model Railroads website, that are crammed with track with just a tall stone wall, and road overbridge for scenery. I want to see some space in there, to give the scene room to breathe. Right now, I think I’ve achieved that.

The next step is to lay the track. I think I deserve to see a train run. Don’t you?