Influence

I have long been a fan of the L&N since it was one of the principle railroads that served my hometown of Pensacola, FL. I remember the L&N of the 70’s and early 80’s in northwest Florida and south Alabama. This is a portion of the line seldom thought of, much less modeled, as the L&N typically conjures visions of Appalachian coal hauling. The L&N I grew up knowing served the paper and chemical industries along with agriculture and seaport traffic. During this timeframe it became a part of the Family Lines System and then the short lived Seaboard System before becoming part of CSX. This period of transition hosted a lively mix of locomotive paint schemes from L&N’s classic grey and yellow to the smart FLS ribbons as well as a mix of predecessor paint including SCL, C&O, and even some colorful Chessie System livery. Run through trains across the subdivision regularly included foreign paint from SP, SSW, UP and a variety of other roads from time to time. Long an HO modeler, the opportunity to run locomotives in a variety of corporate colors coupled with the increased fidelity and operating quality of N scale models has influenced me to try my hand at putting together a modern era layout that would otherwise not be possible in a larger scale. Memories of watching the Y202 yard job come “down the hill” from Goulding Yard to pick up and shove interchange traffic to the small Frisco (later BN) interchange yard and then switch the port yard fostered the notion that it would be fun to model that operation. Modules are chosen as the format for construction since space for a “permanent” layout is currently being utilized for other family purposes. Also, a modular setup will allow me to transport the layout for operating sessions at shows and potential connection with other modules based on the Free-moN standards I’m following.

Since operation is to be a main objective the modules will be designed with that in mind and module subjects will be chosen for their value in adding operational interest. While I appreciate fine modeling and intend to lean toward higher fidelity modeling I will leave my super-detailing efforts to the larger scales and exploit N scale’s size by modeling only what can realistically be seen from a few feet away and paying attention to texture as I believe it can be easily overdone in such a small scale. I plan to utilize a bit of the “good enough” philosophy as well as a minimalist approach as I believe the mind fills in a lot of the details based on what it perceives. This is especially true when operation is the focus at hand. I can comfortably say this based on personal experience operating on friend’s layouts where, in some cases, the only scenery was simple kit built plastic structures (maybe even a few were cardboard boxes) and not much else. We still had a blast running the layout and didn’t miss the scenery one bit.

That said I don’t intend to model the “Plywood (or Styrofoam) Pacific” either. I plan to strike what I feel to be a reasonable balance of scenery to attain a nice looking operation oriented modular set up …think Lance Mindheim’s Downtown Spur layout. He has used a lot of “photo detailing” to quickly model structures that appear to have a lot of detail but really only contain those three dimensional details deemed necessary to provide the most impact. The look is great for his HO layout …so I’m sure N scale could exploit that capability just as well if not better.

First Modules

Here's a few photos showing the first two modules constructed for the CSX PA Sub. They were constructed following standards established for Free-moN. This standard was selected as the primary objectives align closely with my desires ...mainly to promote hi-fidelity prototypical scale model railroading, ensure reliable track and electrical operation, and encourage visual continuity between modules.

These modules were originally going to be a large yard representing the ex-L&N Goulding Yard in Pensacola but I'm leaning toward making them a generic staging yard that can be used at the end of a module set or possibly split to use as stub staging at the ends of a point-to-point modular setup.



Each module is 1'x6' and utilizes a 6" deep birch ply end plate. The legs are 1x2 ripped from wider stock and are hinged. A folding brass plated brace is used on each leg set on opposite sides. The frames and leg sets are painted with satin black to provide a finished appearence as well as help with sealing the wood to avoid changes with humidity since these modules may well travel to shows and be exposed to a variety of environments. A planned rail head height of 50" and the 12" module width does not provide the utmost stability on idividual modules. However, my past experience with modular setups shows stabilty increases as modules are added ...especially once curves or corner modules are employed. So when setup for operation the stability should be more than adequate.



Eye bolts and t-nuts were used to provide leveling and height adjustment capability for each module. Eye bolts were chosen since they allow easy adjustment by hand. First, a hole was drilled to accept the t-nut and allow depth for the length of the eye bolt.



Next the t-nut was tapped into place with a hammer.



Then an eye bolt with its stop nut was inserted.



Finally, the eye bolts were adjusted as needed to provide level stance for the modules and the stop nut was snugged against the t-nut. This adjustment can be easily changed when the modules are moved.



Finally, a parting shot showing a few pieces of rolling stack and a couple of Atlas code 55 #7 turnouts to give an idea of the real estate available for development!