#54 status report

August 8, 2011

In this installment we’ll look at more new scenic elements that have been recently added to the EnterTRAINment Junction (EJ) Layout.  As usual, the descriptions mostly follow the order in which you would see the described items as you follow the aisle in sequence from entrance to exit.

 

As you exit the aisle tunnel from the Middle Period to the Modern Period, the nearest notable structure you see is a road bridge, which ends abruptly at the plexiglass barrier between the layout and the aisle.  This is an illustration of one of the major concessions modelers have to make to the area limitations imposed on their models: there has to be an edge.  This forces modelers to make a choice about how to deal with that edge, i.e.,  just cut off the modeled world or disguise it with some visual device like a cliff or a river.  Throughout the EJ layout, the cut-off method is the primary one used.  To celebrate that choice with a bit of humor, the volunteer modelers decided to include an SUV caught in the cut-off at the barrier end of the bridge (Figure 1).

 

 
Figure 1.  The Bridge to …

 

In remembrance of the anniversary of 9-11 and of Veterans’ Day, the cemetery near the Modern City lift bridge is appropriately decorated with flags, flowers, and visitors (Figure 2).

 

 
Figure 2.  Remembrance

 

One of the major scenic elements of the Modern City is the Skytower, but as originally installed, it had no apparent way to get up to the viewing platform.  EJ modelers have fixed that missing feature by adding a ticket office with the associated entrances to elevators going to the viewing platform (Figure 3).

 

 
Figure 3.  Skytower Entrance

 

Since it would have been a shame to waste the back half of the model in Figure 1, it’s been positioned, appropriately, at the other cut-off end of the across-the-Modern-City road, which ends at the aisle across from the in-layout restrooms. (Figure 4).

 

 
Figure 4.  The Other Cut-Off Half

 

 

Most railroad yards get multiple benefits from lighting at night.  Added light towers (Figure 5) provide the extra detail while also providing needed lighting for the yard when a day-dusk lighting cycle is implemented in EJ layout in the future.

 

 
Figure 5.  Modern Yard Light Towers

 

 

To support the activities in the Modern Yard, the railroad needs an office.  It’s been added near the entrance to the intermodal facility near the yard control tower (Figure 6).

 

 
Figure 6.  CSX Office Building

 

That’s all the news for this report.  More later.

 

© 2011 Tom Bartsch

MVGRS Big Train Project Coordinator