The 1st edition of the Cahaba Southern was in a 22'x10' room in my basement. The benchwork was 1x4 grid construction with risers and cookiecutter roadbed. The track was Peco Code 55, weathered with regular Rustoleum primer in Rust, Black, and Gray. A Super Chief Digitrax DCC control system was installed. It featured dual mainlines, a decent size yard, and a large roundhouse was planned, fed by a Fleischmann electric turntable. Some basic scenery, i.e. hills, was completed and the backdrop was painted with curved corners.
Here is the trackplan:
The Cahaba Southern 1st edition had some nice long mainline runs, however it had some things I didn't like. First it was too big! This realization wasn't reached until I was too far along, as it was too big to move forward at the pace I wanted given the amount of freetime I had. Second it had a return run for the mainlines that was too hidden and too long.
Here are some pics, walking around the layout:
Unfortunately this is as far as the 1st Edition of the Cahaba Southern got. Our first child was born in 1998, and babies/toddlers don't mix well with model railroading, especially if you don't want things destroyed. He immediately wanted to grab everything, and I came to the realization that there was too much temptation to keep him out of arms reach. I also became interested at that time in the restoration of pinball machines. I couldn't afford two hobbies, especially with a growing family. With a heavy heart I tore down the Cahaba Southern and sold off all of my model railroading equipment in order to pay for my new hobby, restoring pinball machines.
I was out of model railroading again, but hoped I could one day return to it....
No comments:
Post a Comment