Getting things started!

I realized back around Thanksgiving that while parts of my layout plan are still evolving, certain areas are not going to change very much. One such area is the long 20'+ wall where a yard will 99.9% be located. So why not finally get things started and begin building the layout!

Since the layout will be "around the walls on a shelf" I figured I can go ahead and mount shelf brackets for the top level. An evening with a rented spinning laser level several weeks ago helped determine a reference point based on the lowest elevation the track on the top level can pass "behind" my basement stairs.

With the crazy of Christmas finally gone I went to work.

What's a basement without some boxes and junk piled up?!

 In short time I had a dozen brackets up along the wall, all nice and level.

A 4x8 sheet of 1.5" pink foam snapped in half gave me a 16' run to lay out loose track and play around with arrangements. Quickly a basic track layout (minus switches) of the Pine Valley Yard in Dillonvale was laid out. Some hoppers and a Heavy Mikado were added to populate the yard and help the eye judge the space used.

Nickel Plate Road Heavy Mikado 671 heads toward the Pine Valley yard office on the main track.

This easy hour or two project was something I wish I had done a while ago, as creating this simple mock up has really gotten my creative juices flowing!

A new friend who also models the NKP, has offered to take a stab at trying to fit an Adena area track plan into my basement. Hopefully somewhere between his fresh perspective and my current plan, I can move from a pink foam mock up to the real deal!