Monday, February 16, 2009

Track Plan Changes - Already!


One of the great things about not being able to rush in and begin this proposed layout, is the opportunity to spend plenty of time looking and thinking about the whole concept.

Initially I was happy with track plans I have already preesented, with Hawkesbury River Station on the lower deck directly beneath Gunnedah and having a short run up the Cowan Bank to what would end in a staging yard/Hornsby. However after having a bit of a think about how it would all opperate I've had a change of mind.

Hawkesbury River station and yard have now been moved to beneath the run twards Gunnedah along the left wall, with the Cowan Bank part now being much longer, running underneath Gunnedah, around and out into the peninsula and then having Cowan station and the Up Refuge modelled instead of a bigger staging yard. This will allow a much longer run up the Cowan Bank which will make the banking of trains seem much more realistic due to the length of the run.

The other positive is that with the Hawkesbury River no longer underneath Gunnedah, opperators of Gunnedah Yard and Hawkesbury will not be sharing the same space. Likewise people shunting the stock sidings on the top deck will not interfere with the lower deck opperation as that area will merely be a run up the Cowan Bank with no sidings to worry about shunting.

The only downside of a longer Cowan Bank section is the need for an awful lot of gum trees!