Lee University

JUNE, 2004

            In the past three months, the top tier of the layout has undergone a great deal of scenic work.  There is still an abundant amount of super-detailing to do, but that’s in the future.  The nice thing about this layout is that even when it is completed, almost 80% of the area will still be reachable at arms length.  The second tier of track (with the 2% and 3% grades) has been completed and wired. The largest and longest track (that which will encompass the entire layout and include a staging yard) is still months down the line.

	There have been a few changes since that original mine mock-up back in the fall, 2003, and three months since the last pictorial. The MINE PENINSULA seems a good place to start. The engine in the scene is a Mantua GP-20 painted with the SPSF design. This was the very first engine I purchased when I decided to build my initial layout nine years ago. Of course, after about a year, I realized I didn’t find any OTHER Santa Fe engines painted this way and wondered if I had been suckered somewhere along the line, and some dude had sold me the freak cousin of Thomas the Tank Train or something! But I eventually was educated to railroad mergers, made and failed, and now fully appreciate my little gem of a diesel . . .
	The entire upper deck is about 80% “sceniked”. Moving counter-clockwise around the layout , our tour starts on the bottom of the “J” . . . (I’ll try and get to that legible drawing of the proposed layout sometime soon.)
	This Burlington Route GP-9 has traveled around the MINE PENINSULA , up the long 2% grade, and passes through two short tunnels to come out on the bottom of the “J”. I purchased this engine on Ebay a few months ago, but I really can’t decide what brand it is. The seller said it was 30 years old, but it’s a heavy engine, 8 wheel pick-up, and runs really well, unlike those Tyco GP-20s of 30 years ago with the brass wheels. I am enjoying this engine . . .
Although it’s hard to see in this photo, I have tried to “vitalize” the scenery, even when it’s just trees and foliage. Here the remains of a razed trestle litters the ground beneath its more modern replacement. It looks a lot better “live”, trust me. The old debris is covered with kudzu, wild vines and young saplings. What I tried to represent in this section was static scenery that tells a story. . . .
	We now turn up the backside of the J straight-away. There is still a lack of scenery (ground cover) in portions of this area. Be assured that trains that will ultimately run on the track on the right do not PLUNGE INTO OBLIVION at this point. The layout will eventually extend another 36 inches on this end. This added area will be farmland, cattle lots, farm homes and buildings and a rural cooperative elevator along a county road . . .
	Track #2 does pass by a small oil terminal on the backside of the layout . . . I wanted some kind of activity along the back side that would encourage visitors to walk all around the layout eventually, but truthfully, the oil terminal was not in my original plans.
	I had all the “makings” left from the last layout, but didn’t have the slightest clue where it would fit in on the new design. Being able to extend this track level to the outer edge, running Track #3 beneath it in a tunnel, gave me the room I needed to build this small industry . . .
	Here is an overhead shot of a fairly completed HIGHPORT terminal.  Seems to be a lot of activity on the mountain, though I tend not to name any of it, or give definitive definition to any of the building’s purposes. I would rather let the viewer imagine the specifics, if any come to mind . . .
	Though not apparent in this photo, there has been a good degree of detailing in the HIGHPORT area . . .
	We head around the bend to the sloping hill at the foot of HIGHPORT mountain, where three months ago, all we had to show was a newspaper covered wire frame, awaiting plaster work . . .

Trains:  Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34

Page 1 - Box Canyon Layout
Page 2 - Any Time, Any Spring Disclaimer
Page 3 - Starting Over, December 2003
Page 4 - March, 2004
Page 5 - June, 2004
Page 8 - Layout Design
Page 9 - August, 2004
Page 11 - January, 2005
Page 16 – January, 2005 Redux
Page 17 – First Day of Summer, 2005
Page 20 – August, 2005
Page 21 - In the Farmland, February 2006
Page 23 - Layout Potpourri, February 2006
Page 25 - In the Cornfields, 2006
Page 27 - July, 2006
Page 30 – November, 2006
Page 33 - MARCH, 2007 – A Break In The Action