The Vision

 

Modeling the AT&SF - D&RGW Joint Line through Colorado Springs from Milepost 70 to Milepost 80 circa 1978-1979

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Post 26: The Vision

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 (Very large image, open in a new window to enlarge)

We had visitors coming.

And naturally, as they know that I am building a model railroad in the basement they wanted to see the trains.

Well, that's a problem. A recurring one, since I don't actually have track down yet and can't run trains for them.

So I did what I usually do, I put some structure mock-ups out where they belong and placed a few locomotives and cars where they might commonly be seen working. Gotta show them something, after all.

I had a bit of a head start as a fellow modeler stopped in yesterday to take a quick look at progress on the layout before we headed off to an ops session on another modeler's layout, so the layout room was already more or less presentable.

This time was different, though. The whole south end of the layout sort of came alive as a unified whole, from the Cimarron overpass at the south end of Springs Yard right across the room through Kelker-Drennan to the Santa Fe bridge across Sand Creek atop the swing gate.

It was almost magical to see how far I've come and how close I am to realizing my dream of bringing the Joint Line alive in my basement.

That's why I spend so much time mocking things up full size. To work out the vision in three dimensions and figure out how best to build it. And to keep myself motivated and moving forward.

And isn't that the whole point?

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