The track for the new section in the town of Bear Creek is in the planning stages. I printed four #8 turnout templates and trimmed them. These templates help me to visualize what kind of track I want here. The final idea is to have two industries and a run-around track. In the lower-right hand corner you can see where the track will come off the turntable. I also sketched out where the industries and some simple landscaping will be.

To try something different, I offset the new section. The first order of business is to get the track to come down from the turntable. The track is also curved. In the photo you can see the small section of Micro Engineering flextrack I used to create the curved shape of the track that I wanted. In the foreground are two pieces of styrene that will make up the sides of the ramp.

Next, I trimmed the track to fit up to the turntable board. I then used that as a template for the curved piece of styrene shown in the photo. This will serve as the bottom of the ramp "box". The box' bottom serves as the means to bend the sides.

This photo shows the box glued together and placed in its spot. This allowed me to figure the fine-tuning I need to do to clear the track of the turntable.


I've also spent some time "decorating" the turntable area. The plain grass looked artificial, so I added some Sculptamold (for raised rocks), individual rocks, soil, bushes, and weeds.

In the background of the photo below you can see the ramp. After gluing the box to the layout section, I filled the box with Sculptamold, smoothed it out, and then glued ties in place.

I've been wanting to add two stub tracks to the turntable diorama. This allows me to do some very basic switching. The stub tracks are just long enough for a 50-foot boxcar or a small switching engine. The tracks are powered. The photo on the right is an extreme close-up of one of these stub tracks. I also attached two Hayes wheels stops at each stub track to keep cars from rolling off the edge. The stub tracks were made from some left-over code 55 Micro Engineering flextrack.

Some switching action can be seen in this photo. I am trying to get the boxcar and the flatcar from the Woods Furniture siding onto the main line using the E8. I placed the flat car on the small stub track. Next, I will be able to get the boxcar onto the turntable bridge and back it onto the main. Then I'll go back and get the flatcar, which will be coupled to the boxcar on the main, and we'll be on our way.