Florida Update - April 17, 2021

Greetings followers of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad and my blog!

It's been over a year since I was down in Florida, or as my friends call it "The Southern Command", due to the current world situation...

The window of opportunity came up and we took advantage of it, even if it's for a couple weeks....

As I walked into the train room, I felt that I lost touch of what I was working on and more important, the track plan for switching the layout. One thing for sure; the railroad was operational. There were no electrical issues, the DCC system worked fine, and the engines all moved around without cleaning the track (we did clean the track after I saw the layout run). 

For those of you who may have forgotten what the Florida layout looked like, here are a few photos..

Lower level freight yard...

Propane and tank car Transload area on the left in the photo..

Lower level center will have a couple industries to switch...

The corner shows the future cement plant. Florida has plenty of these facilities as any type of residential or commercial building is built with concrete. Something that has to do with hurricanes. Hmmm....

The infamous "helix" to get to and from the upper level...

This photo shows the pellet transfer area and plastics factory on the lower level. Upper level shows the lumber yard..

Warehouse on the lower level corner, grain facility on the upper level..

Another photo of the lumber yard area...

Grain industry..

This will have an aggregate facility to handle Ortner hopper cars filled with sand and other materials as well as cement hoppers..

Another industry..

Need my juice facility, just not as large as the NJ structure. Another warehouse adjacent to it...

This is the upper level yard where cars will be dropped or picked up that service the industries on the upper level...

Just as I left it, March 17, 2020...

A few things have come into my mind, and one of them is do I really want to continue to have passenger trains running on the layout, as its really designed for freight operation. It's a point to point layout, so this keeps me thinking...

My friend Sir John of Georgia made a suggestion to put a large structure in front of the passenger tracks on the upper level to give the impression the passenger cars are going to a far and away place. put some type of scene divider. He suggested a tunnel entrance, I'm thinking an overhead road adjacent to the building going from the front of the layout to the wall. Definitely considering this option before I pull the plug on the passenger train operation. I have Tri-Rail train which has an engine and 3 passenger cars, one of which is a cab coach. The Amtrak train would have to be a push pull with an engine on each end as I have 5 Amfleet coaches down here. While it may not be as prototypical as I want, its my railroad!

One of the areas I started to work on while I was here was the lumber yard area. The original Walthers Kit Walton & Sons lumber yard was nice, but this layout is more modern. Late last year Walthers announced a Lumber Transload kit, which I picked up for a good price and brought with me.

I have built the sheds and will build the office and lumber loads that go with it, once I do a rattle can run. Here's the area on the upper level west wall...

The roadway area needs to be painted a light gray or something to simulate concrete. The office that i need to build has a white roof from the kit, and that needs to be painted as well...

There's an office from another kit I had in NJ and that came down in 2019..

The kit has 2 ramps and concrete sections for trucks and fork lifts to move. I'll have to trim some to size so it fits the space...

Three tracks - one for centerbeams, one for Thrall door box cars, and the one in the front for box cars, including HI Cube 40' & 60' versions..

I'm pleased with this area. The Walton & Sons buildings will head back north and I'll add them to the layout. Once I do the final painting and assembling of the lumber, I'll look at other areas where I can build a kit in a short time. I don't want to spend all of my time in there as management wants to get out and head to places that no model railroader has gone to before...

Thanks for reading!