Florida rr Punta Gorda and Mulberry

I've added several new structures in Punta Gorda since the last post. I scratch built a car ferry dock lift largely because the one I had from Locust Grove didn't fit. I used a few parts but that was all. I also scratch built two car ferry's and finished the warehouses against the backdrop. Finally I added the pilings along the seawalls.

I really overdid it in Lakeland. I had bought a couple of modern engine house kits I wanted to make the Phosphate plants from. After I built them I thought they looked kind of lonely so....

I went to Walthers looking for some tanks that might fit. Wow! they had lots so I bought one of each:)

I also had a piping kit so I thought why not connect the billions of tanks I bought to the plants. I painted the pipes red (flammable), Yellow (toxic) and White (nontoxic) do far so good. Installing the pipes turned out to be a nightmare. There are little feet the pipes go on top of and fittings for joining pipes together and valves for regulating flow. I turned relative simple plant construction project into a month of work

 As you can see lots still to do, ballast, fascia, ground cover, some dozen small craftsman kits to be scattered about and I still need a crew as the first two I must have scared off. AND of course the critical mine hasn't been started either or the freighter sitting unpainted or the scratch built Punta Gorda Station. (I photographed the ACL depot in Punta Gorda and will attempt to replicate a condensed version.) Well.. this virus thing looks like it will drag on and on and on so maybe I will have time this year to complete some of that stuff.

Florida RR DCC, Lakeland, Arcadia

My dead rail experiment failed. Batteries charging cables were hard to find and one or more batteries seemed to go dead all the time. So..... I tried to use my 25 year old MRC unit. It came with a walk-around that I never could get to work. So.... I bought a new Zephyr from Digitrax and I love it.
I have a screen that is capable of displaying multiple lines of data and there is a quick programming button that calls up several cv values and allow the user to change any and all at once then displays the new vales.

Lakeland waybilled structures are completed. That's my word and I use it to designate structures that reside next to spurs that accept deliveries by rail. These next shots are Lakeland.

 Not much has happened in Arcadia since the last post but the yard is now

populated with cars to be delivered. Another post follows showing work completed at Punta Gorda and Mulberry.

Christmas and shots from the layout

Layout is coming along. Christmas is also coming along. Some more fine tuning on the bridge will be needed but trains will be running over it soon.

PG car cards and a few industries

 We're almost ready to get the ops going. I added car card racks. designed and printed car cards and waybills, sorted and matched the car card to the actual cars rebuilt a few derelict cars. The two major projects left are to add the bridge over the doorway and construct the piers in Punta Gorda.

Buildings are underway and 25 freight cars have been added to the fleet

25 weathered and properly weighted cars added to the fleet. Many covered hoppers and open hoppers for the phosphate fleet and box cars for general duty. The cars are shown in front of the town of Parsons in my Allegheny and Shenandoah Railroad.
Building construction has started. The three structures shown were all build from the same Lakeville Warehouse kit, What a great kit! It's modular so you can build it to serve either rail or trucks as you choose. The Publix warehouse structure was build with all the leftover parts from the first two false fronts.

Punta Gorda and ALL TRACK is in and painted!!

The track is all in and even PAINTED. One of the great things about battery power is that the loco never stalls or jerks and YOU DON"T HAVE TO EVER CLEAN THE TRACK.
The first shot is of Arcadia now that all the track is in and the next three are of Punta Gorda with the barge unloading dock in the foreground and the car ferry to the rear.

These shots are overviews of the entire room showing all the trackwork and the beautiful painted rails.
I relocated all the equipment using the locomotive and the operation was flawless, no stalls. no jerks, and more importantly no derailments!! What a pleasure it was and also very satisfying:)
Alas it is time to pack the tools, vacuum the rug and depart for Spring in Maryland. See you in November we we start anew with the structures and the equipment.