Busy week on the lower level and a loco back from the dead

Posted by Unknown on 5:00 PM in A, And, Back, busy, dead, From, level, loco, lower, ON, The, week | No comments

With Thursday and Friday off, it gave me the chance to get my room back in order and get away from the layout somewhat and finish a few projects on the desk.  I finally got my VMID U23B back on the tracks running well.  It had been sidelined with unreliability and made it a bad runner.  I could not fit a Keep Alive capacitor under the hood and thus made the U23B to sit on the desk for a while.  In some research for smaller speakers, discovered Apple I-phone 5 loudspeakers.  These speakers are small and sound great.  Getting 5 for $8 on Ebay is a good deal also.  I finally put one of those speakers in the cab of the U23B.  Yes, it's that small.  The #289 is running well and sounding great.  The #289 is special to me.  It's the first loco I installed a Tsunami in.  The Tsunami FDL GE sound is outstanding.

I also have all the track laid for the branch line on the lower level.  This section is directly below Battlefield Yard.  It serves a sand and gravel plant (Spur only) and a propane dealer.  The branch line will be named the Mine Run Branch and is actually a town name on the real Virginia Central Railroad.  There was no branch line there however.

VMID #289 ready to mix it up in Battlefield yard.  She's in original VMID paint.  One of the first locos I painted in VMID paint.

This will be Mine Run.  Don't know if I'll keep it in canal form but it looks good.  Probably will take out the dock.  A simple bridge here will complete the scene.

The look from the bridge to the propane dealer and the trackage back to the mainline. 

An overview of the scene.

Here's the trackage looking from the canal.  It has a run-around track for the hoppers returning to the loading facility.

Another view of the run-around track and spur.  The hoppers are sitting on the spur to the plant.

The end of the line and run-around track.  Lots of switching in this small area. 

Overview of the end of the branchline.