A Plateau. . . of Sorts

 Good progress with Knowledge Park Shortline; might just be a plateau to rest on for a while.

Flat black small control box to help blend in and not stand out:

A couple of trees for the triangular corner:

Lower panel on large control box for protection; needed a small slot for the electrical cord:

Some track cleaning, retrieval of locomotive that works with limit switches from layout builder and connection of Section 2 to a timer (set for Dr. Pepper time, 10, 2, and 4) and we can watch it run every 45 seconds or so (oops, 2 minute movie is too large to upload so some of the 45 second "wait time" has been removed).

A little rest and we'll tackle the two loops in downtown section!

The Distraction

 OK, one reason progress on paper mill section has been slow is the distraction caused by quick notice to move Knowledge Park Shortline to its display case.  Got the notice last Friday, removed legs and disconnected two sections and some wires on Monday, moved the two sections yesterday, and did some detail work today.

Pretty pleased with progress; yet to finish cleaning track and locomotive wheels and some details of scenicking.

Door bell transformers being used for lighting on the "downtown" section were "blowing out" previously.  Our Electrical Engineering "consultant" recommended beefier replacement transformer.  That's why some wiring was disconnected until new transformers arrived.  Crawled into base of cabinet today to connect transformers.  Tried hard to label wires to help reconnections.  EE consultant recommended using wire nuts.  Done:

All lights are working; time will tell if new transformers were good choice:

What Next?

 So, track, turnouts (including my first WYE), roadbed, and pink foam are here.  Now what?

Panama City. . . FLA

The Knowledge Park project is waiting for the display case construction, so thoughts have returned to the Blacktop Crossing.  How 'bout a 2'X8' addition at the Passenger Station corner?

During the late 1950's my family lived in Panama City, FL, area and Dad worked at International Paper Company.  The mill was constructed in the early 1930's and was a boon to local employment and economy.  The mill was served by The Bay Line (Atlanta and Saint Andrews Bay Railroad) which connected with the Southern Railway and maybe others.  The Bay Line and Southern were important in supplying pulpwood for the mill.

A couple of post cards and an aerial view:

Since the mill is on somewhat of a peninsula, a long narrow layout works OK.  Maybe something like this:

Some Clever Bros "kits" might help.  These are sort of add-on, kitbashing possibilities

Still planning but track and roadbed on order ;)   

 

KP Premiere

KP, as Knowledge Park in Rock Hill is known, should have a display case for the first two phases of the N scale train layout by mid-January, 2021.  Phase III is currently under construction, so some sort of signage is needed to communicate the status.  How's this?!

Let's Join Knowledge Park

 Seems this blog has been hijacked by the Knowledge Park project!  Oh well, railroads is railroads.

With the desire from the "owner" to combine the original 1953 era downtown Rock Hill (Phase I) with the extension down White Street (Phase II), a little adjustments needed to be made.  First, I and II were bolted together with the two tracks along what is now Village Way lined up pretty closely:

White Street (not shown) will need to be adjusted about 1/4 inch or so.

The trestle at the joint needs to be covered/converted to an extension of the bank for the higher track and the two Chatham Avenues need to be somehow combined:

Maybe a little more work needs to done with, say, sidewalk and grass/weeds.

A display case will surround the layout so the wiring for Phase II and III needs to go BEHIND the control box, like this:

And the light switches need to be placed under the layout:

Oops, photo of completed relocation is missing!

Need to get moving since Phase III is making progress:

Knowledge Park Phase II Gets Legs

 Here is Phase II on legs.  Used roughly the same approach as for the downtown area -- this time 1X4's instead of 2X4's for legs plus lauan gussets and 1X2" angle "stretchers".

"Helper" under the layout wants to join these two parts although that would mean some cosmetic work since part of the Cotton Factory is duplicated.  May not be too tough to do, and it would make the protective "case" for display a bit cheaper.  Besides, the layout belongs to HIM!

Full Cotton Factory on Phase II.