Initial sketch and thoughts on the new PE&A

The weather in Spokane County has been truly fantastic for over a week now with mild temperatures and sunny skies most days. I've been out for a walk every day and have even seen a few people out working in their yards, which makes me want to get outside too and start work on the new railroad. I've also spent some time looking through photos I've taken of numerous garden railroads I've visited over the past few years. And I've started looking through past garden railroading publications to help generate ideas.

New home for the PE&A. Most of the ground is clear but snow and ice still stubbornly hang on, despite over a week of above freezing temperatures.

I've compiled a long (and growing) list of things I'd like to add to the railroad and will eventually need to prioritize. But right now I'm less concerned about all the details and more focused on coming up with a basic structure and overall design. To help with that I'm trying to define some guiding principles, for example:

• Focus on building loops initially, but keep the idea of operations in mind as I may want a point-to-point railroad in the future. Plan for future additions of industries as I'm building.
• I want to be able to run at least two trains simultaneously on separate loops, a large outer loop main line with wide curves and even grade that will accommodate most any train (even steam, if I ever get into that), and one or more inner loops with tight curves and variable grades
• Plan for battery operation only, but do include a small powered loop for use with my PCC or other track powered vehicles
• Avoid tunnels except when needed, and keep them short. Use more structures and plants to hide trains instead. Keep in mind that trains should briefly disappear, not briefly appear.
• Keep turnouts accessible—put them up front whenever possible, and avoid any switches or anything else that could cause conflict along the back fence
• Continue to target 1:29 but be open to variable scale. Build what looks right for a given location, and don’t overthink it. Remember the ten foot rule and don't worry about details that are distant or out of sight.

With these ideas and others in mind I want to start sketching the layout. And to do that I need to start with a good base map. I don't have any drafting or mapping software so this was done the old fashioned way with graph paper and a measuring tape. Below are some pictures of that process and some photos of the yard this week.

Initial measurements in the southeast corner of the yard (south is up). The railroad will start in the area surrounding the train shed and over time may branch out to the west and other areas around the back yard.

Initial scale drawing based on measurements showing the fences, retaining walls and the shed.

Next I added in the things I need to work around—the existing trees and the irrigation system outlets. Three of the trees (1, 2 and 4) are mature and are staying in place; at ground level they are just trunks so there is still lots of room for the railroad. Number 3 is some type of deciduous shrub which I will likely take out.

My initial sketch for what might work in this area. I can guarantee this will change over time. The outer loop is in green, the inner loop is in red, and an access spur in blue will allow trains to move from the train shed down to the loops. This first draft has only five turnouts (labeled T1 through T5) that allow trains to move between tracks. All of them are within easy reach in area B. Area A will be the featured focus area as it will be the most visible part of the railroad. Area C might be a nice location for a town, but a poor location for anything operations related as it won't be easily accessible. Area D will also be a highly visible focus area. Future growth will be in area E and to the west.

A view of area A. Right now I'm thinking I might bring in 5–10 cubic yards of fill to create a hill here, and possible remove part of the retaining wall in front to allow the hill to come down to ground level. I would need to relocate two irrigation system outlets.

View of area D. What will be here in the future?

North of the train area, the snow is finally melting off my Palouse prairie restoration project and you can once again see all the plant tags. It looks like there is a drainage issue here, but I think that's just because the ground below is likely still frozen.

Some of the native plants are ready for spring to start today. This Phacelia heterophylla is already showing new growth!