Inglenook Lake: Toying with fire

Designing Inglenook Lake has really captured my imagination. I identified a few issues with the layout in the previous post, and I've started to wrestle with them. 

Over on the right in the above photo I've made two updates. The rightmost track piece has been replaced with a 12" straight so it'll fit the loco I plan to use on the layout and a 40' box car with a little wiggle room. This change will allow the Inglenook switching game to be played. The second was to replace the Atlas switch with one from the Peco Setrack range. The straight portion of the Peco switch is around 6cm shorter than the Atlas, so I can recover some length on the long straight section at the back to try and get the total length of this layout into 4'. I may replace the switch on the left side with a Peco too to get another 6cm back.

Speaking of the left side, I've added a 9" straight to the switch so the proverbial 40' boxcar can be parked there. 

A fire lookout tower mockup built from Peter-Austin girders.

I've been thinking about what sort of buildings might be located on the layout. After some diddling around I think I've settled on a forest fire lookout tower that also performs some air traffic control functions.

Prototype inspiration: 30m tall Tower Hill Lookout in Parry Sound, Ontario.
Image Source: Curiocity.
Built in the late 1920s as a fire observation tower.

After surfing the internet a bit it seemed the old lookout tower in Parry Sound had the right look: tall, solid looking with its square cross section, but still looking scary with its spindly framework. 

I sized the tower to 'tower' over the airplanes so they aren't the largest objects on the layout.

Well, of course, after looking at the Parry Sound tower, the Peter-Austin construction toy came to mind, so I decided to pull it out and build a mock-up.

As I built it I started to think that even though it's a toy, suitably painted, and with some selected details added, it would make a nice homage to the Peter-Austin construction sets. Some might consider that defacing a classic toy, and others might see it as a crude addition to a layout, but to me it seems right to include this Peter-Austin reference. Also, I think it's interesting to use a play set that was once meant to build bridges and roads to now use it to fight forest fires. A new role for an old toy! Everything old is new again :-)

Toronto, Canada 1935 in Colour

An astonishing video of streetcars in Toronto in 1935. My father would have been 9 at the time.

Tree armature done

Left: Finished armature | Right: Leftover tree from Centennial Experimental Farm Layout.

I recently completed the armature for the first community garden tree. I had planned to model two rather large trees that are in the garden, but after test placing the finished armature of the first one I thought two such large trees would create too much shade on the plots, so I'm just going to model one, which is my favourite of the two. That second completed tree shading the picnic table is one I had leftover from the Centennial Experimental Farm layout. Right now the layout looks a little lopsided with two trees on one end and nothing on the other. I think balance will be restored when I add the little structure that will cover the loco at its charging station along with some tall shrubs. Stay tuned!

Inglenook Lake: Planning piece by piece

Large white arc on right is an 8" radius curve: minimum for the RDC-M.
Small white arc on left is a 3" radius cure: minimum for my HO-9 locos.

I rummaged through my track spares and salvage box looking for pieces to sketch out the Inglenook Lake track plan with track. It turned out I had no more right-hand switches, but I did have suitable left-hand ones, so I changed the handedness of the plan. It also turned out the dual gauge crossing John made for me was a 30 degree one, not a 90 as I thought. So with these two changes I went ahead and made a mockup taking into account these new twists.

Overall I thought the layout became more interesting with these somewhat random changes. I liked how the non-90 degree crossing forced a diagonal into the design and gave it some life. However, the approach to the switch on the right needs to be longer as it must accommodate a loco and a coupled car for the Inglenook game to be playable. Also, the narrow gauge curve to the siding on the left doesn't need to be so tight and could be more sweeping, to give the plan a more flowing look and create a little more space for a building or trees. 

I'm going to put the coffee on and then head down to the workshop to pick some new track pieces for the mockup. I'll leave you with AWB to set the mood:

Up 'round Inglenook Lake, Ontario

Narrow gauge track is marked with a circled N
A man-made causeway supports the track between the docks.

In between Twin Otter construction tasks my mind drifted to possible plans for a layout where trains pick up and drop off people and cargo to floatplanes in a remote wilderness area of Ontario.

The RDC-M would be small enough to provide direct rail-to-plane service!

The standard gauge track would have a plan similar to the classic Inglenook to provide some play value (if you were wondering, there is no town called Inglenook in Ontario, or lake named Inglenook Lake). Inclusion of a parallel narrow gauge line was inspired by the old Huntsville and Lake of Bays Transportation Company. On this layout the narrow gauge line takes passengers and goods back and forth to resorts and lodges in the forest.

The build table is also a handy sketch pad :-)

Will this layout ever see the light of day? Who knows. It's fun to think about though.