Programming track as foreground staging B
etween the fascia board and main line in White River Junction are two tracks. These were added after all the
trackage was in place and operational. The scenery was started but not complete. I re-
alized I needed more trackage to make the White River Junction scene look more like a yard. There was no room to cut in any addi- tional switches to the main line without los- ing the rural look next to the junction, so the
two tracks were added to the junction yard with no connection to anything else. This is called my foreground staging, and I place my overflow rolling stock or rip cars (rolling stock needing repairs) here.
White River Jct. is situated in a corner on the author’s layout. To give the scene more of a “yard” look without taking up too much of the layout, the author placed a pair of unconnected tracks in the front of the scene (above). With their ends hidden from view by trees, the tracks appear to be part of the layout. Rolling stock and locomo- tives can be stored here to create the appearance of a busy area (below).
To give the tracks the appearance that
they connect to the mainline, the ends were hidden behind some trees. Where the two tracks come together I laid the rails to look as if there was a switch there. Normally, an engine sits by the “frog” so there was no need to use a whole turnout at this location. No one visiting the layout has actually fig- ured out that the switch does not really exist until I point it out. I now have more rolling stock than my
layout can hold. I am planning to build an- other yard in the next room based on Bel- lows Falls, Vermont. Here, I plan to add more long staging tracks that are not con- nected to the layout to act as viewable stor- age near the rear of the yard. I hate having my rolling stock tucked away in display cas- es or cupboards when it can act as “yard fill” even if not in use on trains. When I changed the layout to DCC a few
years back this foreground staging trackage was a great location to add a programming track. Programming tracks need to be iso- lated from the layout when in programming mode. Having trackage that is not attached to the layout worked out great for program- ming. I located the programming track tog- gle switch below White River Junction on the fascia board.
RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN 45
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