un little hang-out with Kyle S today at the club – he invited me in for a test-running/conceptional-thinking of his new Sarntalbahn line, a layout constructed largely of T-Trak (and kinda T-Trak) modules.

So the way it is organized – the larger station, Sarntalbahn, is on one side, and on the other, Wilnau. Sarntalbahn is a larger rail yard, all turnouts manual (presumably they have the personnel for that) whereas Wilnau is a line-station, a small passenger building with a couple of light industries. And Wilnau is going to be CTC controlled (Kyle had a working interlocking/CTC board for it which was really cool). These two towns are connected by half-loops of single track. So, kinda like Tuscarora (which Kyle mentioned as inspiration) – one curved side will be “staging” or whatever, where trains go to become other trains (Westly/Easton, right?). The other will be part of the line (trying to get him to put in a level crossing there, to force the toot-toots.

As Kyle mentioned on Discord, I’m just happy to not have to dispatch (too much) today.

So, all sorts of startup problems today but I had a kindle with a book to hang out and wait. I’ve been to a number of sessions (including some of my home sessions) that get cancelled at the last minute (yeah, “Hey, sorry, guys. Take some cookies. We’ll try again next month.”). Shit happens. Kyle finally found a possibly defective cable and we finally got some trains running. We did some easy drilling, me running a mineral train one way, Kyle passengers the other. This gave me a chance to play with the interlocking. I also set out cars here and there (using my amazing “mental waybill” system) to break the train down to local deliveries and use a local switch engine to put it all back together again.

While we ran, we discussed possible ideas. Maybe a live fast clock rather than a flipper. Also, Kyle has learned the what-works, what-didn’t from Tusk Hill and will be making the switching a bit easier. As for me, I’m curious about how the Swiss (in 1970) dispatched their trains – got a feeler out for information on this.

But really, it was just good casual fun, debugging a layout and seeing the future forming before my eyes. I remember when Tusk was nothing more than flat plywood with a river cut into it and look at it now, all done. So I’m  sure Kyle will have this project rolling along soon enough. You’d all better get in at the beginning – if it’s half as fun as we think it might be, the seats will fill up quickly.

Looking forward to it.

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All Photos & Layout & Rolling Stock: Kyle S

The crock rolls into the Sarntalbahn siding, clearing an approaching passenger train.