I did make a lot of progress on this this weekend. At least a lot of sawdust.
Chris333 and I are working on the Porter project, and I mentioned to him I'm a very tactile builder; I'm not sure exactly how things work out until I start working with actual material. Boy is that true here. As I'm translating this concept into some material, I'm getting blitzed by both the possibilities and the restrictions..... what looks good on paper or a 2D view gets rapidly complicated.
1) The vertical distances on the adapter module ("East Hickory") between Ross Run and this idea to do on a Single are really stunning. This is a tough one to design. The Ross Run 21x42 logging module was never intended to interface with Ttrak, this is a push, big time. And the logging line is up there a good 6" above rail height of a normal Ttrak module rail height. I'd stuck in a module connection track on the lowest level for no good reason, and now I'm stuck with it.
2) The design of the existing Hickory Bridge module that is intended to come off the Barge Yard curve at a 90-degree angle governs just about everything on the top edge; finding out that road trestle went right up to the bridge pier in the one photo was kind of a stunner (it was all fill in my mind). By the time I figure that all in for a transition.....well, that really binds things up but good.
3) I'm rapidly running out of room to put in a decent barge spot with a 100-foot plus barge here, in the river.... AND
4) The vertical drop between railhead height and river height already established by Hickory Bridge makes this a much tougher design to fit on a 14 5/8" width, sloping DOWN into the river edge down from the track height. The prototype was up there quite a ways though on that trestle.
5) As the Hickory Bridge was a highway/rail bridge, the road has to go somewhere on this module. That eats space too in all directions.
6) And I'm still bound and determined to make this a usable T-trak module on its own, another curse.
I can amuse myself for a bit here getting all the jumper wires in the se-track Peco turnouts and figuring out the geometry on that trestle curve, but I can already see I'm stuffing 4 pounds of concept on a 3-pound plate.
One thing for sure, a lot of stripwood is going to have to die. And this is going to take a long time to build.
