Further to coming at it from another direction, I finally got the benchwork/shelf completed for the South Main mine headframe area and figured I should mock up what the headframe might look like.  Using my favourite apple juice tetrapacks as the Ore and waste bin area and the container from a fine single malt scotch along with some diced tomato cans for the headframe I came up with the mock up in the pictures below.  Some extra foam chunks were used to rough in the steel lattice framing footprint on the headframe. 

I'm still not ready to cover the staging yard lead up as it still needs tweaking.  My previous changes at Cranberry Portage opened up the possibility of going counterclockwise and building out the South Main mine area.  I lost some "storage shelf" area to the layout but it was a worthwhile sacrifice. 

Something has been bothering me about the Cranberry Portage siding and interchange track.  My original trackplan had a crossover switch about 1/2 way down the siding, with the idea that if a passenger train was there a second train could still access the siding.  However in reality my standard sized passenger train (2 FP9A, 1 SGU, baggage car, 2 coaches and 2 sleepers) was too long to fit in the siding and leave the cross over unblocked.  

My 3 and 6 year olds thought my scenery needed some work so they went to work. Not sure if the proto police will allow this but looks good for now.

As I proceed with building the Hudson Bay Railway Flin Flon Subdivision I have been formulating a rough operating scheme for the layout, essentially what to run on the layout to give it a purpose.  Running trains “just because” is fine but I am getting more involved with local layouts that are operations based and I find that aspect of the hobby very interesting. 

Thanks to a friend (Mr.

As construction has progressed on the Flin Flon Subdivision work recently has focused on getting the lower staging (northern destinations) up and running prior to starting work on the Flin Flon smelter area which will be immediately above the lower staging.  Taking a break from the staging work, I decided to give the “switch to nowhere” at Flin Flon Junction a destination.  

Sing it to the tune of "It's starting to look a lot like Christmas".  It has been a while since my last update so I thought a quick update was in order.  Some progress has been made on lower staging but nothing blog worthy.  Too many other things like work, home and family going on to focus much on track work.