It's 7:20 AM on Tuesday March 10, 2009 and I'm here in my office at school waiting to go to my 8 AM class and I'm thinking about car float design. I've come up with a basic plan for a car float based on a 328 foot deck barge that should be able to hold 15 50 foot boxcars and possibly more. 328 feet of length should be able to hold 17 in my way of thinking which is what the prototype barges held.

I had an op session Saturday the 28th. Everyone seemed to have a good time and got out to their cars safely afterwards. Today I was looking out the window and saw a kitty in the backyard. Perhaps a good thing this character wasn't prowling around on Saturday! Maybe he was the new negotiator for the union and wanted to add a couple of claws to the contract?

Cheers,

Charlie

 Here is a link to a video that Craig Martyn (owner of BLMA Models) sent to me. . . Enjoy!:

Take a look at Tim Dickinson's wonderful HO Scale Burlington Northern empire as we follow a grain train, with manned helpers, over the mountain and through numerous yards and staging tracks. 

While the video shows an overall view of the layout, it's difficult to get appreciation for the quality level of this railroad without actually seeing it in person.

Here is my idea for the first level of the next Test Phase. I'm not going to sweat this too much, this is not as much about the specific track placement as it is an overall concept. Still, it appeals to me as it stands. The yard should be sufficient from an operations standpoint to allow me to run this and get used to how to break down and make up trains.