Summit Meeting on the BC&SJ
The newly finished Summit yard (located at the highest track elevation on the BC&SJ, duh...) hosting a pair of trains trying to get past each other. Train 202 is on the main track heading east toward Pocatello. Train 111 is on one of the 3 passing tracks heading for Salem. The multiplicity of sidings at Summit isn't for switching. Instead they offer a haven for trains which need to set retainers before heading down the 2% grades on either side of this area.
Continuing from my previous post of November 20th...
2) No. 111 at the west end of summit yard. The Summit tunnel is barely visible in the distance.
3) Another shot of No. 111 as it waits impatiently for No. 202 to clear the ladder and give it a green.
4) However, No. 202 is led by a pair of SP-2 steamers (4-10-2's with three cylinders) that are in need of a drink after climbing the grades up to the summit.
5) Magically an office, store and crew hostel have appeared behind the depot at Summit (I was working on the area while I was screen grabbing)...
6) Looking past the depot to where the second SP-2 loco is now getting it's drink.
7) Flash back to No. 111 emerging from the Summit tunnel.
8) Deja vu all over again? Sort of - different lighting and closer to the tunnel. The road the train is crossing leads to the depot (going left) and further up into the mountains, and is a short cut to Oakhill (going right) if one is in an automobile and not a train. The grades and radii on that road would make a Shay or Heisler shudder.
9) Behind the depot with the office, store, and crew hostel. Track side from right to left; piles of ties, speeder shed, water tower, sand house, and depot. I expect the power for No. 202 might have used a bit of sand getting their longish train up the grades.
10) Looking down at the depot from up on the knoll across the tracks from it.
11) From west of the Summit Yard looking toward the east, the main and 3 siding tracks are visible as are the depot and the cluster of activity around it.
If you noticed discrepancies between some of the shots - differences in the placement of stuff and textures - I was continuing to work on the yard while I was doing the screen grabs...
And now to start on re-doing the Upper Roberts Creek area. Again (the previous finished scenery there was wiped out in a database malfunction). This will likely take a while.