5. Preparations

First order of business was to clean up the basement to get ready for some construction. This is my starting point . . .

Once cleaned, I'm left with this . . .

If you look closely, you'll see that there is a hole in the floor coming off of one of the support poles. This was cut to connect a drain line from the new laundry room I built upstairs.

However, the day following the digging, the hole was full of water, but several inches below the bottom of the basement floor. Turns out it was an underground spring just passing thru. I abandoned the idea of connecting the drain line at this point and ran it overhead instead. I filled the hole with gravel and let it set for 9 months to see if the level of the water would rise. Once I was convinced it would not be a problem, I filled it with cement. End of story.

After spending the first winter in the house, I realized that one long wall and part of another that are exposed to the elements (walkout basement) conduct quite a bit of cold. So I decided I should finish off this section of the basement with insulation and drywall. Here's the load of insulation to be installed, but first I have to do some minor wall repair and seal a few cracks to help prevent water from coming in at these points. That's all for now. Unless I run into problems, the next entry will have the insulation finished and the start of installing the furring strips to support the drywall. Adios, amigos!

4. Milestone 1 - Track Plan

Yeah! The OGM track plan is complete. Since the railroad is going to be an operational railroad, the track plan was designed with that in mind and therefore wide aisles were one of my initial requirements. The railroad is a single track mainline with passing sidings designed to handle train lengths of 15 cars and two locomotives and will be operated with the NCE DCC system. I'm hoping that the budget will allow me to replace the hard wired system with radio control.

The track floor plan is basically 23x25 feet with a 5x11 feet bump-out in the northeast corner that will showcase a mountain scene with a coal mine near the top. The operating height (0' elevation) of the mainline is about 50". One helix, part hidden and part exposed, will allow access to the mine from the mainline and the staging area beneath the west peninsula that protrudes south from the north and one helix will grant access to staging below the east helix that  protrudes north from the southeast corner. These two staging areas will represent the eastern and western most points of the layout. The era of the OGMS is modern day, however, steam locomotives operating as excursion trains will occasionally be seen crossing the layout. 

3. Acknowledgements

I want to acknowledge Bill Beranek, aka The Track Planner, as the designer of the OGMS. He graciously accepted my doubts, never criticizing, and put up with all of my questions during the design phase of the OGMS. Bill wasn't afraid to tell me what would work and what wouldn't when I said I want 'this' in my track plan. Thank you Bill for your expertise and the final design of the OGMS. I am 100% satisfied with your product. If you ever need a reference, don't hesitate to use me. I also want to thank the members of the Mid-Mo Mavericks lunch group for pushing me to 'get started'.