The Layout Formerly Named PoLA

Ready for the tile contractors

   The crew lounge has been purged of all vestiges of PoLA in preparation for the tile contractors. I hope that process goes smoothly. They start tomorrow. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I plan to expand the Aquia Line, but not until after November, when we are set to host Northeast Interchange. That is an event we have been hosting in conjunction with model railroaders from northern New Jersey for the past several years.

Mock up of Port of Beaumont. I need to make sure the room lights are the same intensity and color temperature

In the meantime, I have been looking at a small HO layout for my office.  I mocked up the Port of Beaumont (PoB) layout to see how things would fit. I used some of the Ikea shelves leftover from PoLA. One constraint is the electrical fuse panel on the far left wall. I must maintain easy access to that.   This is a relatively simple layout that shouldn't take too long to build.

This plan gives me a nice place to display my HO ship models, allows me to switch my HO scale cars, in particular, the DODX cars that I produced via Alkem Scale Models. Having an HO layout also acts as a test bed for me to develop new HO products, such as my chain link fences.  Plus, I can enjoy looking at the layout when working on my computer in the office.

Since PoB will be small, it will allow me to finish it with lots of super detailing, including lights, cranes and maybe even animated road vehicles. I also plan to make the layout in easily separable sections in case I need to move it.