Fuel & sanding facility

Trackwork continues on the P≤ top photo shows the turnout that will lead to a coal-loading siding; bottom photo is of the turnouts at the fuel and sanding facility at the entrance to the yard at Paducah. The middle turnout that appears to direct the track off the benchwork will lead around to a large yard on a 16-foot peninsula; the turnout coming out of the curve leads into the fuel and sanding island; the turnout at the bottom of the photo comes back into the mainline.

Back In Business

After nearly three months hiatus, I'm back in business ... sort of. Getting back to laying track for the Paducah & Lake Erie, I quickly ran out of rail joiners. No problem, right? Wrong! A quick visit to my favorite hobby shop found them out of the preferred -- Atlas Code 100 Rail Joiners -- and the explanation that they had been back-ordered the last three times the hobby shop owner had requested them and that they were "on a container ship somewhere between here and China." Why didn't I try the Peco brand rail joiners he suggested, adding "They fit a lot tighter than the Atlas brand, you'll probably need a set of needle-nose pliers to install them." I bought a couple of packages, brought them home and immediately tried to use them. Forty-five (45) minutes later, I still had not joined the first piece of track. Gave up. Went to another hobby shop. They, too, were out of the Atlas brand. Last week, on a completely unrelated trip to a small (20,000 pop.) Kansas community, found a hobby shop that had two (countem' 2) packages and immediately snapped them up. NOW, I'm back to laying track, and anyone wanting three packages of Peco Code 100 track joiners can have them by paying the postage. Photos of continued track laying to follow in the next couple of days.