ECHOES member Tom Klimoski, who has been a major contributor to Lance Mindheim's R&D for the Downtown Spur layout built the Hawksridge Division proto-freelance layout back in 2000. He had to discontinue and dismantle the layout in 2011 sadly when he moved out of South Florida, but do not despair; Tom's Georgia Northeastern layout is a masterpiece and truly masterclass material for industrial operations. I strongly recommend you check out his channel. On top of all this, three of the modules, which are designed to be compatible with ECHOES layouts, have been saved for use on club displays going forward.
Up to five sections on the layout were removable by design as a condition of having the layout in a single car garage. If you look at the visuals on the link, and have seen the layout, you may recognize them off the bat. Two of the modules (Amtrak Station/KFC/Heritage Furniture) are in club standard 4'x2', and have been the thumbnails and backdrops for many shots I've posted from the layout. The third piece (Intermodal Yard/United Petroleum) is a nice 8'x2' train yard with many hours of operation guaranteed on it. This module, which is not exactly to standard, hooks up to Rick Diaz's Tropicana modules via an interesting array of turnouts and diamonds engineered to respect the polarity of the DCC system. But if you go to ECHOES running sessions of late, you will only see the two 4'x2' modules -- what happened to the intermodal?
The 8'x2' intermodal yard module presents more of a challenge to transport (and I can attest to this, but one moment on that ;)) and is usually reserved for the creme-de-la-creme displays. It also sticks out which might present a challenge when designing the layouts on which to use it. The need for trains to cross three times coming in and going out, as well as the angle of attack from the Tropicana modules has become a little challenging in recent operating sessions, maintenance-wise. The curve radius is something on the order of 18 or 22" as well (nothing wrong with this, though clubs typically like more forgiving radii since different members bring all sorts of rolling stock). Besides, on the club's end, a new intermodal ramp and LPG facility are planned that will update on this; unfortunately rendering this module surplus for the club.
But, with my Commerce Park layout under construction, it was seen as an opportunity to inherit this module.
On March 12, 2022, I took home the monstrous 8'x2' section, which had a little bit of wear from transport, to some upset parents who were wondering what would be done with this. It was on its side for four months until four 2x4s were added and it went close to where it will sit in conjunction with the newly constructed at-home layout.
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| XTrackCAD - enhanced trackplan with existing CPK layout (top/left) extended to include Quality Container and newly inherited ECHOES module.Two of the yard tracks may be stub ended and something will be figured out. |
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| Tom Klimoski's Hawksridge Division yard module with IM ramp off-right and fuel farm up top. Note the diamond on the top, which will be removed. |
Using my old friend XTrackCAD I got lazy putting this section in, but it is clear where it's going. Conveniently, a work table with airbrushing booth is underneath it. This will probably be the operations center when the layout is complete.
Now, this is where the premise of this post sinks in. This addition was truly fate, destiny, whatever you call it...
The sequence of the Commerce Park layout (we go clockwise on the map) is that the absolute current south end of the FEC (aside from the port lead) is the Airport Loop, which absorbs into Quality Container Terminal. Then it traverses the array of industries (Banner Supply is very much squeezed down sadly) and we hit the mainline and pocket track and the current south end of the yard. The customers shown on the top right of the map were fillers at the time, and may be subject to change, but an online poll I've been conducting tends to line up for the most part with two of the three customers. Obviously in the real world, they don't exist between the Hialeah Yard and Commerce Park, but to add value to the layout, I will put something in. The mainline and pocket feed into the Old Yard which can be arguably represented in the five track yard on Tom's module.
Hialeah Yard has two autoramps and a giant intermodal ramp as well. The intermodal ramp on the module would be on the correct side, the east side, and for my purposes I choose to make it an auto facility primarily due to Quality covering intermodal operations. This does not limit from the facility being used as a pig ramp. Even so, reconfiguring the layout and simplifying turnouts may even allow this space to expand, but I digress and this is something to brainstorm later.
What about United Petroleum? Well, on the north end, FEC has a Liquid Natural Gas plant that feeds the locomotives and tender part of the juice needed to make the round trips to Bowden Yard. The scenery is completely detachable and I can reconfigure to my liking to module a downsized version of the LNG plant. This might irk a few modelers, especially those telling me ("make it an oil plant! Make it Amerigas/Sungas! Make it a freight car customer!") but it would be interesting to go the route of making this more for locomotives than freight cars -- there's already enough to justify three, or even four yard jobs and hours of operation on the layout as it is.
Plus, this ironic realization which dawned on me. FEC IRL has trains "push it to the limit" which is the Mainline-Pocket switch (top of the layout). If I build a 20 car freight train starting from the yard for free-running (clockwise, with the head end at the top of the yard, train stretching counterclockwise), it will likely hit the "limit" just like the real thing. How cool is that?
Clearly, this installation is win-win, the club is able to move forward and go with its scheme for operating sessions going forward, and this section is nothing short of a natural fit with this Hialeah area FEC layout I am doing. The lesson here is that no matter how things get pre-planned, sometimes really excellent moves come so spontaneously and work out in ways greater than can be thought of. A lot of matchmaking and great deals/exchanges happen this way as well, and it goes more than just in the scope of a model train layout.
To leave you all with something more, some of the work to align the section with the existing layout infrastructure has started. Atlas C83 track is going in with some sprinkles of Micro Engineering especially on the curves. The grade crossing has wood crossties like FEC prototypes and will receive Walthers surfaces and Smooth-It on the approaches.
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