Most of the gurus of our hobby advise that one should allow plenty of room for staging area(s). In its latest iteration of Philip's Creek, I thought I heeded that advice. The two staging areas, representing locations north of Muswellbrook and south of Singleton, are much larger than their predecessors and my operating schedule has been set up to ensure some items of rolling stock are parked at various locations around the layout.
And yet, gradually over the past few years, the staging areas have become more congested. Of course, I only have myself to blame as I have succumbed to temptation when appropriate new items of rolling stock have come to market. I am not one to pack unused items into storage containers so I needed to find a solution to this dilemma.
Increasing the length of the staging areas is not possible as there is no opportunity for expansion in the garage. Therefore, I returned to a solution I had used in a previous iteration of Philip's Creek, a mezzanine level for each staging area.
The construction of both was fairly simple, a sheet of ply with a timber frame. The upper level mezzanine, Muswellbrook, was cantilevered using two large angle brackets. The lower level, Singleton, is supported by smaller angle brackets and hangers from the underside of the upper deck.
Work has started with the removal of the existing scenery and track. A new sheet of styrofoam has been laid in anticipation of the new scene to be created. Part of the new work would take away a small portion the lower staging area. Of itself, the loss of this space is not significant, but when combined with the present overcrowding and my potential to purchase extra rolling stock, it makes the need for extra space more imperative.
As yet, no track has been fixed to the mezzanine storage areas; just some loose pieces have been placed in these areas until the reconstruction has been completed. Access to the lower staging is a bit challenging but hopefully, operations will improve with train movements being more focused on realism rather than the need to create space in a staging area.
So it's on with the reconstruction of the Mount Windeatt module. But then again, Joe at Casula Hobbies have just released an impressive new range of CX carriages!
