Projects on the Juniata Division

I figured it's about time I start operating my layout like a real railroad. There's a problem with the original trackplan, though. No staging!

Well, my layout is designed with one key requirement: it must be portable. Ergo, it must be lightweight. So, I decided a removable staging yard would be doable. A logical place would be to run it off one of the front sidings. Since one was already serving as a DCC programming track, I used the other one.

	Benchwork is simple. It's 5' long. The "deck" is a 1x6 with 1x2 braces on the bottom (like an inverted U). The side walls are black foam-core board to prevent trains from departing the yard in a vertical motion toward the floor.
	There are 3 tracks. Each has its own on/off toggle switch (no sense in frying DCC decoders when a train's not in use) and a re-railer section (just in case!). The turnouts and track are all Atlas Code 80 (departing from my usual procedure of using Peco turnouts - since this was to be in an unscenicked yard I decided I didn't mind the Atlas switch machines). Roadbed is Woodland Scenics Trackbed. The longest yard track holds even my longest coal drag, and the other two will handle a full passenger train. Isn't N scale great?
	Simple L-brackets mount the lightweight yard to the fascia of the Juniata Division.
	The other end is supported by a 1x3 leg mounted on a door hinge. There is a pad and a block on the other side to allow the leg to cantilever outward at the right angle to (almost) perfectly match the height of the rest of the layout.

Now that I have a staging yard, the next step is to come up with an operating plan. Check back soon!