Nothing says Reading as do those cream and brown trackside buildings. Anxious to see your modeling.

Cool! Neat to finally see an overall shot of Rob's North Penn branch. I drove back where Adams fuels was, but could find no apparent remains. You've got a real nice proto re-creation going there. Looks like you'll be able to run some decent sized trains on that rig.

Just for this "remote fan's" clarification, does Rob's photo show a model of "Temple Hill" trackage that is no longer in place? I guess part of it is now the Muhlenberg Rail-Trail.

It is possible to trace much of the Temple Hill right-of-way from Google Earth images as well as from USGS maps. It is nice to see it brought to life in this model.

Correct. This is planned to resemble portions of the Temple Hill segment of the East Penn Branch which is now the Muhlenberg Trail. At this point, continued plans do include continuing the trackage to at least Macungie in a double deck configuration, as long as my residence township doesn't expedite my removal due to a property zoning change. There is some planned atrocities including the addition of a single track tunnel between Lyons and Topton. This will "hide" a helix, cause some operational havoc to a double track mainline operation and give me an excuse to model Mahanoy Tunnel's fan houses and a blasted rock portal - because I want to. Although I am kicking around some other ideas, the limited Temple Hill section with a continuous run connection, will keep me occupied until Exeter Twp. completes their political antics.
Rob
Nothing like fitting 6 miles of suburban railroad into less than 50 feet. That is extreme selective compression.

Rob wrote:

1. Mark I sent you a P.M. regarding your question rather than continue my rant here.....

2. For the sake of debate, attached (hopefully)is a track sketch with 4 options. This describes the turn around at the end of the room and covers the area known as Hyde Park basically from the Kutztown Road crossing to a bit beyond Spring Valley Rd. for those familiar with the area.
a. A tri-cornered option with three 32" radius, with straight in between. Pro - more gradual curve. Con - shorter straight areas.
b. A tri-cornered with a 30" radius and straights. Pro - more straight area for switches. Con - slightly tighter radius.
c. Two 32" curves leading into a single straight track Pro - long straight center. Con - looks like two corners(NASCAR Left) and a single straight
d. A single sweeping 46" radius Pro - BIG radius Con - curved switches (No I don't appreciate hand laying track) Another thing never settled logically in my mind was pre curve tangents - so probably not part of the picture here.
Which way would you go. I know where I am leaning... So just to kick it around.