Trip Along the Line 2: Photo Tour of the M & M Sub. Upper Level

Completing the updated photo tour of the CP Rail M & M Sub., which began in the previous post on the lower level.

After entering the storage room (where it began its trip in the staging yard), our train circles the room two-and-a-half times to reach the upper level of the layout.

The other side of the 5 by 9 storage room. The room houses the staging yards and the helix--or what passes for a helix, since it isn't a circle but more of a rectangle. The grade is 1.5 percent. That's the upper staging yard on top--the final destination. (Click here to learn more about how I built the helix.)

The train passes over two drop-down gates at the doorway to the storage room. Since I am just about the only person who ever goes in there, they usually stay in the upright position. You can see the layout room through the door.

The train emerges into the layout room through a tunnel, directly above where it started its journey at the beginning of the trip.

After passing through the short wall, it passes across the entrance way. This time it's on a nod-under. (Click here to read about my philosophy and construction of the nod-under and swinging gate.)

The train heads into the town of Nance (named after my good friend Sam Nance). This is the location of an interchange with the Peace River Norther, which serves local industries and an off-the-layout paper mill. (See An Industry That Isn't There.)

Once again, you can see that the train is basically following the same route as before one level below.

Nance is a major passing point on the layout--the only place for trains to pass on the upper level. Train lengths on the M & M Sub. are 18-20 cars, plus two locomotives.

Leaving Nance, the train goes up a slight grade towards Turney (named after Canadian Model Railway editor and friend Morgan Turney). The upper level is one one foot wide.

Turney has a grain elevator and a railway museum, complete with outdoor exhibits--a feature I haven't seen modelled much on layouts. Below it is the lower level team tracks and industries at the west end of Fort Frances.

Outside of Turney the train goes through a cut and ducks under a bridge to go back into the storage room and the upper staging yard. Click here to learn how I hid the hole between the layout and storage rooms.

As our train enters the upper staging yard, the journey across the line is complete. The trip took seven minutes (non-stop). Hope you enjoyed it!