Decommissioning the original Thoroughfare Gap Railroad

I started building the original Thoroughfare Gap Railroad in 2008. It was a traditional tabletop layout, and the first I truly built myself. The track layout was inspired by Ron Hatch's Fulton County Narrow Gauge layout (HOn3) but had to be adapted for the HO scale. 

The times of this layout were really special. I experimented with different scenery techniques and found many things that worked and many that didn't. The biggest drawback I found in the end was the steep grades, which added plenty of scenic drama but limited the size of the trains I could run. When I expanded the layout, I enjoyed 'unfolding' the track plan and stretching it out along narrow modules with more scenery and less trackage. 

In many ways, I said 'goodbye' to this layout when we moved it from Gore to Timaru. I knew its days were numbered and it had served its purpose. I had a two-year reprieve while it served as the temporary terminus for the new modular layout. Even so, it was hard to let go of. I decided to salvage what I could of the bridges, all the points/switches and anything that could be removed easily. The rest was loaded on a trailer and taken to the local refuse station. Decommissioning a layout comes with a multitude of different feelings, sadness, regret, guilt, excitement and hope. Decision-making in the midst of this can be hard and I changed my position on things many times before I actually started pulling it apart. 

I'm sure if you've ever decommissioned a layout of your own or a family member's you may have encountered something similar. 

Looking bare again without buildings and people. 

I salvaged the bridges and wood structures. Perhaps I'll use part of them in the future. 

The remnant of the layout sitting at the bottom of the local refuse transfer station 

Moving the modules

So last year our time in Timaru came to an end. This is no surprise as it was only ever for the two years of my ministry training. The last few months saw the layout face the test it was designed for: dismantling, transporting and reestablishing in our new home in Christchurch (more about that another time). 

The dismantling part was easy. The lighting was unplugged, and the modules were uncoupled by removing the two bolts that connected each module together, which also undid the electrical connection between them. The temporary legs are also unbolted. They will be replaced with more substantial wooden legs.

The figures on the layout are glued in place with Mod Podge but the buildings were removed and packed in boxes. 

Each module was pleasantly light and easily manoeuvred by two people. I cut some plywood to cover the open sides. These cut pieces will get turned into the framing for new modules.

The original piece of the layout, which I built in Gore, was sadly decommissioned. It seems fitting to post about this separately later. 

The ravine module was the heaviest (unsurprisingly). Even so, two people could move without much effort.

The buildings came off, and were packed away separately, but the trees
and many of the figured stayed glued in place for the journey.

Ready for boxing...

Three of the modules are all encased in plywood. This made them very easy to transport.