The Grand Tour of The Upstairs Train

In a nutshell, The Upstairs Train has an upper loop, a lower loop, and transition slopes between them.  There are four independent zones (or blocks) in the layout: 1. The Upper Loop around the hill (shown in purple on the track diagram below) 2. The heart of the lower Lower Loop (shown in blue) that includes the rail yard (in black) and four alternate routes (red and green) around the lower level (including the red and green lines through Union Station) 3. The Northeast Corner ("NE") around Union Station (the middle of the yellow line) 4. The Central Exchange (the Southeast "SE" Corner in blue) where four lines come together and split out to either the upper loop or the lower loop.

The red line from the Central Exchange in the Southeast Corner ascends a trestle slope past the Southwest Corner to the Upper loop.  The red line from the Upper Loop descends trestles diagonally to the east side and back to the Central Exchange. The yellow line descends a slope down the north side, past Union Station, to the Norheast Corner where it joins the red and green lines that pass through Union Station on the Lower Level.

The Upper Loop goes around the Ponderosa-studded hill, passing the MTH log loader, the #596 Water Tank, and the #769A Aircraft Beacon, passing over two #571 Truss Bridges and the #750 Trestle Bridge. A #760 Highway Flasher warns vehicles onthe gravel road of approaching trains. A log cabin basks in the shade of the twin oak trees overlooking the canyon that hosts the red line of the lower loop.

This view of the Upper Level from the south shows the red upslope on trestles along the wall, and the blue line of the Lower Level  passing under the bridge to enter the first tunnel.  The switches at the bottom are the entrance to the railyard.

The rail yard from above. The line across the top is the blue line of the lower loop that passes under the upper loop.  The little bit of a curve you see in the upper right is the south end of the upper loop.  And in the bottom right is the red line of the lower loop that has just emerged from the canyon below the upper loop, on its way back to the Central Exchange.  There is a work train parked on its siding.

Continue the Grand Tour:      the Lower Loop      the Northeast Corner       the Central Exchange

If you or your friends have some American Flyer trains and would like them to go to a nice home where they'll be loved and cared for, this is the place!  Email me: theupstairstrain@yahoo.com.  See my Wish List for the items I want most.

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