Time has a habit of healing old wounds and dulling bad memories, but we never quite forgot our experience with that first inside corner. Time can also bring new ideas and new construction techniques so I guess it was just natural for us to start discussing inside corners again. By this time, Carl Lawson and David Coates had both built lightweight outside corners based on a three foot square. This meant that an inside corner would have to be based on a five foot square to match their three foot corners.  What we failed to consider at the beginning of this project was the four inch clearance that we had built, by this time, into the center of our Compressed Layout configuration. After a false start and a lot of head scratching, we finally realized the inside corner had to be based on a four foot, eight inch square in order to work in our layout.   During our discussions, I happened to recall an article in a previous N-TRAK Newsletter (Jan./Feb. 1991) that showed a large radius corner that was constructed in two pieces. This solved any possible transportation problem so we were off and running! Our first “L” shaped layout was shown at the October 1994 AMRE show.

This particular show also brought another stroke of good luck to our club. Ever since the 1993 Temple Show, we had been renting a U-Haul trailer to transport modules to and from shows. It was an expense, but we felt the added convenience was worth it. David Doege approached us during the AMRE show with the idea that we could use a trailer of his that was just sitting and gathering dust. It was to be an extended loan and we would take care of the trailer as if it was our own. We quickly agreed to accept his offer.

The new “L” shaped configuration was like a shot in the arm for us. It was something different and it stirred the imagination.  It also caused me to start thinking about constructing a second inside corner, but my big question was how and when. About three or four months earlier, I had agreed to head up a wiring crew to wire up the SAMRA layout at Naco-Perrin and that was taking up much of my time. However, that is another story. Let’s just say it was almost a year before I was able to complete the second inside corner.

While I was busy wiring up an HO layout, some of the other SANTRAK members were busy building NTRAK modules. It was during this period that Marshall built the two mountain division reversing loop modules and Bill Carpenter built the automatic reversing circuit to control them. Meanwhile, two relatively new members, but experienced modelers, Orphie Neathery and Norm Phillips, were working hard at turning out modules like their lives depended on them. Their modules also brought a new level of quality and detail into the club which has been an inspiration to all of us.

By October 1995 we were ready to display some of our new modules at the AMRE show. These included  the automated mountain division, three of Orphie’s four foot modules and my second inside corner. This was our first “U” shaped layout.  Things seemed to work out very well, so we began to plan for a REALLY BIG layout for the upcoming SAMRA show in February 1996. However we failed to consult with Mother Nature.

February 1996 will always be remembered as The Year of the Big Ice Storm! As usual, we met at Westlakes on Thursday evening to fold up modules and load them into the trailer. We knew that bad weather was predicted along with possible icing conditions, but we didn’t realize just how fast the system was moving in. By 7:00 p.m, when a couple of people failed to show up with their promised vehicles, we quickly revised our possible layout plans, loaded the trailer and a couple of vehicles and prepared to leave Westlakes about 8:15 p.m.