Well, here we are on March 2nd and the party is over. Got 3 of my 5 goals pretty much done. Not as good as I had hoped but pleased with the progress I made. Had fun and enjoyed the company. Hope you all had a good time too! Until next winter.
Yes, we have reached the end of another winter layout party. Over the past couple of days I pushed through and actually completed the one general goal I had this year which was to get the main line opened up again with the new extension. With the M/E code 55 to Kato Unitrack adapters in place at the ends of the new extension I built up a temporary sub road bed from scraps. Radius of this turn back is the same as it was the last time - 11 inches. The PSX-AR was mounted under one of the temporary sub road bed sections and the DCC bus was extended under the new bench work to it. Two feeder were run from the Kato Unitrack to the output of the PSX-AR. Everything worked right the first time which was great. Here is an overall view showing most of the area I have been working on this winter. Still quite a bit of foreground scenery to do with the largest projects being the steel viaduct and the river. There is also still some track painting and ballasting to do in the new section. I have been running various trains looking for any track problems before I commit to that and so far so good. I have again really enjoyed participating in the layout party and plan to be back again next year hopefully with the layout a little further along. But for now it's getting the taxes done, spring yard work etc, etc. Everyone stay healthy and see you next winter.
Got a lot done even with life's interruptions. So should have some more progress by next layout party maybe even a golden spike ceremony. Only time will tell. Chowda y'all
Early last week, I did some fine tuning on the ballasted track into the helix and installed the permanent fascia on the upper loops of the helix. Helix fascia installed by new (2nd loop) exit by ppuinn posted Mar 3, 2020 at 5:57 PM Helix fascia and upper deck fascia across the front of the helix by ppuinn posted Mar 3, 2020 at 5:57 PM Later last week, I installed the fascia boards on the upper and lower decks. New Fascia installed by ppuinn posted Mar 3, 2020 at 5:57 PM Today, my train buddies and I got the vinyl letter block names and the orange Mile Posts and Switch ID labels applied to the upper deck, and began to install the tree flats across the back of the lower deck. These pics also show one possible track and building configuration we tried out for the PC Terre Haute Yard on the front half of the lower shelf, and the (probable) track positioning for the BN Galesburg Arrival Departure tracks and BN Decker Loads out/Empties in tracks (essentially, Staging tracks) at the back of the lower deck. Vinyl Block names up, orange Mile posts and Switch ID Lables installed on new fascia board.on upper deck by ppuinn posted Mar 3, 2020 at 5:57 PM Testing building and track configurations by ppuinn posted Mar 3, 2020 at 5:57 PM tree flats in the background, testing possible building and track configurations. by ppuinn posted Mar 3, 2020 at 5:57 PM Tesing track and building configurations by ppuinn posted Mar 3, 2020 at 5:57 PM
Here is my latest work from the last couple of weeks. This is most of the benchwork that occupies one end of the yard, yard lead, industrial area and helix that will go under it to take trains down below to the staging yard, which is at the level of the benchwork to the right. This is an overall view of the layout benchwork as of the present. The weekend cometh for more progress hopefully.
