a few updates

 

I haven't been posting much as its the busy season at work, its hunting season, and there is still a ton of work to do to get the house ready for the winter.  I have been poking along on the layout when I have time.  It's mostly been wiring, which does not make for good pictures. 

 

The track wiring is all in.  The bus is strung and all feeders are dropped.

 

 

I have even started hanging some facia.

 

 

And a few shots of the bridge areas where I started applying some basic scenery.

 



Track

 

It's been awhile since I last updated this blog.  Real life, getting ready for cold weather, the start of winter R/C racing leagues, and my birthday have gotten in the way of posting, but have not stopped progress totally.

 

 

90% of the track is down now.  Only a few sidings are left to be glued down.  Mostly because I am out of the premade grade pieces that I use to transition from the higher roadbed of the main down to the sidings.  It is time to start soldering rail joiners and feeders, a task I dread because of the pain of reaching and bending.

 

The yard

The mill



I have gotten a few pieces of the backdrop painted and up.  It's 1/8 tempered hardboard.

 

 





Bridge #2

 

I put down the basic scenery around bridge #2 today along with laying a bit more track.

 



More track and some river work

 

Laid a bit more track today.  It looks ugly because its from the old layout and I didn't clean out all of the old ballast, but it works just fine.

 

One of my bridge crossings is very shallow so I figured that it would be easier to lay down the basic scenery under it before dropping in the bridge.

 

And a bit more progress on another creek scene.







Roadbed and track

 

The mainline roadbed is all down now and the transitions down for the sidings is coming along well.  There is even some track glued down in a few places.

 

 

As the glue dries, I have been working on carving out and shaping the contours for the water crossings.

 



Roadbed

 

Did some test fitting of track today.  Then started putting down the roadbed for the main.

 



Track plan

 

This is the basic track plan that I will be building.  I have gone with a narrower shelf than I had originally planned to allow the center of the room to remain open for flying micro helicopters and racing mini R/C cars this winter.  This plan still gives me plenty of switching but, still leaves the rest of the room open for me to enjoy my other hobbies during the cold weather.