Round and round...

Well, after spending all weekend finishing off the staging yard, I started on the west loop. I'm figuring this will be a 1 turn helix to climb up to the upper level. I'm giving serious thought to installing the upper section first, then linking the helix up to it. I'm still giving thought to the backdrop as well. Right now the thought is 1x2's off the back and either plastic or masonite for the backdrop.

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Staging done!

With a quiet weekend and no obligations, I got to finish my staging yard this afternoon. Now to take a moment and wire it up. Maybe I'll get a train running this week....

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Getting there...

Sub roadbed in.. got some of the cork and track down as well. I'm thinking of a helix on the end to get back to the upper level.

Hopefully, I'll have it up and running by the weekend.

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Last of the benchwork... For now..

Finally got the last of my benchwork up and installed. Moved the paintbooth to its new home, so now I can get down to finishing the line.

Also, I finished installing the east end of the staging yard. Blue Points are being used for switch control and power routing...

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More benchwork...

More west side benchwork went up today. My layout room is 11' 7" wide. This piece fit managed to fit right in. Now to just finish cleaning up where the paint booth is to move and I'm ready to install the last section.

BTW, yes, that's a wig-wag signal. It's from the Pacific Electric crossing of Alameda street in Los Angeles. One of my projects is to get it cleaned up, repainted and rewired so it can be lit.

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East end staging...

Well, the east end ladder is in for staging. Thanks to my buddy Doug for the loan of his compressor, I can get a lot of benchwork done alot quicker..

Now to start installing yard tracks..

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Run at the SP Cascade Sub...

Got to spend Saturday running at Jeff A's. Nothing to get you back into modeling than running on a great layout. Track is ME code 55 and 40 with hand built switches...

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Bridge and tie gang....

So after coming home and getting to bed late, I wound waking up 3 hours later. Since I wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep, I figured I'd get the bridge in.

Now that it's in, I'll start laying track into the staging yard.

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A little bridge...

So, I decided that the long uphill side of the new layout needed something to break it up. I'm going to have fairly mountainious scenery on this side, so I needed to add a bridge to cross the creek. Lucky for me, I happen to have a Central Valley Product bridge I built a few months back looking for a home.

A little cutting with a hand saw and now we have a gap...

Some scrap wood and the footings are in place for the bridge piers.

Now to get busy on the piers...

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New expansion!!!

Yes!! I added an expansion to the bench work to bring the track out. The finished plan will be a loop with a staging yard on the lower level and a town with an interchange on the upper level.

This is a test to see if a second level will work, which it would. It would also support the lighting for the lower level.

Here's a test of the min radius for the layout. I went with a 16'' for the mainline. It works just fine for the trains I want to run...

This is a test of a 25 car train with three engines.

Last shot is the cork being layed down. I'll be installing the track tomorrow when I get home.

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