Update 9 Jan 2012

Greetings and Happy New Year.

Yesterday we got alot done on Deck 1 of the layout.  It was raining but that did not hamper us overly much.

The back wall bench-work is mostly done, we started on the left wall and have the L-girders and braces in place.  We manage to gain alot of under bench-work storage so that helped reduce the clutter some.  Moving stuff around wastes alot of time.

Back Right corner - Denver Yard and Roundhouse.  Got two Kibri roundhouse kits, they look pretty good, but will require some work to make them look up to snuff.  It will sit in the corner with a return track surrounding it.   The dark is the black-board.  This layer is right at 28", so it is designed to operate sitting.

This is the left back corner.  I had some left over birch plywood, so I used it.  Much nicer than pine.  The Smelter will sit in corner with yard going off to left side.  I'm adding background board as I go to make finding studs easier.  I'll either paint, or use some of the nice photo-murals they have, alot come in 17" high sections so it should work.

Left Wall - The smelter and yard will take up most if it.  I plan to have a switcher dedicated to Mill, maybe a 0-4-0 or similar.  Will include coaling and engine house.  Waer tank will be shared with main-line.

Next will turn the corner and handle the front wall.  Will finish left wall and mount the top.  Deck 1 will be mostly cookie cutter (solid plywood cut out where needed.  Most of outer circle is yards, Industry and Cities.  The middle peninsula is generally only 9" deep so it could go either way.

Trying black-board for Denver.  It seems to work much better as a base than any kind of foam.  Thinking about Homasote for mainline.  Since black-board is inexpensive, I may use it as base over plywood and then use Homabed Homasote as roadbed.

Getting pmped up, hopefully this week-end will see rough bench-work done for deck 1 then I can begin laying Denver Track.  Keevan recommended mounting track with spikes temporarily so I can move thing around as needed.  Good idea, so going to run with it.

Going to post revised track plan next.

Cameron