After fixing my problem with getting my locos up a 2% + grade (it was never consistent for the entire run) I then saw another aspect of my original plan that I never really loved. At that point I had my loco run up hill about 4 inches over the course of 8-10 feet or so but coming back down hill was done inside another tunnel on the opposite end of the layout in about 3 feet. Needless to say it was a steep hill downward though a few tests showed that locos would not fly off the track or even move that much faster so it was doable but I didn't love it.

In addition to that, my DC elec line ran through the same mountain then back out again in the opposite direction which ooked ok but I lamented the fact that it didn't have quite as much travel over the layout as the steam/diesel line. 

This photo shows the mountain in the back where the steam/diesel trains ran (from right to left) into the tunnel then quickly downhill and behind the rail yard. You can also see the two lower tunnels where the elec line ran in the mtn then back out again.

Then a simple thing changed everything. It's hard to see in the photo above but behind the rail yard on the floor is a stack of boat cushions my wife and I have on our sailboat. I store them in the basement over the winter. Well I found a new place to store them which gave me and additional 22" of space behind that side of the table. So what does a model railroader do when given more space in the train room? You build more bench work and expand your layout, that's what you do.

At first I thought I would use the extra space to run the steam/diesel line downhill more gradually and hook up to the outer rack to the left of the rail yard in the last photo but then it hit me (no, not the wooden beam on the ceiling. I have left many scalp cells on that thing, believe me). I decide to create a reversing loop on the new table so the trains could run back down the same hill they came up. I also added a reversing loop behind the rail yard to the left essentially turning this line into one large dog bone. This solved my steep grade down problem but also doubled the size of my layout since now the locos would run in both directions instead of jus a one way loop.

This is a crude drawing showing the 5 separate sections which all come apart and should be able to fit out my basement door if we ever move. Note that this drawing only shows the steam/diesel line (I will do a similar one for the catenary line in a later post). Also note that it shows the two reversing loops kinda of separated from each other. The upper loop is actually directly over the lower one as you can see in the second photo.

I am using reverse loop controllers from Azatrax that are also hooked up to the turnouts in them with infrared sensors to automatically throw the turnouts when the trains approach and leave the loop. Each time a loco heads toward a loop it is going to enter it in the opposite direction from the last time which I think adds a little more fun to the whole process.

I have since added mountains in that area which gives me more to scenic and more details to add like maybe a pasture or perhaps a vineyard as my wife and I are big wine drinkers. Also, Germany is known for it's wine so it would certainly fit the theme.

The other nice advantage is I also was able to expand my elec line a little and it now runs onto the new table before heading back to the original route. I can now add another statio stop for it and will probably end up wiring it so is slows then staops at the station for a couple of minutes before heading back on it's way. It will only be running in a single loop with one passing siding which I may power independently so I could park a loco with passenger cars on it. 

I will show some photos of the new section with the mountains and whatnot in a future post. Now that I pretty much have the final version of how the locos will run, I will post more details of other projects I have been working on like structures and wiring. I still have some before pics floating around for comparison.