Lots more on the construction front since the last post. The bench work that goes around the room has been built and track is laid on 3/4 of it. All the track laid so far has all the section wiring in place including all the turnouts configured in JMRI. The turntable and round house were installed and wired so I have tested and parked all the locos after unpacking them. I have completed all the siding tracks on the south side of the layout which allowed me to bring out the rolling stock as well as set up the refinery and loading rack.

It has been 10 days since I last posted to the blog and begun construction on my new layout. I have managed to put together the two parts of the previous layout and add the first section of the new. As you can see from the photos the first horse shoe section is complete as far as bench work and some of the track goes. Due to the width of the section that holds the turntable and round house I wanted to complete everything that would be difficult to reach once it was moved against the wall.

I have recently retired an moved to a new home so its time to give all the track, trains, and buildings a new place to be displayed and used. two portions of the old layout were left intact and will be incorporated into the new design. The plan is to be a three level shelf setup with a helix to move trains between levels. This blog will be a running commentary of the progress. I have gained a great deal of knowledge from the folks on this site and perhaps this blog will inspire and help others as well. I have included a pdf of the main level track plan for now.