With track and a track plan, I needed some roadbed. HO cork roadbed was the obvious answer, but that costs, like, money. Well, $30 - $40, for the amount I'd need, keeping in mind the sidings wouldn't need any. Looking around the house, I found a 30" x 40" sheet of 1/8" foam board. A little arithmetic suggested that might be all I'd need. 

The first order of business was to find out what grade the locomotives on hand could actually climb, and do so with a useful load (2 cars). I had wanted 2" of elevation gain with the switchback, but only had 36" total track length to work with, not including the tail track. That's a big ask, unless your name is Shay. Several commenters had noted that there was no way that would work, and I did not doubt them. But you have to try. 

A friend of mine has a pile of vinyl fence parts stacked on his property:

Every time I've seen this, I've thought "That looks like benchwork". And if you add about $60 in hardware, foam, and construction adhesive, plus a few hours, it can be:

I wanted to see how the envisioned landforms would look, so spent a couple of hours and another box on a mockup.

The 'kit' parts.

Inspired by the dumping gifting of some HO train set stuff from a friend, I looked for something to do with it. The idea is to create an enjoyable layout for as little money and effort as possible. And the different scale and era will be a nice change of pace. I found a gentleman selling more train stuff, but he lived two hours away. His asking price was $30, and I offered $60 if he'd meet me halfway. Which he did.

A friend with an interest in estate sales dropped off a bag of HO stuff he'd picked up for $20. He knows I like trains, but is indifferent to the finer points of the hobby. Normal, in other words. This is exciting. Some might think: "Man, I do 1:160; this stuff is useless!" I look at it as a challenge. It's all train set stuff, but rather than throw it into the closet, I'd like to do something with it.

Out of curiosity I clicked on my signature hyperlink and found that it goes to the one entry I've posted on the MRH site. Well, that's not helpful. 

The current layout project: https://northernpacificproject.wordpress.com/

The upcoming layout project: https://greatnorthernproject.wordpress.com/

As my current layout nears completion, I'm thinking of my next project. Tne Northern Pacific Project (NPP) has been my first serious attempt at a scale model railroad and I've really enjoyed it. There have been the usual miscues and false starts, but the accumulated knowledge in magazines and online has been tremendously helpful. Coming up on three years active in the hobby and building the layout, I've found that I prefer prototype modeling and on the hobby side operations and scratch-building are what I look forward to.