While informal/incomplete sessions have been ongoing on the layout for some time, yesterday marked the first "real" session with a more-or-less full crew.  Follow along to see how the place looks with trains running.

I've been drafting a timetable for the rapidly approaching start of formal operations on the layout.  The following posts show some images of how it's shaping up.  Formatting, wording and so on are copied from prototype WP timetables wherever practical.  So far I'm working with a very abbreviated amount of information, four pages plus the inside and outside covers. 

UPDATES:

I hadn't intended to do any work on the locomotive roster this week, but there's been a change of plans, inspired to some extent by the MRH "$35 challenge" discussion.  While searching for some unrelated boxes that turned up missing after the last move, I noticed a curiously out of place box labeled for a piggyback flatcar.  Upon opening it, it was like a chance encounter with an old friend - I had found WP GP7 number 708.

There's been a lot going on UNDER the layout lately with wiring and such, but there's finally something happening above ground again.  The free-standing backdrop that winds along the layout's main serpentine peninsula started to receive sheathing as of the last blog entry http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/5636.  Installation of the remainder was finished last week, so it was time to prepare everything for paint.

A lot happened on my Western Pacific 8th Subdivision this weekend. 

The mainline was completed, although there's still some wiring to do before all of it can be operated.  I've wondered if it's truly appropriate to celebrate the "golden spike" if the track is installed with acrylic/latex sealant?  Not sure what to call it...

I've been installing Homasote sheet for the 8th Subdivision's Junction City yard.  Instead of screws or white/yellow glue, I've used contact cement intended for such applications as countertop laminate and veneer:

A coat on both the Homasote and plywood is brushed on and allowed to set following the label recommendations.

As the second deck benchwork continues above the staging areas, I needed to start adding the permanent supports.  My original idea was to use threaded rod, but crew member Jeff Weymouth had some reservations, principally about sharp edges posing a hazard to an unwary staging operator.  He suggested using some wood dowels instead.  At last night's work session, he and fellow crewman James Gronwald were "volunteered" to proceed with the installation, which seems to have been a great success.

The latest industry for my Western Pacific 8th Subdivision is largely complete.  Ideal Portland Cement was slated to occupy a key location on some narrow benchwork, and the final shape and size needed to be known before completing the roadbed through the area.  Previous versions of the 8th Sub have also included cement plants, but this is the largest complex yet.  I wanted a major industry that could ship a dozen hopper loads at a time.

Raodbed continues on the 8th Subdivision of the Western Pacific.  Most of the single track areas are hardboard spline, but plywood and OSB (oriented strand board) are used for locations with multiple tracks.  One problem that always seems to affect such materials is variations in thickness.  If you attach sections of plywood using the typical splices from below, you have to deal with such issues using shims, also of varying thicknesses, plus a spliced joint is strongest across the splice itself, not at the top where the track is.