It's been four months since my last update and in that time I've made decent progress on the Area H Spur. Most important was constructing the spur lead/staging track. As you'll notice in the photos, my aim was to use lightweight materials for the layout base. Simple steel brackets screwed into the walls and a coroplast (1/4" corrugated plastic sheet) serving as the base material.

OK, I 'll bite; after being so careful and testing track conductivity as I went along, I now have a gremlin that has popped up. Track was laid and joints butted; soldered where needed; drops made; insulator joiners used on the inside rail of fturnouts etc.

Having some real difficulty keeping these units clean this spring...

My layout is on a self-guided tour this weekend in conjunction with my NMRA Region's convention ("Rails to the Capital" - MCR).  Like most people, an event like this can lead to a flurry of work; in my case that involved rushing some mock-ups of some of the industries in Circleville, the current focus of the layout.  One thing, of course, always leads to another; the mockup work, specifically some reasonably precise plan-drawing and foamboard-cutting that requires good light, made the known weak lighting spots very obvious and somewhat problematic.  I.e., I need

Some nice photos (some with effects)

I saw recently a unit train of not the typical bathtub rotary gondola. They were the low side simillar to scrap cars and pulled by 3 BNSF engines.

A visit to Steve Sandifer's Howard Branch of the ATSF. Steve is a great person and outstanding modeler.  Hope this small look into his world is something you can enjoy.

There won't be an appearance by Alberta's favourite son Wolverine, however there is a GP9 or two involved.  As part of my decision to back date to the 1980's I purchased a couple of GP9, one of which is going to a friend, the other is staying with me.  The one I am keeping is of special significance to me.