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. I need to get some curved turnouts and a few more supplies to be able to continue to lay track. The closest hobby shop is a 2 and a half hour drive one way so off to Edmonton next week.

Once I have the two curved turnouts can commence work on the Peninsula portion bench work and track. I intend to make this area open bench work to allow for greater landscaping options. 

A while back I purchased a 3D printer and last winter, I found some great looking coal cars on Thingiverse.com and decided to print them out. The gentleman who designed them did an awesome job. You can check them out here  https://www.thingiverse.com/Trainconstruction/designs . After much searching I found a design for some O scale trucks that had been created in openSCAD after replacing the measurements in the program with those that are equal to HO scale and a little trial and error I managed to create the trucks that would hold metal wheels and run free and smooth. Install of Kadee Couplers and some fake coal loads created in “Autodesk’s Fusion 360” they are ready to run. I printed 2 50-ton coal cars and a couple flat cars as well. There are a lot of talented people who design models and post the on Thingiverse.com. I you have a 3D printer it is a great resource. I still need to do paint and Decals but I am pleased at how they turned out.