Michael,

I'm excited about being able to visit your layout and meet you in person! I hope that I can bring my video and still camera and take some pictures.

Rick

Ok, I'll Byte; tell me more about "reed sensors" and what they do. A pix and a wiring diagram would be good too. Have not heard of them before. This new fangled electronic stuff like DCC is a bit overwhelming for us old timers that used to watch a train run around a Christmas tree . . .LOL! How about teaching an old dog a new trick? Thanks.

First, great to see your progress. With cork shortage people may what to take note of your roadbed.
I do not know what type of control system you use but with JMRI Panel Pro program integrated with NCE or Digitrax your options for control of your rr are endless. I would suggest you move into 21st century with this part of rr and do your wiring so you can add the features of this free software to your layout. I have command station connected to computer and detect all main line blocks. I also have all mainline switches controlled by decoder. Thus a dispatcher can sit in front of computer screen and see location of all main line trains and control switches. I can go back with built in logic in JMRI and add in signals. If I can do this anyone can. This is really plug and play and their are a lot of people out here who will help you through any road blocks.
Please keep the updates coming.

I use reed sensors sold by Miniatronics. These are installed in locations that allow me to do all kinds of stuff, for example automatically stop passenger trains centered on platforms. For this I would obviously need PC control of the layout which I will implement as soon as the railroad reaches a certain size (trackwise). I have been using DCC controls made by Lenz since DCC came out and I'm pretty happy with their products.

The only problem I have with electronics running my railroad is that I'm an electronics engineer during my work hours and try to get away from my job when I'm busy with my hobby  but the advantage is that I know how to do it if I have to.

I hope that I can bring my video and still camera and take some pictures.

Rick,

Please bring whatever you wish and take as many pictures & videos as you like. Just don't expect beautiful landscapes and lots of trains running at this time!

I have succesfully finished the roadbed by filling all holes and gaps with spackle. This creates a smooth surface for the track. It also makes for a good base for the passenger platforms to sit on.

All reed sensor holes have been covered, too.
 

No escape if you have to go back to work. I always over the years used my model rr hobby as an escape. It's my own little world, right up until the electronics fails. Ha Ha.

I've painted the roadbed so it does not give off any dust as homabed is a paper based product.

Curious to know if liquids in paint cause any swelling in homabed?  I'm using a similar paper fiber product.

What kind of paint do you use and how do you apply it? (Edit: just looked at your website - latex paint).

Thanks for any info.

Don.

Curious to know if liquids in paint cause any swelling in homabed?

I have never experienced any swelling in the homabed product. I use flat latex house paint from Lowe's. I even add a little water sprayed from a spray bottle while I paint to make it flow better. Liquids tend to bead up on the homabed because the surface consists mostly of paper dust. It would be a bad surface to glue track to, it would come loose pretty soon. Coating it with paint solves the problem.

Because I am planning to use grey colored ballast I use a darker gray for the undercoat.