I am asking for help at this junction with an issue that has come up with my layout.  I have  a budget to get materials for the last part is items needed for my layout.  That being said, I have to pick up some very thing plywood, and some pink foam.  The issue is because of my strict budget, I am seeking some guidance here on how to proceed.  I would like to have it all purchased at said time, due to having renting a vehicle to get it all home.  The thing is with pricing, my budget falls a bit short.

I found this after I had already started my layout blog, at www.westcoastrails.whsites.net.  You can see earlier posts there.

This year's NMRA Convention and National Train Show are being held in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which is north of Chicago and just enough east to be in the Eastern time zone instead of the Central, as Chicago is.

Getting here was a comedy of airlines that I won't go into, aside from saying that I spent 20 hours Monday and Tuesday in airports and on airplanes and I was very happy to be reunited with my luggage when I returned to my hotel this evening after dinner.

This is a custom set of dual N scale diamond crossings. I'm close to finishing this project and sending the diamonds to their eventual owner in California, Clif Linton. On Clif's layout, the diamonds are for the crossing of the single tracked B&OCT and the double tracked BRC on his Chicago themed '70's layout.

The ties are all PCB ties, gapped and cut to length. They are placed over a printout from 3rd Plan It on some clear tack film. The code 55 ME rails have been cut and soldered to the PCB ties.