Making Progress...

Enough about philosophy. Let's get out the tools and start making some noise.

Over the past few days, I've moved the workbench out of the train room, torn down all of the temporary structure that had supported the layout up to this point, and started clearing the debris out to make room for some work to get done. Here's where we are as of this morning:

First, I raised the remaining part of the layout by 1/2". Doesn't sound like a lot, but it's made a big difference in how trains will emerge from the staging yard. It cut the grade down to half of what it was, which will help the longer trains I'm anticipating get up the hill to North Junction.

Next, I set about the business of leveling everything up, and getting started on the new bench work that will support Cumberland. I used my table saw to rip some 2x4 down into two 1x3's and one 1x2 from each. This gave me enough to make some L girders, and have enough left over to use for joists and risers later. Last night I got the basic L girder frame and legs assembled and leveled up.
I had previously built the little 24" x 30" helix, which will carry the Thomas Sub up to Elkins on the second level. It will actually be positioned about 6" to the left and about a foot higher once all the framing is in.

The next job is to add the joists and start cutting the plywood sub roadbed. I also have to build the framing to extend the peninsula another 2' from where it was previously. At that point, I can begin connecting the dots with the staging and three main line runs that will be crossing this section.

To help you visualize what I'm talking about, I've got the track plans posted. Here's the main and upper levels, and this is the lower staging level.

There's still a little bit of tweaking going on, but for all intents and purposes, this is what the railroad will look like going forward. I'm pretty excited about it.

Stay tuned for more updates.