Early July Update

First post for July showing some of the happenings around on the "Clair". While work did not progress as quickly as I had hoped.... life happens a.k.a. sometimes you just get exhausted having a toddler and no matter how tempting the train room is with all of the beckoning projects sometimes my eyelids win.

But what progress made was keeps pushing the layout in the right direction of getting finished and closer and closer to scenery. Notably Main Track 2 (Concrete Ties) continues to progress towards the WSS (West Siding Switch) where it ties back into Main Track 1. I had originally planned foam board based scenery for the area between MT 1 and the backdrop, and do not want to fill every single area with track but based on the mini-operating session this extra main which could be used for run-arounds, meets, and or holding trains was critical. Even with the additional track just out of picture is a good 2-3 inches of space that will be scenic'd along with this 1.5 inch area you see in the picture below.

Sceniking Backdrops and static grass on a 1 inch foam base will fill the gap between the tracks and backdrop on the east end of Bay Yard.  

Switch on MT2 in the background leads off to the East Industrial Spur which will serve Northern Arrow Logistics and Huron Milling. You can see from the picture the lightweight / simplistic nature of the upper level benchwork.

The Bay Yard east end ongoing work is to add operational interest to my next operating session. Finally my operators will have a customer to switch - Lakes Forest Products. All of the siding switches were cut in as mainline line was laid but the focus has been on getting trains running versus just switching.

A centerbeam flat spotted at Lakes Forest Products awaits pickup for return back to Montana for another load of lumber. Trackwork will be embeded in concrete (Sheet Styrene) since it is on N scale cork with the area around it HO scale cork sheets. 

Updated view of Chessie Junction. Foreground track is East Yard Lead follow by Main Track 1, Main Track 2, and LSRC Connection (not connected). You can see the switch and spur for Lakes Forest Products just below the caulk gun.
For readers who are keen they will realize the switch and low relief warehouse is gone. I felt that the scene was over-loaded and decided to move the warehouse over to the East Industrial Spur next to Huron Milling. This area will only host scenery to help balance the amount of trackwork.

Be sure to check out my second post published today showcasing the MCIS network map.

GM