The track plan was the first step. Knowing the amount of space I had to work with I decided that the layout would be on an L shaped table, on wheels to make it easy enough to move around. The basic track plan is for two main lines, an outside loop with an inside figure 8, a small town scene with two spurs, and a scene with a turntable, roundhouse and maintenance area. Since this is a freelanced railroad, I plan to run whatever trains I happen to like that day. Everything from steam engines and modern diesels will roll down these tracks.

The track sits on cork roadbed and is all PECO flextrack with PECO Electrofrog medium turnouts. Past experience showed me that PECO makes an excellent product but this time I improved my turnouts by wiring around the frogs so that the turnout is not dependant on a good connection between the points and the rail. This means that the turnout is much more reliable. All turnouts are controlled from the control panel with PECO switch machines with SPDT switches attached to the bottom of the machine, which controls the frog polarity. The switch machines are powered by a capacitor discharge unit that I purchased for my last layout. There is also a double sissor crossing so that a train can be switched from the outside loop to the inside figure 8, and visa versa, and a set of three Kato bridges to cross the gap from one mountain to the other.

I finally got most of the cork and risers down, and built the bridges and piers so that I could work on the transition from the bridge to the side of the mountain. Then, finally all of the cork was laid down, except for the train yard which would come later.

Next I built the control panel that will hold all the turnout switches and power packs. I used Liquid Nails construction adhesive to glue the track to the cork. I put a small amount of adhesive onto the cork, and spread it out to a very thin layer. Then I position the track and tack it in place with push pins. After a few hours, I twist out the push pins and the track is secured.

Next I covered the mountain with plaster cloth (the same stuff they made plaster casts of when I was a kid and broke a bone), and plaster of paris on top of that. This made the mountain pretty rugged. I painted the mountain with grey primer and a spash of gloss black (that's what I had on hand) to give some shading. I also took the time to prime the base and cover up all the pink foam board. This will ensure that the base paint will stick later on. Finally, I painted the entire table a blue gray color.

The town is mostly of ceramic houses that I picked up at a clearance sale at Halmark. I did some detail work on them, but for the most part, they are just as they were when I bought them. There is also a warehouse that I built from a kit that fits against one of the sidings.

The entire left side of the layout was left for the roundhouse and turntable that I was going to put in later. Later turned out to be 2 years. It started out as a sunken turntable and roundhouse, a cornerstone kit. I installed it, wired it, and tried to get it working, but had a really dificult time getting it indexed. After an entire vacation trying to get it working, I broke down and installed the Atlas roundhouse and turntable. It works flawlessly and after a little detailing, it looks pretty good also.

I also finally added the DCC unit that I wanted. I can now run more than one train, which is great. I'm trying to fight off the urge to pull a Gomez Addams and run the trains into each other head on.

The top of the table has become a holding place for just about everything, chain saw, scrap wood, blankets for covering plants in winter, etc. I did add a couple of small cabinets that I have been keeping a lot of my train stuff in. When the table was shorter it fit nicely under the garage door opener. After the lift, it is about 1/2 an inch short, so moving the table has to be done very carefully.