Removable staging installed

Today I finished constructing the "cassette" to be used to represent Duluth (removable staging). I still need to add some side walls to prevent a catastrophic wreck, but for the most part, it's done. The cassette attaches to the layout using deadbolt locks, and can be attached from either end, allowing me to turn the train by simply turning the cassette 180 degrees.

Some tense moments as I ran the first train onto the staging cassette:

Turnout controls

I'm not a fan of powered turnout controls - they're expensive, "one more thing to break", and to me, they take away part of the interaction with the railroad. I prefer simple, manual controls. That said, I don't want to have to reach nearly 3 feet across a finished layout to throw a ground throw. After browsing around the hobby shop for a while today, I came up with an option that I really like - control cables used for R/C airplanes. Turns out it's fairly common knowledge, but I just discovered it today.

From DMIR Hill City

This works great! There's enough tension within the sleeve to hold the turnout points in place, yet the operation is very smooth. I haven't figured out what the user control will look like yet, maybe a simply knob in the fascia, maybe something more, not sure yet.

Here's a video I shot showing the turnout in action:

More power!

Today (after raking snow from my roof to try to beat a stubborn ice dam), I wired up the power bus for the layout, and began running power drops from the track to the bus below. My intent is to have one pair of feeders for each individual track segment. I'm also making a concerted effort to conceal the solder points, something I've never really focused on before.

From DMIR Hill City

From DMIR Hill City

Tracklaying is complete

Roadbed and track are glued down....

From DMIR Hill City

From DMIR Hill City

Track fitting completed

All track has been cut to size and test-fitted on the shelf. Tomorrow I'll remove it all, fill the gaps in the foam surface, paint it brown, and then start gluing down the cork roadbed.

From DMIR Hill City

From DMIR Hill City

Tracklaying has begun

Tonight I started laying out the track plan on the shelf, temporarily pinning it in place for test-fitting.  With most of the mainline in place, I couldn't resist a test run...