Update

It has been a while since I have posted to the blog and I have been working a lot and have some great progress! Things worked on since my last post:

• Lift Out Section- Complete! Pictures coming soon!
• Masonite fascia installed along entire benchwork. This really finishes off the layout benchwork nicely. I will be painting it in the near future. I am not sure what color though... earth tone? Pullman green? boxcar red? I have seen all three colors used and I like all three.
• DCC walk-around throttle jacks installed in new fascia. I am also very pleased with the way these look. Very clean and professional. They are easily "removed" when it comes time to paint the fascia. I had five from the previous railroad, so I installed all five. It may be a little over-kill, but I didn't see the point of leaving one or two in the box collecting dust.
• DCC electronics shelf has been constructed under Walnut, Illinois. I decided to build a separate shelf to hold the Lenz Set 90 and associated items. I was not happy with the idea of setting it all on the larger shelf I constructed to help stabilize the benchwork. The large shelf is a great place to temporarily store larger construction tools and I thought that having the delicate electronics nearby would not be such a good idea.
• Started wiring track leads to the power bus which I had previously installed, actually even before the 2" foam was installed. Again, I have learned a lot from previous layouts and from others in the hobby... two words, suitcase connectors. Wow, do these save time and headaches. I have successfully used them to connect the drop from the rail to the power bus. What used to take several minutes to strip wire, twist and solder... is now done in a matter of seconds! Not to mention that fact that I don't have to contort like a circus gymnast to solder the connections! Wonderful!

I will post pictures of all the items described above in my next post.
Thanks for stopping!
That's it!
Scott