It's been a bit over nine months since I posted that the layout was coming down. It's completely gone (has been since around March). I was able to salvage most of the track and a great deal of the benchwork. Roadbed and subroadbed went into the trash. All the structures (the pitiful few there were) are packed away, and rolling stock is sitting in the rented house in Charleston. I've joined the Charleston Area Model Railroad Club, and manage to exercise my equipment there on occasion. I have no idea when I'll have a new house in which to put a layout - the bad market has ours in New Jersey not selling anytime soon, it looks like.

CB&Q in Wyoming is being Dismantled!

There have been three years of little to no activity on the layout due to my foray into local politics. My delving into New Jersey politics is fortunately coming to an end (talk about diving headfirst into basement of an outhouse!).

The remainder of the story is that I am being transferred by the company to South Carolina - permanently! All in all a good move (any way of getting out of New Jersey is a positive), but it means the CB&Q in Wyoming is now in the process of being dismantled.

I'm salvaging all the track I can, and of course all the rolling stock and such is being saved. Even as much as possible of the benchwork dimensional lumber is going to be retained for re-use.

I don't have a new home yet and probably won't for several months to come. As soon as I have the dimensions of a new layout space design will begin on the new CB&Q in Wyoming.

Work progresses, albeit still slowly.

Here's a more-or-less overall view of the layout as of the end of December:

The blank part of the skyboard to the far left has been painted now. We started adding a ceiling to the room to control the dust and debris that falls onto the layout from above. The corner in the left distance is where we began. It's slowly expanding towards the camera and to the right. Before more benchwork is installed the ceiling will be put up above those areas. It will probably be a long time before the entire ceiling is finished, but it will be done a bit at a time until it's complete.

Here's another shot of recent work - the studs and mounting frames are in place for the backdrop all the way around to Casper now. The far corner in this shot is where I stood to take the previous shot. Ceiling will be done in these areas before benchwork goes up.

It's been five months since I posted. There's a good reason - I've had very little time or energy to work on the layout.

I've managed to put in fifteen or twenty hours since the last post, though, so I thought I'd go ahead and tell you what's been done.

I've continued the backdrop installation and painting. Here's a photo of the painted backdrop before I installed any scenery:

I also did some cheap-and-dirty scenery for some shots for my helix presentation, which I gave at the Mid-Eastern Region convention in Reston in late October. Here's an overall shot:

While the landforms are the final ones (except for cutouts for access to tracks behind the hill), the yellowish scenery and trees aren't - they were just for the presentation. There will be no trees in this area and the ground will be a somewhat darker tan/brown with sparse prarie grass and sagebrush sprinkled around.

I've continued adding to the backdrop, and the skyboard now continues uninterrupted past Thermopolis. The hill profiles only extend to the curve in the backdrop at the corner right now. I'm going to try to continue on with them during the Christmas break.

I finally managed to get a bit of time - about three hours or so in the past three weeks - to work on the layout.

I've completed the lower level skyboard extension around the corner into Thermopolis, and I've completed the backdrop about halfway through the corner. I've also started painting the backdrop - about 16 feet of it behind Glenrock has received the base tan color. I would have gone farther, but the additional sheet that starts around the corner into Thermop. hasn't been prepped yet (sanded / washed). Next, as my very limited time permits, I'll add additional colors to the backdrop and bring at least part of it towards completion. Should be interesting to see if I can come up sith something that isn't too amatuerish / cartoonish / pathetic.

Pictures next time.

It's been awhile since I posted, for a very good reason - I've had almost no time and energy to work on the layout. I've spent maybe two hours in the train room in the last two months. I'm hoping things will ease up and I'll have a chance to do some layout work soon. I'll post any significant progress when it happens.

Wow! How time flies! It's been nearly four weeks since my last update!

Work on the layout has been on and off. Tons of stuff happening at the borough - I often spend three or four nights a week on borough business. Add to that all the work on the house and I have little time left for the layout.

I've been continuing work on the scenery at Glenrock, experimenting with different lights under the upper deck. Incandescents work OK, but are a bit yellowish. I found a dimmable compact fluorescent, but they're eight bucks apiece! I have three, and they give a decent light. The CRI is around 82, so it isn't too bad, ajnd it's rated as 3200k light, so it might be workable. I'll have to install a dimmer and see how well they work that way.