Yard Work Progressing

Work in the yard at Golden, British Columbia continues to progress.  Quite a bit of rail has been laid down and 9 switches have been laid, including the main yard ladder.  I now have five yard tracks and the main in place and ready to be connected to the switches that will lead the tracks to the helix.

I don't have the 1/2" plywood sheet fastened down, so I turned the board around so I would have easier access to work on the ladder and the yard tracks.  Slowly but surely the yard is taking shape as the track plan continues to evolve.  I am planning on having three tracks as locomotive storage and possibly refueling.  Also, where I was initially planning on having the coal car servicing building, I have decided to use those tracks for additional storage.  I instead will move the coal car servicing facility onto the other side of the yard.  The latest track plan leaves me with 9 more switches to lay before I can work on the switches on the other side of the ladder to reconnect with the main line.

I have also begun the cutting of gaps in the pc ties and attaching feeder wires while I have the yard ladder area easily accessible.  After the ties have their gaps cut, I am going to paint the ties and the rail.  I found a great way to paint the ties on Tim Horton's website on his BC Rail Dawson Creek Subdivision layout -- bcrdawsonsub.ca.  His process yielded great results, so I'm hoping my ties can look that good.  Once the ties and rails are painted, I'll lay the ballast down.  This is not how we do it at the San Diego Society of N Scale club layout (we ballast when we glue the ties down), but I felt it would be easier to paint the ties and rail first on my home layout before ballasting.  Finally, before I turn the plywood base around and screw it into place, I am also planning on installing the tortoise switch machines for the ladder and switches that will be hard to access in the back.

Here are pictures of the progress to date.