Within just three days after starting this layout I was installing ties! These were Kappler Mill & Lumber standard ties glued to the sub-roadbed using diluted white glue. I fully documented how I hand-lay code 40 rail in my Hand-laying Code 40 Track article.

By February 11, 2006 I had the whole mainline covered with ties.

The next day I had stained all the ties and placed some grass on the outer profile of the roadbed. The ballast will go on top of this, so I wanted the grass in there first.

The next layer was some rough ballast substrate. I used model coal for this layer.

Needless to say, the final layer was the ballast itself. I used my standard ballast, which was Arizona Rock & Minerals' PRR fine ballast.

By March 29, 2006 I had started to lay code 40 rail on the mainline, thereby connecting it to the turntable that was already installed. The headlight on the E8 proves that the power was on. I could now run off the turntable's bridge.

On September 25th, 2006 I had completed and installed the first industrial spur. I built it offline and then installed it on supports similar to the mainline. Ballast, ties, and track were also identical to the mainline.

The beginnings of the industrial area are taking shape. This photo was taken on February 4th, 2007. I printed some #8 turnout templates from the Fast Tracks web site (a fantastic resource) and drew out a nice switching track plan.

About a month later I had all the ties down for this area, the Tortoise turnout controllers installed, along with their DS44 DCC stationary decoder. Some basic weathering of the ties was completed also.

By the middle of March, 2007, the ballast was down, and I also took the time to apply some grasses, weeds, and small rocks to make the area look much nicer.

In this update shot of March 25, 2007 you can see the power has been applied to allow the E8 to run back and forth a bit. Only a small section of the track is down in this industrial area.

Fast forward to July 24, 2007 and we can do some basic operations on this layout. The turntable is the key to the whole layout.

I loved those big 2-8-8-2 LifeLike engines on this layout. The curves were plenty big for this engine.

After doing a good bit of scenery work, on September 25th, 2007 it is time to get back to laying some more track. This is just a progress report photo.

I placed the industrial area lower than the mainline. I have never been a fan of doing that in the modeling world because of the problems associated with the track height differences. I wanted to experiment with that in this layout. I wound up having to build a ramp from the turntable down to the area that holds the industrial switching. I am installing the track here.

However, as soon as the glue was dry (I used 5-minute epoxy to hold the rail down to the ties for code 40 rail), I tried the track and discovered that my trusty GP7 couldn't make it up the hill. Not because of lack of power, but because its front steps hit the rails! Oops!!! So, I decided a much more smoother, less steep grade was needed for this up ramp. Out it came...

And here's the new and improved up ramp. I used various pieces of wood underneath the styrene sheet I used for the support of the ties. The area under the styrene is in the process of being back filled with "goop".

The next photo shows the final result. This worked much better for the GP7. All but my largest steam engines were able to make the grade.

Here's a view from a different angle of the completed track work in the industrial area on October 20, 2007.

By March 13, 2008 I had built the roadbed for the transitional track between the new center section and the left-hand side of the layout. Since the track shown in the next photo was to be hidden, I decided to just use some code 55 Micro Engineering flextrack here.

At the end of the month I had this progress photo to show. I glued all the ties down for the lower level on the left-hand side of the layout.

The same progress was being made in the center section of the layout where the ties form the connection between the existing right-hand side of the layout and the flextrack of the hidden track in the center section.

By the end of April, 2008 I had the ties stained and ballasted in both the center section and the left-hand side of the layout (shown in the photo below).

After this I had lost interest in the layout. The Spring months are usually spent outdoors doing a lot of work on our yard. By the Summer of 2008 I was seriously considering switching scales. I was having a hard time building reliable code 40 turnouts, keeping the track clean, and reading the road numbers of the engines and cars. It was time for a change.