Layout Update

Oh yeah... and I'm building a layout!  I haven't done much work on it over the past few weeks but I will be picking up lumber to finish the backdrop on the "texas part" of the layout this Wednesday and should have some shots up later this coming week.

I had temporarily put layout construction on hold while I dealt with...

• Testing out R/C + battery trains
• Solidified on a theme

I didn't post about it yet but I successfully converted a Bachmann On30 2-8-0 to being a completely self-contained, wireless DCC engine.  It requires no track power but supports all the functionality of DCC.  It's pretty dang awesome.  Going battery powered has a lot of implications.  Though I find the technology really amazing I'm still deciding if it's what I will go with for my layout.  I'll be blogging more about it in the coming months as I get some more experience with it.  Oh and I did video record most of the conversion so I'll likely be doing a video showing that.

My goal is for trains to be running by Christmas, at least through the town of Blackwell.  To get there I need to finish the backdrop, finish a few details on the benchwork for that section, install the sub-roadbed then lay some track.  It sounds like it's a ways away but that's only 10 more weekends!  It's seeming like this layout thing may actually become a reality.

For as funny as it sounds I'm looking forward to doing carstock mockups of all the structures for Blackwell.

I should also mention that even though I haven't posted a track plan yet to this blog I do have a plan I'm working off of.  I will likely be tweaking it until the track is actually down (and then maybe even after that point).  I plan to post it up after the track is actually in.  That way I know it will be final (if you haven't noticed I change my mind a lot).