After having the garage looked at, no structural damage was found. Yay!
So it was time to bring the modules back in and put them back together. Eek! Luckily everything worked as planned except for one piece of track. It was a curve that bridged two modules. I re-laid the section of track using rail joiners at the module break so hopefully next time it comes apart it’ll go back together nicely.
For the bus wiring I switched from the previously used Anderson Powerpoles to crimp bullet connectors and labeled wires for the connections between modules. Much cheaper and much faster/easier to assemble.
After the layout was back together I decided it was time to fill in the “blue foam hill”. I used cardboard strips to fill in the empty spaces, then covered the whole thing in masking tape and painted. I ran out of tape so I still have a little to do.
And while I had the paint out I also gave the plywood top a coating. Looks much better than seeing all that bare plywood. Got about half the layout done so far.
Shaun Benchwork, Scenery
With winter and a cold garage in full affect these past few weeks, I haven’t done much work on the layout. I did manage to get in there while we had some warm days to start roughing out the mainline on the upper deck over staging.
Still need to pick up 3 or 4 more 2×4 sheets to complete the upper deck base and then permanently install before any track goes down.
I also managed to install a temp loop so I can run trains up out of staging and then right back down through Dixie Curve. You can kinda see the temp track in the upper right of that photo. This has been a good way to test different trains on the staging ladders and the soon-to-be-covered track/module breaks. So far everything has been running 100%.
Shaun Benchwork, Track
This week I started running staging bus wires attaching staging feeders to them. I used up all my suitcase connectors so I hit a roadblock until I get more. But I did manage to wire up both Rail A & B to the left and right sections of the Mainline so I had to get an engine on the rails.
Still to need to clean the rails at the solder points and some dried caulking at spots, but the engine ran great on the track that had power. The control panel occupancy lights worked great too. I’m going on vacation next week but I’ll probably place an order mid-week for more suitcase connectors so they’ll arrive just after I get home. 
Speaking of bus wires, here’s what I’m doing for my bus connections between modules.
These are Anderson PowerPole connectors. I really like these for two reasons:
1) They are genderless. So there’s no worrying about needing to have a female and male to make a connection (cause I know I always ended up with more of one than the other somehow). If you got 2 connectors, your good! Just crimp down, flip on over and connect.
2) They are interlocking. Each connector can slide into a grove on another, so you can easily build block connectors of several wires. Need to add another wire? No problem, just slide it on any existing connector to add it to the block.
So what to do the rest of the week? I’m working on the mainline on the peninsula right now. Sub-roadbed plywood is mounted in place. In the process of laying out track for the rough-in, then I’ll install the risers for the track, cork roadbed, and finally track.
I originally planed on placing the paper mill here on the peninsula, but I’m leaning towards simply having this be an hillside scene or something because the track is all on a grade here. So we’ll see.
Shaun Benchwork, DCC, Track
