Merry Christmas!

We're having a great Christmas season so far, and we're so blessed that our daughters, sons-in-law and granddaughters live just minutes away.

The tracklaying is completed, except for the wharf, which will come later. All of the segments salvaged from my previous layout are connected. I'm now completing finishing touches on the turnouts...soldering in tie rods, connecting ground throws. Next is wiring, starting with installing jumper wires wherever there are rail joiners; I haven't had much problem with bad connections at rail joiners, but I want to build in some redundancy anyway. When that's completed, I'll install my control panel (also salvaged from my previous layout) and do the final wiring. The layout will be broken into 12 electrical sections. Three of those, actually, are roundhouse tracks.

Oh, and the turntable control wheel still has to be installed.

Once all of this is done, I'll lubricate my locomotives, clean wheels, etc., and test run them to check the trackwork. Then it will be time to unpack rolling stock and make sure every car is in good running order.

Beyond that, I'll begin adding scenery and structures, starting with the roundhouse.

Don't know if this blog has any readers or not, but if so, I'd love to hear from you!!

Merry Christmas and all the best in 2012!