Finally - a loop of track

Got the main loop finished. Not all the track for sure, but enough so that I can wire up the power, clean the rails, and see if my locomotives run. Just a basic circle now, with a passing track on the front and on the back. There will be more track at the back where the buildings are set, as well as another 7 turnouts.

The buildings in the back are not the final deal. I drew up elevations on my CAD system, based on excellent drawings from Mike Blazek. Very accurate. So I transferred the drawings into Photoshop and applied color, then some weathering with the airbrush. Then cut out the elevations and roofs and pasted them onto old foamcore. All of this was just to get an idea of where they might go and how the track worked - or did not. Eventually all these foamcore buildings will be rebuilt using scratch-building methods - black foamcore as a base with scale lumber glued to the outside. Add in scale windows and doors and with some paint and weathering we will have accurate buildings that stood in Dolores Colorado in 1949.

I plan on keeping the center of the layout pretty accurate to Dolores, but since I love building buildings, there will be a few added that were not there - but it is my world I guess.

The station is not correct - actually from a older layout that included Mancos CO. And I had it somewhat reduced to fit for the old layout - just wanted to see how it looked.

The station for Dolores will be a kit - a box of laser cut wood and siding and peal and stick windows and details. Way fun. The rest of the buildings will be scratch-built.

So - it is on to the wiring. Since the layout is a DC layout and not DCC, it is fairly simple. I plan on dropping a lead from each rail underneath to a power bus from every section of track - about every three feet. This is probably not needed for DC control (traditional model railroad power), but a must if and when I convert it to DCC (Digital Command Control). Also will power all the turnouts installed so far.

It will be difficult not to pull out many cars and make up trains etc - but that has to wait.

Sorry for the over-blue color. But the styrofoam is blue, the walls were painted sky blue and the light makes it even bluer.

The piece of paper in the rear between the left most buildings was a test of the backdrop photo I have of Dolores. Decided it needs to be larger - or higher. Once those photos are in place the layout will really start to look like the real thing - assuming I can get some ground cover on that ugly blue styrofoam.