9/25/06: The GP-35's have been delivered and put into service. They are great running engines. Several buildings still remain to be built to complete the village. Additionally scenery needs to be completed. At this point in time only about half the layout has basic scenery. The other half of the layout is still bare wood. Now that the summer is winding down I hope to accomplish much during the dreaded winter months. At minimum I want to see the village completed and scenicked.
The other major project that I'm still contemplating is whether to switch from conventional DC to DCC. The layout needs to be rewired so the logic is if I'm going to do a major rework involving layout power I might just want to change to a newer technology. Even though it's only a door-sized layout I think DCC would still be an asset. I'm able to switch the yard and engine service area while another train is running on the mainline. I can even bring a 2nd train out onto the mainline and with careful throwing of block toggles and turnout throw levers I can even have 2 trains running on the mainline. DCC would make either scenario much easier to operate, especially when switching the yard/engine service area. I'll have to start looking at the various DCC systems this fall and see what's available, the cost involved, etc. |
