4 years of layout building

At about this time each year I have been making an anniversary post on the layout reviewing what has been accomplished in the past year and with some loose goals for the next year.  This will be the 4th one, hard to believe it's already been 4 years since I started work on this layout.  Here are the goals for the last year, along with the results and excuses.

• Complete the Battle Mountain section including structures and scenery.
• Begin the bench work for the Harney section that will be to the east of Battle Mountain.
• Continue to fill in details and scenes at Winnemucca, Wesso and Golconda.
• Add the last of the cabinets in the train room to clean things up.
• Add the additional work bench using a Maple top I bought at a garage sale.

The Battle Mountain section was installed into the layout early in the year and is completed to a high level.  I still want to add a few more details.

The 5 ft long Harney section got started this past summer and is further along than I had hoped including some of the scenery.  More on the progress of the Harney section in future posts.

The original backdrop for the Winnemucca area was made of laminated styrene sheet and ended up warping rather badly so work in this area got set back.  A new one has been made from fiberglass reinforced plastic sheet so work on finishing this scene should resume soon.  There was not much left to do in the Wesso and Golconda sections but a few details were added.

I have not gotten around at all to installing more cabinets.  Sometime this winter I need to get over to Ikea and pick up what I need so I can get them installed.   The clutter in the room has been getting less and less as materials are used in the layout and I have also been selling some un-needed items.

I dropped the plan for a second work bench and instead used the maple top to replace the worn Formica top on the existing work bench.

Here is the current drawing of the layout showing the Harney section in the layout.  Actually right now the turn around loop is in that spot.  When the Harney section is permanently installed in the layout the turn around loop is not going to fit and some modification will be needed then.

So what's next ?   Some of these goals are repeats from the last year but there are also some new ones.

• Install the last of the cabinets above future sections of the layout.
• Install plastic panel backdrop on wall behind the Harney section and the next section.  This will be curved around the corner and painted a sky blue to match photo backdrops.
• Fully complete and install into the layout the 5 ft long Harney section
• Finish the scene  at Winnemucca with painted backdrop, building flats, and a few trees.
• Make a start on the flyover section which will be the next section after Harney.