This is the train room before construction started. The wall on the right divides the trains from my home office. The over-exposed pole in the right foreground was installed to hold a light switch for the layout area. I’ve installed 3 outlets in the ceiling to plug in inexpensive shop light fixtures. The switch controls those outlets. Note the heating vent on the right side - it set the maximum height for the railroad. I wanted to get the track as high as possible (to get a realistic point of view) but I wanted to make sure that there was enough room that the vent wouldn’t show up in photos of the layout. The final track height is about 55".
	Here I’ve got the ceiling finished and the tile floor installed. The room is already a more pleasant place to be. I decided to leave the cinderblock walls alone as the layout and backdrop will cover them. Part of the water heater that blocked the staging tracks is visible in the foreground. It has since been moved.
	In this photo, I’ve cut the subroadbed out of ½" plywood and laid it in place to check the fit. Gordonsville is on the left in the foreground. Louisa will occupy the right hand wall and Melton is in the far left corner.
	Finally. My son Jonathan and I are assembling the first of the L girder benchwork.
	In this shot, the main benchwork is up. The next step is to install and paint the backdrop. I built a frame for the backdrop from 1x4’s. The backdrop itself was cut from 1/8" masonite.
	The backdrop is up and the joints are smoothed. In this photo I had just covered the joints with drywall compound. About a month after I had it up and painted, I noticed fine cracks at each joint that worsened over time. Turns out the Masonite isn’t dimensionally stable. I went back and redid the affected joints with both joint tape and drywall compound. Since then the cracks have not returned.
	As you can see in this shot, for subroadbed I used ½" plywood. Over that I laid the Homabed roadbed. I have to say that the Homabed was a joy to work with, especially compared to the cork that I’ve used in the past. Once I had the roadbed down, I sealed it with a coat of cheap, dirt-colored paint.
	I’m driving the first nail into the first piece of track.
	The first train around the layout is just completing its run, much to Benjamin’s delight (not to mention mine — everything worked as planned).
	For track I chose to use Atlas code 83 flex track and switches. The switches are controlled manually with Caboose Industries ground throws. These photos show most of the track at Gordonsville. The left-hand photo shows the wye; the right-hand photo the sidings and the main to Orange. The tracks that in this photo butt up against the backdrop have since pierced it to reach hidden staging tracks.
	This is the Louisa end of the double-ended siding. I had intended it to represent two industries - the vermiculite loader in Louisa and the wood yard in Gordonsville. However, once I adjusted the curves through the wye, I had to shorten this siding and now I don’t think it’s long enough. I’ve since added another siding on the other side of Louisa to represent the vermiculite loader.
	This is the Louisa station siding. The freight house will sit between the siding and the main and the passenger station will be closer to the foreground just beyond the edge of the plywood subroadbed for the siding. Because I didn’t want to have the back of the station facing the edge of the layout, I’ve modeled Louisa as a kind of mirror image of the original. If this were really Louisa, we’d be looking east and away from Gordonsville. On the layout, we’re looking west towards Gordonsville. The siding in the background on the left will serve the small vermiculite loading facility located in Louisa.
	The Pyrofax siding in Melton.

		Here are some overall photos of the layout. I’ve got the fascia up all around. It really makes it easier for me to visualize how the scenery will fit. Photo A shows the corner with the Louisa sand loader siding. My model of the Doctors Road crossing will be to the left in that photo. Photo B shows the Melton corner, with a couple of Walthers propane tanks set alongside the track for planning purposes. Photo C shows Gordonsville, with a block of stores from an old module, again to help me plan. Photo D shows the corner containing timber products siding for Gordonsville.

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