Made a bit more progress on Twin Pines Rail Road. It is nowhere near where I want it to be, but here are a bunch of photos so you can see around the entire 9x13 layout. The right side of the layout is still a work in progress as soon as I can figure out what will look OK in the space.
The girder bridge is printed cardstock, walls are pink foam the portal is a double wide cut down by about an inch to give curve clearance on my larger locos.
The CEO placed the Christmas tree, snowman and presents in the square. A real surprise and fitting around Christmas.
The hill on the left is calling for more pine trees. The landscape behind the tracks are in two sections which can be easily lifted out, so I can pop up through the corner.
The hill in the corner used to be much taller but did not look right - so off came much of the bottom. It also provides space for an incoming rail line and another siding to "store" trains. The foreground space will have an Atlas switch tower - if I can get my hands on one. Maybe a Peco tower depending on shipping from the EU. This is a decent example of using chicken grit as ballast for the terminal rails and dark grey Scenic Express ballast for the mainlines. I did end up using paving sand between the track and covered with ground foam. (Frustratingly - I cannot get my WS static grass applicator to get the fibers to stand up - If I pour glue on my grounding rod, then it kind of works - argghhh.)
Terminal waiting for the Plastruct twin vertical tanks. I'll probably add 4 inches to provide room for a road and the tanks in front of the building and pump rack.
There are 3 bridges in the photo, the middle one is hidden by the Lionel bridge. I had to raise it 3/4 of an inch off the deck to provide clearance for my husky stacks. Two of the bridges are lift outs with banana plugs providing power and removal if necessary. The MTH bridge swings out with a 4 inch door hinge.
Well that's my space and layout so far. Jeff
