Rubin, I agree with you about early N scale. I had HO trains back in the 60’s early ‘70s. I got N scale starting in the early ‘80s. The steam engines were the worst. I am amazed I scratch built buildings in N scale, but I still have them as proof. I wish you well on a new layout in a new home.
John, good point; I never posted the locations of the uncouplers. I’ll have to do that. I really don’t have many sidings so there aren’t many.
Mark, I'm enjoying our exchanges.
You are so right about the steam. I remember sending an MRC Nickel Plate Berkshire into a tunnel only to have it come out minus all the valve gear, which had simply fallen off! And those couplers !?!##!
I've also have done HO and have about a dozen brass engines, over a hundred Athearn, MDC, AHM and other cars, many new in the box and a whole raft of Campbell, FSM and other kits, which keep thinking about selling.
But back to O gauge. I'm only 5'7 and I've always built my layouts at 40" height. Tony Koester in MR recently suggested that 48 " inches would be better for under the layout access. What have you done?
Mark, it’s a lot of prep work, but I think you’ll agree it will be worth it when you’re finished. I look forward to seeing all of your hard work pay off.
Andy
Thank you, Rubin and Andy!
Rubin, I’m always glad to talk to someone who has had experience with smaller scales. You do still have a lot of HO. I sold almost my HO and N scale items and used the money towards our two daughters’ tuition; though it didn’t go very far. 😄 My layout top is 44” high, and the higher bridge is 50” high. I’m 4 inches taller than you, and this height works well for me. I know Tony Koester recommends high layouts, and would like it higher when I’m underneath it, but I don’t want to build it so high I can’t reach the back of the layout. Tony can build a mainline a mile long and have narrow shelves. I can’t in an 11x11 room. 😄
Andy, it does take some time to get it built and working right. I guess I’m blessed that I don’t have 2 or 3 times the space, or more. 😉
Mark, you are right! Bigger is a blessing and a curse. But I also look at it this way, it’ll take me longer to “finish” the layout, which of course it never is…
Andy
Andy, you are right. I moved too many times and even when I setup modules I had moved from the previous house I never got as far as I wanted. So far we are good to go on this layout in this house.
After working on Plan D of The Blackwater Canyon Line for 2 years, I have declared heavy construction and wiring are done. I moved a bunch of tools and materials to the garage to make room for scenery and structure building. Granted, there will be times when I need to drag some of that out to wire lights etc.
I do want to mention a few items before we close this phase. I never got back on where I placed the uncoupling ramps. I have indicated where with red arrows. The long siding to the left is where I plan to put engines and cars on and off the track. The siding in the lower right will have two buildings, so I put in two uncoupling ramps. I considered putting them in the yard underneath the wye and enginehouse area. Those tracks are in blue in the upper right. The upper level is removable, but for the sake of good track integrity, I laid the track and switches right over the seam in the table top. I had such a time getting track to match up with my lift up bridges, I copped out on making the enginehouse area easily removable. If I find I have to have uncoupling ramps there, I'll remove the track above, so I can get into the lower space.
As I mentioned when I put in the first push button, these are temporarily mounted until I put a fascia on.
Besides checking out all the DZ1000 switch machines via the AIUs, I also checked out them with the pushbuttons. I labeled all my DZ1000 pushbuttons with the Dymo labeler. Yes, it is the old fashioned kind that wears out your hand. The address on the literature in the box has a postal code instead of a Zip code. That dates it to early or mid '60s. I brought it home when cleaning out my dad's things.
I did get back to my Walthers HO substation kit. One thing I learned from this kit is that I have trouble handling very small parts, and that is one reason I switched from HO to O gauge. I can see everything fine; fine enough that I am disappointed with how it is turning out. Even with spray accelerator, I can't keep the small insulators straight. I just set the main components in a back corner for now and will turn my attention to other things.
I want to build my Carolina Craftsman Thomas West Virginia Station, but need some practice on laser cut kits first. I have a couple easier ones I will work on. I also want to get some scenery built as well. These photographs show the 'canyon' area I want to do. That will also use up my left over Styrofoam so I have more space under the layout for structures and scenery building things.
I know someone will ask about the 4 heavyweight cars in the first photograph. They are actually a beautiful New York Central set I bought from Chris A to be pulled by my K-Line Hudson that is at Pat's Harmonyards awaiting its turn for an upgrade. See, I do have some other interests besides Western Maryland!! Thank you for taking a look.
Looks good Mark. Can't wait to see what's next.
Bob
Great work Mark! What will you work on next?
Never too soon to start thinking about expansion ! 
Thank you Bob, John, Richie!
I got out a TW Trainworx scale house kit that I bought at York in 2017 or ‘18. I started it a couple years ago, punching out and sanding smooth all the rough spots where the parts were attached to the main board. It’s about as simple a laser cut building as you can find. Next is an Altoona Branchline Station. Then I should be ready for the Thomas, WV Station which is more involved.
I started forming some foam for the canyon before my surgery, so I’ll continue that. I have some scenicing materials, but it’s been so long I need to take inventory.
Last evening, I maneuvered 3 steam engines around the engine house eye and passing siding so another one could pull a train. Everything went well, with the Russian Decapod taking over the train and the switcher is in the engine house. I was pleased.
Richie, I would like to have another track , but the only way to expand is to go up!
Mark you are continuing to make excellent progress. Heavy construction ands wiring completed is quite a milestone to achieve.
Good luck with the kit construction. Back in the day before we started on the train room, we built about one kit a month complete with interior/exterior detail and lighting. It was really fun and I am sure that you will enjoy it. Maybe Santa will bring you another kit.
Wow, looks great, Mark!
Congratulations on passing a milestone, Mark. Blackwater Canyon is looking good!
What are your thoughts on ballasting your track? I keep flipping back and forth on whether or not I'll ballast.
Mark keep up the great work you are much further along than I am. It seems I will never be done with wiring Ia m going stir crazy looking at all of it and I think I still have several hundred feet left to pull/run.
Thank you, Bill, Neal, Dan, Rick!!
Bill, you never know what Santa might bring! 
You built some great looking kits. I'm hoping to require some of the skills I had when I was younger.
Dan, I want the ballast to look like it is a well maintained single-track mainline from the '50s, so I am going to wait until I have a scenery base and the rocks and foliage done before ballasting. When I did it the other way around, I had to put tape over the track and ballast to finish the scenery. Inevitably some other scenic materials would get through. For a little used branch line that would be okay. I think I'll ballast in stages as I get sections of scenery 'completed', to save the monotony of doing a well maintained looking ballast job.
Rick, you have a whole lot more wiring to do than I had. Yes, I can see where what you are doing could get old.
Hi Mark, I’ve enjoyed following along with your progress on the layout. You’ve accomplished a fantastic job in your build. Looking forward to seeing the next phase come to life.
John
Thank you very much! I'm always glad to post something; I learn as much or more by doing it than others do.
Mark, congratulation! I know I mentioned it in another thread, but at least now you don't have to get under the layout, maybe except for stuff you have stored under there! Now you can let your mind run wild with scenery! Once again Congratulation!
Looks great, Mark.
Congrats and keep having fun!
Peter
Thank you, Mike and Peter!! All in all I did a fairly good job of staying out from underneath the layout during wiring. For connections near the back of the 30” shelves, I made connections on top of the layout, dropped the wires through holes and then pulled the wires towards the front edge where I have several sets of wire clamps along the way. I then pulled all those along with wires from the front to the wiring panel while sitting upright on my padded roll around stool. The concept really worked out well. For connections near the edge, the layout is high enough I was able to sit on the stool and just duck a bit with reading glasses instead of my normal bifocals. My dad would be proud. Even though he was a very strong man during most of his adult life, he always taught me to use my head not my muscles whenever you can.
Mark, I read your last three progress reports. Well done!!! You've made major progress. And I agree with your decision to defer ballasting until the scenery is in place. I'm doing that as well.
George
Congratulations on your milestone Mark. And thank you for the pictures and summing up what you’ve done to this point. I know how you feel about smaller parts. That is also one of the reasons why I switched to O gauge. Looking forward to seeing your progress.
Andy
Thank you, George and Andy! It is always good hearing from someone who has the same idea as me or has done something similar than me in the past and made similar decisions about changing. Thank you for taking a look!!
Moving right along Mark, you're sure beating me to the scenery. I have to stop expanding and start finishing I guess, you're embarrassing me! 
@Mark Boyce posted:Thank you, George and Andy! It is always good hearing from someone who has the same idea as me or has done something similar than me in the past and made similar decisions about changing. Thank you for taking a look!!
Mark, I too have enjoyed following your progress. Good luck with the scenery. I’m in the midst of packing away my trains and dismantling my layout to make way for our addition and my new, much larger layout room. This project is at least six months to completion. Then I can begin construction and apply some of the lessons I’ve learned from the others and you. Now if I can only find a good track planning tool or program.
And while I have 20x25 to work with, I’m thinking more and more about biting off smaller pieces because the thing does seem rather daunting.
any thoughts, anyone?
Thank you, John, Rubin!
John, yes you have a much larger layout and have taken the time for expansion too. Yours looks great!
Rubin, congratulations on the planned addition. I agree, with that much space, I would work on sections at a time, to not get overwhelmed with the tasks you don't like as well as others. My design was made on SCARM because that is what 'DoubleDAZ' Dave uses. I do not know how other tools compare.
Rubin, we have RRTrax and are pleased with it. 18 X 38 and the track plan has been within 1/4”. If you want some info, send us an e-mail. We are doing by sections; even that gets a bit old.
Mark really knows what he is doing. We try to never miss his updates.
@RubinG posted:Mark, I too have enjoyed following your progress. Good luck with the scenery. I’m in the midst of packing away my trains and dismantling my layout to make way for our addition and my new, much larger layout room. This project is at least six months to completion. Then I can begin construction and apply some of the lessons I’ve learned from the others and you. Now if I can only find a good track planning tool or program.
And while I have 20x25 to work with, I’m thinking more and more about biting off smaller pieces because the thing does seem rather daunting.
any thoughts, anyone?
Rubin- Try SCARM, the free version allows you to get your feet wet but it has a track piece limit. If you like it you can upgrade to the full version for a reasonable price.
Some guys like Anyrail too.
For your build- if you develop a plan and can get the bulk of the benchwork done, at least the big mess is behind you. Track can be done in modules so you can concentrate on one section at a time. Of course if you are eager to run trains then dive in head first.
Good luck with the move and keep us posted.
Bob
Congrats on reaching a new stage. I have always found shifting gears like that to be invigorating, giving me new energy as I turn to new tasks. I hope the same is true for you.
Hopefully Santa brings a lot of good things Mark. I think I have gotten enough from Santa already with my most recent visit to my LTS. 🎄🎅🎅🎅
FWIW, I have used RRTrack, SCARM, and AnyRail. I found AnyRail much easier and more intuitive to use, so that's what I stuck with. AnyRail has a free trial version as well so you can see how you like it.
Thank you GunrunnerJohn. I always appreciate your insight and advice.
As long as I am posting, I’d like to ask two more questions: 1) How do you vent for airbrush painting? 2) I have several engines that I’d like to convert to TMCC such as the Lionel scale NYC Mohawk, the Lionel Green GG-1 from 1981, the K-Line scale GG-1 and several others. My concern is that they all have PulMor motors, which don’t play nicely with TMCC, or so I am told. What are your thoughts? Do you do these conversions and, if so, what is the cost? I also hope that I haven’t violated the rules with this last question.
thanks, as always.
Thank you Bill, Steve, Dave for the compliments!
Thank you Bill, Bob, John for your comments in response to Rubin's question!
Bill, I sure have you fooled that I know what I am doing! 
Actually, maybe I do know what I am doing in that I ask questions before I blow something up or gripe about a product that I can't get to work because I didn't read the directions! 
I'm asking John questions quite a lot.
Steve, you are right about shifting gears to something new is invigorating. Sometimes, like wiring you go for weeks and can't really see any physical progress. I think that is a big part of where wiring bogs modelers down.
Dave, I do know some of what Santa is bringing; nothing earth shattering, but still well appreciated. I do have a couple MTH pre-orders in, but we could see them next Christmas. I only said that because I placed the preorders not very long ago, not that I'm complaining at all. I can accept things take a long while to arrive.
Rubin, 1. Back in my HO days, I bought a paint booth made by Badger I think. Connected the exhaust fan to a section of dryer vent hose and a dryer vent that I mounted on a board and placed in an open window so it fit like a window air conditioner. I haven't used it in this house yet, even though we have been in this house over 10 years. I do know I need to make a new vent. I'm sure others have more elaborate setups. I don't have a shop room. My 11x11 train room doubles as my shop. It can be a challenge.
2. I can do my own conversions as long as they don't involve any metal work other than drilling a new hole in the chassis. Replacing the Pullmor motors would be easy for me electrically, but there is usually a lot of fitting and metal work to be done to make proper brackets. I have a K-Line NYC Hudson that I sent to Pat of Harmonyards in North Carolina. He has really turned out some gems, both mechanically, but with new electronics, paint, the works, or as little as you want. Send him an email that is in his profile, and he can get with you on what you want, what he recommends, and a price. Mine is in the queue at this time. Right now he is busy, but is retiring from his day job in 2022 and plans to work on a lot of engines. I see no violation of the rules in asking at all. Someone gives you a tip of who to ask, and then you contact them via email or phone.
@Mark Boyce posted:Connected the exhaust fan to a section of dryer vent hose and a dryer vent that I mounted on a board and placed in an open window so it fit like a window air conditioner.
That's a good idea Mark. No building permit required.
Mark posted: Steve, you are right about shifting gears to something new is invigorating. Sometimes, like wiring you go for weeks and can't really see any physical progress. I think that is a big part of where wiring bogs modelers down.
Mark you hit toenail square on the head that is where I am now. Spent 8 hours Saturday with a friend helping me and all we accomplished was to convert some temporary wiring to permanent wiring. HELP!!!!!
Mark, I got a bunch of preorder stuff that is always calling me. I just got a call tonight that the Atlas/MTH passenger cars of the Southern Road Name came in tonight. That does bring a smile to my face but I'll have to wait until the new year before I see them.
Yeah, Pat does excellent work, and your K-Line Hudson is going to be the biggest home run you have ever seen. He did a great deal to my NYC #3000 Mohawk, which I am still in love with. My first scale engine bought so many year ago has an even greater lease on it's life because of Pat. The scary thing is that I have two Hudson's(same K-Line one as yours and Lionel's Vanderbilt Tender) with him, I have two Commodore Vanderbilt's that will eventually had off to him, #3005 Mohawk and a surprise as well.
Just a ton of stuff in the works, and only a bit of time to hear the Pistons pumping on the rails. Maybe this weekend I can get a minute to do other things railroad related to move on projects here at home. At least one of us is working on the railroad.
Dave, when he did your NYC 3000 Mohawk, did he swap out the Pul-Mor motor? If he did not, how well has the engine worked in TMCC? I have found that several of the early TMCC engines with the old style motors had rather poor speed control. I’d welcome your experience.
May I ask what the cost was ( I’ve got 6 engines to “fix.”)?
Thanks,
Rubin
Rick, yes that is a great example of what I mean. I hope you get beyond the wiring soon.
Dave, I hope you get more time with your layout. I've certainly seen times like what you describe.
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