Andy Miller painted some more of the "50th Anniversary" cars that the Club intends to sell. They look really sharp! John McNamara continued his work on extending the roundhouse stalls. James Knight, John Purbrick, and Alvar Saenz-Otero continued work on layout debugging. After a tricky closed block gap and two wiring 'typos,' they were done! By mid-evening, John Purbrick was able to run his loco completely around the layout, powered by The System, and throwing switches via computer to change routes. We now have a FULLY FUNCTIONAL LAYOUT, needing only some human interface embellishments.

Andy Miller began installation of the stone walls for Gifford City, which make it look much better. He also painted more sheets of the rock material, which will be needed to complete the whole area. Bill Onorato continued work on the vegetable oil facility. John Shriver doubled the amount of trolley track; he is definitely going faster by using the pre-made trolley track, rather than making it out of code 70 and code 100 track. John Purbrick worked on the bridge that will cross over the main line next to his Warehouse. By building the bridge he'll be able to finish the Warehouse. Alvar worked on the ramp for the bridge to 105st station. Andy helped Alvar to paint the street and tunnel. Howard and Alvar got rid of more old shelfs, making lots of space around the S&P area.

Dick Lord helped to 'translate' the old system occupancy documentation into new paperwork. This allowed Jeff Birkner to get ready all the System 2 side that will allow the new system to have D-Board functionality. John Purbrick brought in the hardware that will connect to System 2 for D-Board operation; the wire to connect the two Systems still needs to be done.

John M continued his work on the roundhouse floor; it is nearly ready for painting. John P worked on wiring the System occupancy circuits to the PC, enabling an on-screen D-board-like display. Alvar disassembled the temporary shelving that ran along part of the windows, to open up the space in the back of the room. In the process many lengths of old wire and the old switch kludges were discarded (since the new ones have been installed and are working!). Substantial other material, especially telephone equipment, was retained for sorting.

3 New videos have been added to the Videos Page.

Bill is almost done with the design of the Vegetable oil facility, making it ready for the actual scenic material to be installed. Andy brought in the complete 50th Anniversary fleet and it looks incredibly good as a train! He then continued work on the stone walls around Gifford City. John Purbrick continued to work on the bridge next to the warehouse he is building, so that he can design the office building of the warehouse. He also worked on the material to build the 105th street platform, which will be a low level platform. John Shriver continued to expand the trolley line, making it all the way to the first 'S'. Alvar, with the help from James and Howard, finished the room clean that began Wednesday. He also disassembled some unused wood structures to recover material, and installed 1x2's along the bottom of the layout, especially to protect Switch Card #1.

Andy, Bill, and Alvar discussed some plans for the future of the layout, especially that for F-Yard, which seems to be the most reasonable section to build next.

The progress gallery has been greatly updated with four new sections and over 60 pictures total. Check it out! You can always access it directly through he Progress Page.

John M. completed the roundhouse flooring. It is now ready for painting. John P worked on the access road that will serve his produce warehouse. He also began construction of the station platforms for 105th street.

Andy Miller worked on the truss bridge nearest the side door. Bill Onorato was doing scenery (ground cover, weeds) on the siding nearby. John Shriver laid out a new pair of test tracks on the homasote, to check the clearance for the double-track swerve after the station. That plan was then drawn on the plywood. Pieces of MITCo roadbed were lifted, glued down, and re-nailed. (The stresses are much higher, so glueing is in order. Also, some nails were too near the rail.) One more curve of trolley track was bent and spiked. Howard Gorin examined the Orr rail curving tool to see why it sometimes leaves a twist in the rails. (The rollers aren't of a consistent thickness, some are too loose.) On Sunday, John Shriver stopped by again, and laid the roadbed for the double-track swerve, and the tangent track after it. The swerve isn't fancy, but nobody will see it under the pavement... The roadbed can't be laid in front of the station until I decide if I'm laying the carbarn ladder at TMRC, or in his basement.