Lower Staging is installed

Well I finally got back to the trains. I put a 10 track staging yard in the lower level. There will be at least 8 or 9 tracks for staging and 1 or 2 for the return loop. Right now I'm leaning toward having a passing track for the return track. With any luck I put the blocks in the right place for detection and signaling. There we only be 1 signal to get into staging and whatever is needed for the return track. I had to carefully plan this because the upper level staging will be exactly the same. Above you see the tracks just ending and loose. That is because the eight tracks to the left will go the the left and then circle around and connect up with the two tracks to the right. That way I won't have to handle the trains.

The only thing I didn't do was cut the holes for the tortoise machines. I did at least think ahead and I believe all the machines will fit under the turnouts. Once that is done I can start laying track up to Rigby Yard and all the way around to the spot across the aisle from where this picture is taken.

Catching up

I've been away for awhile and there hasn't been much done. I had a goal set to be operating by Labor Day and I had to know by next week whether I was going to make it. I decided that I was probably not going to make it. The pressure comes off, but then so does the speed at which I was working. I did take some of this time to refine some of the track that wasn't set in stone.
I also had to do some major clean up to do, because I couldn't move around the room very easily. Today I decided to spend some time laying down the cork roadbed for a lot of the lower level. I decided to try using caulk this time. One reason is that it is supposed to be easier to pull up than glue. The other is that it is tacky enough to hold the cork in place. It does hold the cork pretty good, but I still needed the pins as the curve got tighter.
Tomorrow I'll go down and see how good it holds. I do have the main line cork down on most of the first level.