Upper Level Looking Good

I had some help today from Kenny M. and we got in 24' of upper level bench work and 16' of backdrop for the lower level. 

More importantly we had a great chance to discuss my thoughts of where to go from here. He had some good ideas and thinks to think about that maybe would help the people flow. We got the basics about getting the transition to the true upper level and possibly some small branch lines. More on that later as we get farther along 

Stud Wall and Helix/Loop

The current progress shows a good portion of a stud wall which will hold the second level. 

The single loop up to get to the proper height for the second level.

Rounding the Corner

Rounding the corner into the second bench. The idea here is to convert the upper section into a true upper level the rest of the way. The upper section will do a loop and be far enough above the lower level for this to work.

Ceiling is done

I think I am finally out of excuses and now I must go full steam ahead with the railroad. 

Things Are Looking Up

The drop ceiling grids are in. Most of the lights are in and the rest will be tomorrow. Still working on getting the heating vents moved. Then all of the ceiling tiles will go in.

In the mean time I built 19 more feet of bench work and installed those plus 16' more. So the bench work away from the wall comes almost all the way back to the other side. One 8' section left to do and then work my way back up the other side. Two of those are already built.

The real trick will be figuring out whether or not I can transition to a real upper deck or not. It will require me to connect to the joists for stability. Time will tell.

For those that knew the old layout, the ceilings are much closer to normal.

Progress again

The other construction is winding down. The train room is available for trains again. So now the ceiling tile grid is in. Next steps is to do some electrical and get a few heating ducts moved. The good news is I can work around that.

Polar Express

I haven't done much scale modeling, but I did go to the North Pole. The 1225 from the movie and rode in the caboose.