Making sawdust

Sometimes it seems my main output while building wooden benchwork is sawdust. I used to really like the benchwork part of the hobby, but after a few layouts it has become a drag. Fortunately, I'm almost done with lower deck staging and the main layout uses mostly foam-based benchwork.

So here's where I am tonight:


The subroadbed for the upper tier staging is now completely in place -- and if you look closely you may notice that I put down 9' of additional track next to the wall, too. You can also see the plywood for the middle and lower tiers cut and laying roughly in place -- they were put there temporarily to see that they fit, but they'll be set aside until the upper tier is complete.

Speaking of that, my next task will be to put roadbed and track down for the rest of the upper tier, including connecting to the main layout. I'm looking forward to seeing how trains do with the upper tier slopes.

Once that's in place I'll probably build the power cabinet. Once the staging track is connected to the main layout track it will no longer be practical to test track with just a DC power pack and alligator clips -- I'll need to fully set up the power wiring, including auto reverse devices. So, it makes sense to build the cabinet for those power devices before setting up the devices.