I really need to do this much more frequently than I have. Lots of progress has been happening and here’s a brief recap.

First, track and wiring is done for the mains  and sidings from CP Loucks (the north end of the visible layout) through downtown York. The biggest challenges here are the fact that everything that should be CTC is CTC. That means detection, DCC controlled switches, etc… I’ve also been building the CTC panel in JMRI as I go.

I was growing weary of a sea of green foam, so I also painted the general terrain in downtown York. Combined with re-used and stand in buildings it gives a good sense of the whole space. I’m really happy with it.

As part of the track installation I’ve been making progress on building and refining my locking, indicating, manual switch controls. These boxes, used in conjunction with actual mini padlocks, will both make crews interact with certain switches much like they would in reality and will also reflect the lined and locked status of the switches to the dispatcher.

Of course there’s been some JFRTM along the way. I hopped on the chance as soon as I got everything needed to run the MA&PA job, which has especially been fun when I’ve had visitors.

Here are a few overall progress pics at this point.