Lakeland track is done

Lakeland track is finished. The switching should be fun.

Lakeland trackwork

Tracks extend from Wye down into Lakeland.

Track continues through Wye

Track laying continues. The top photo is of the Wye area on the outside end of the room. The upper leg of the wye is installed and the tracks to the rear of it are the staging tracks. I decided to add a couple of stub end tracks to hold either my container train or the soybean oil tank car train. The wye will be the entrance to the main yard in Arcadia. The wye track will be completed when the center peninsula is constructed. Before the peninsula is attached the staging area will be sceniced. 
The photos follow the main and go clockwise around the layout thru Mulberry to the Nichols Phosphate Mine area. 
The next two photos show two future projects. I am about start on the battery power conversion for the locos. The AirWire system I've chosen is DCC based technology and requires the receivers be installed in the loco just like a DCC decoder. The receiver has all the functionality of the DCC decoder in addition to the signal receiving capacity. I'm planning on three powered locos to start. Batteries will be placed in the "slave" units. I have removed the motors from old locos purchased on Ebay for little money and will add the batteries inside the shells. I thought the slave idea was prototypical as the ACC used them extensively.
I purchased a lot of 30 cars on Ebay and this photo shows the ones that need some work. Most need couplers, a few need trucks, and several are either undecorated entirely or data only. Not sure when I will get to these but the ones that just need couplers will be first. I'm thinking I will do a "car project" and weather everything as I repair each car. You can see all the serviceable cars are already on the layout.
The final photo is of the workbench area, already way too full with stuff:)

Track Laying begins

Track laying is underway. The top photo is of the Phosphate mine area, next is the phosphate wash area, then the Publix warehouse area and next the Phosphate drying area. The bottom shot is an overview. The workbench is starting to become somewhat overgrown with stuff. Alas, that seem to be the fate of workbenches everywhere. The next area to be worked is the why area at the left of the drying scene. That is the 2' wide section that the peninsula will be attached to - someday:)

Let the track begin

This is the current plan. The yellow square represents the LED track light system. The brown shapes are vessels at the Punta Gorda docks. To the left a car ferry and to the right a bulk carrier used to transport phosphate. My workbench is at right and the center peninsula will be built once the wye area to the left is completed. The era is current day and the power will be an airwire battery system. Let the trumpets sound and the fun begin:)

Let there be light!

The lights are in and wonder of wonders they actually work:) The ceilings in my building are 40 year old concrete so they've had lots of time to fully CURE and the concrete is hard as hell. I received a masonry bit with the concrete screws I purchased and it worked at first. When I say it worked what I mean is using all my meager strength pushing on the drill and requiring rest between three separate sessions for each hole I managed to drill about 9 holes for the mounting screws. At this point I started to fear that the exertion at the limit of my strength and endurance might actually give me a stroke so I had to change methods. I had purchased a hammer drill attachment for my drill but hadn't used it because I had no bits that would fit it. I wasn't even sure what a hammer drill bit looked like. Off to Home Depot where the nice saleslady found me the bit I needed. What a difference! The balance of the holes were much easier. Amazing what the correct tool can do:) I now have an LED track lighting system that circles the room and finally have plenty of light and the LED's should help with the heat. At long last the room prep is mostly over and I'm ready to LET THERE BE TRACK!!!!

Cork is finito

The cork is finally all glued down. I used full strength white glue and push pins to keep it in place while the glue set. I still got some bulges where the cork swelled from the absorption of moisture from the glue but those can be dealt with as required by the track installation. The last photo is a tease for the track light phase. Drilling holes to mount the tracks is VERY VERY DAMN HARD. More later.