A foam filled day!!!

With the holidays, I've had more free time to work on the layout. This week, I've been concentrating on getting the basic scenery base in place. I'm using a few different types of foam and cutting to fit the spaces on my open grid benchwork. I've been running trains for a while now but I've been VERY nervous while running on the upper deck as a derailment could be catastrophic with the open grid. I'd hate to see a custom painted and weathered loco tumble 60" to the floor. Now that I've got the foam in, I feel a LOT better about running trains and testing the track on the upper deck.



Here's a shot of a local I've been running all week while testing some Sergent Engineering couplers. These are by far the best couplers I've ever used. Much better than Kadee so far. They are strong and reliable and prototypical in operation. Zoom in on the open knuckle on the front of the GM&O unit. I'm swapping out my entire fleet. Notice the open benchwork below the track bed. Accident waiting to happen.


Here's a view from the same spot above but looking "West" towards the East bound local. Now that the foam is in, I feel much more at ease when thinking about derailments. The area under the tank cars will be a low wetland area with a couple of small creeks and two wooden trestles.

Here's another trestle that's already in place. This will be also be a low swampy area with cypress trees in standing water. I'm looking forward to working on this scene.