Mainline is DONE! Controls coming together!
Since the last few posts were focused on LCC, thought it would be good to do a show-and-tell on how the layout itself is coming along. To do this, let's follow along heading eastbound out of Valley Gate. Valley Gate remains pretty much the same. With the Armstrong Yard at Pinion, Valley Gate will be relegated to building only local trains. The lead on the east end of Valley Gate now includes a cross-over, creatively called East Valley Gate. No passenger station here - it was relocated to Pinion. On the upper shelf, we can see the branch to Warm Springs. Functionally the layout is pretty much the same as it was - a shorter main with a longer branch. Just adding some yeast and stretching the runs! Looking to the east of Valley Gate East, we see Coyote siding. Upper shelf we see the branch rising up. The branch has the stiffest grade on the layout - 3.5%. More than what I wanted to end up with, but very doable. ...