Roadbed & Track in Place

After a lot of experimentation with cutting depressions into the foam base, I finalized the location and depth of the river and the roadway. With these in place, I was able to lay the final cork roadbed for the outer main line and to lay all the turnouts, viaducts and track.

I was also able to route the wiring for the track power and the turnouts. A hole was drilled immediately under each track piece that requires power that allowed the wires to go down through the foam base and to emerge under the wood base frame. The wires were then routed through the various holes in the frame to bring them all to the main control point.

Now that the track was in its final location, I was able to run the trains on all the available routes to once again make sure I had all the clearances right to handle the long passenger cars. During this process, I discovered that the Super Chief's dome observation car (the longest one) brushed the inside walls of the viaduct overpasses. By lowering the height of each inside wall by filing them down I eliminated this problem.

I am now ready to glue the track in place and begin building the major landscaping features ...