After the CFO filled us full of homemade sloppy joes, ham salad, mashed potatoes and applesauce it was time to go have some fun....er, get back to work. After being in and out of the hospital three times in the past two weeks it sure felt great to be back in the train room with the rest of the crew!

Tom sprays on camouflage paint over the rails and ties at the diesel shop site. The paint adds realistic perspective in addition to weathering. It also does a good job of covering up the appearance of the cork.

Tom puts the diesel shop in place thus making it the first structure on the layout. Sheet styrene will later be placed between the rails in the shop as flooring for the workers.

The rear view of the structure reveals doors in various positions. Lighting and other interior details will be added later.

A break in the rain enables Mike to do some cutting on the outside deck.

Work begins on the western end of the Usibelli Coal Mine. LJ mounts the plywood road bed to the cleats.

Tom then marks off the road bed in preparation for laying cork.

Next Tom installs the switch.

Adhesive is then applied to secure the cork to the plywood.

Tape is used to hold the cork in place until the adhesive cures. Next week track can be laid!

The CFO spoils the train night crew by delivering numerous flavors of ice cream and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

Mike and LJ lay down the first piece of plywood leading into the Port of Whittier.

All plywood from the past layout is used up so the crew will most likely fill in the shortfall with Styrofoam.

Our attention will soon shift to construction of a transfer table for the barge. John found an issue of Classic Toy Trains online describing building one for an O scale layout. Since the barge weighs 4-5 pounds we will need to find something powerful enough to drive it. Any ideas?

Mike is doing the preparation work for the facia by countersinking some of the "above board" screw heads.

The facia is cut so an inch will protrude above board level. This will prevent damage to the scenery as well as keep derailments from hitting the floor.

Mike repositions the floodlights for proper layout illumination. Additionally, dark spots are identified and John will purchase more lights this week.

Tom lays the remaining track for the Usibelli Coal Mine siding. Since we are a little short of code 100 flex-track Tom pieces together several smaller surplus sections. This area is now dubbed the "Frankenstein" section. After soldering and sanding the end result is smooth as glass.

LJ mounts and wires the Tortoise switch machine for the western end of the Usibelli Coal mine siding. As a final step he adds it onto the handheld controllers list of switches.

Tom begins the long process of soldering all the rail joiners in place. This will aid in the electrical continuity throughout the layout. Tonight Tom soldered all connections from the north end of the yard to the midway point.

Using the final leftover pieces of plywood Mike and LJ piece together the Port of Whittier. The last piece of wood will lay over the framework at right. Mike loads it in his car to make some final cuts before installation.

The middle section of the Port of Whittier.