It's a long, hot summer . . .

I'm not getting as much done as I'd like, with the heat and I not going together very well.  Any work on the modules has to be done mornings, along with mowing the grass, etc. Even so, the junction has the track down and ready to be wired with track power drops on all three lines.  The gap in the straight section, a non-Kato length, has been closed by the simple expedience of taking a slightly longer piece of track (I used a 124mm section) and cutting it to fit, 101mm nominally.

The single module, with a short siding, will be tied down next. Then, the wiring on it will be done, too.  I'm learning that most (all?) modules should have power drops on them.  One never knows when they could be needed in a future setup, eh?

Work on structures is starting, albeit slowly. Very slowly. As they progress, pictures will follow.

As a running layout, I've settled on using a pair of the double-deep modules to complete the loop of the Trans-Tropics Rwy.  Here's the configuration:

The two modules on the left are the "borrowed" pieces, an end cap and a "C" configuration module.  Overall, about eight feet in length. Don't put too much stock in the scenery there, I just grabbed the little available in AnyRail to keep it from looking so bare, so "plywood plains." 

This has been exported into TrainPlayer (I'm running 7.0) and I tried it out for an evening.  A passenger train was set racing (indicated 40 mph!) around the outside loop. The inside was set up with a mixed freight, plodding along at 20 mph with its' eight cars and caboose. My freights have cabooses. Period.

After running a few laps, I started playing with the various routing options with the two ovals and the TTrak inner main.  eventually, I switched the eight freight cars onto the two sidings and the four yard tracks. That left the loco (an SW-1200 class switcher) and the caboose to finish the evening, running easy.

The TTrak outer main had a steam loco and three cars, a baggage and two Pullman coaches.  They looped steadily, with an occasional variation to use the passing siding at the left end, just for variety.  Hmmm, the next time, I may park another train over there and alternate which one is making laps.

I could also do the same with the inside line and ovals, but I'll try to not get too carried away with it.  After all, tonight was the first time I've successfully run two trains at once in TrainPlayer.  It does it just fine, me, not so much, yet.