In December the track plan (plotted out in Templot software by Richard Oldfield) was finally delivered allowing us to finalise the location of the track and hence the buildings on the modelled section. More building mock-ups in cardboard were built – especially of the Hotel block as we got better town plans and some photos of the Central Hotel. We also found a good photo of the goods depot. Flagstaff mountain was started from expanded polystyrene sheet. Over Christmas Paul relaid the main lines and much of the yard track according to the plans, but this is not shown in the photos below.

In November the staging yard trackwork was adjusted to allow all possible rolling stock (ie. a UP Big Boy!) to pass. ‘Droppers” were soldered to the track to provide power so that trains could be run round on Open Day (24th Nov). The detailed trackwork at the front is being planned for us by Richard Oldfield using Templot software – Last minute modifications were made following the provision of addtional track diagrams by Tom Biery. The locations of the streets were marked out, building mock-ups in cardboard were started and the first mountains were assembled. Trains ran well on the Open Day – note that this is only existing rolling stock and not what we hope to run eventually.