I reported in my progress a few times on the "What did you do on your layout today" topic. Here is a summary. I glued down and sanded cork roadbed. Before laying track I spray painted the cork with Rustoleum American Accents Stone Gray Stone spray paint. I saw another Forum member write about this, so it is not my idea. I like to put in most of my scenery before ballasting. I think it is very passable in the meantime for ballasted track. Who knows, maybe I will never actually ballast the track. I don't like ballasting.
Here is what the second section i did looks like. I must caution you that little hard particles will float around and get on everything within a couple feet. They can be scraped off without damage, but if my wife had noticed them on a couple items in the room, she wouldn't have been happy.
Thinking of a recent discussion on track screws on the "What did you do on your layout today" topic, I decided I was going t get #4 flathead screws and countersink. I stopped at C. T. McCormick Hardware a couple weeks ago to pick up the Ross curved switch I needed, and Jeff showed me these #4 screws he stocks especially for what I wanted to do. They are already black. Hooray! No daubing on paint and risking filling the x slot in the head.
So the next two photographs show how it looks right now. I have gaps and power drops installed where I think they will be appropriate. I then ran some temporary wire across the floor from the other room where the Z4000 and TIU now reside. I clipped onto each drop to check that an engine could run okay. I didn't do anymore wiring because I plan to locate the TIU on the yet to be built benchwork in the middle of the layout. That will be the next phase of benchwork.
Here is how the flathead screws look.
Monday, I placed an order for the second load of Mianne Benchwork that will take care of most of the length of the layout along the brick wall.
Thank you for taking a look.
