Thanks for all of your responses. Let me try to answer the questions that have been asked.
The room we are using at one point was a craft room that has not been used very much for the past 4 years. It is a perfect place to construct a layout as it is not in the way of our everyday activities. So we have the option to leave it up. This layout will be in addition to our main train layout located in another structure. With all the snow we have received in the past week, it is not always practical to go to the main layout, so it will be a nice feature to be able to run some scale trains in the house with all of the curves being 0-72.
Now for the theme of the new layout. We have many D56 North Pole buildings and accessories that will be incorporated in the new layout. The layout will be a blend of D56 products with some custom structures relative to the Polar Express story. We will take you on the PE journey starting at the mountain range and take you across the ice field, then pass the elves lodging and services, and finally the Lionel scale blue/maroon version train will arrive at the center of the North Pole. Lots of surprises planned in this area of the new layout.
You will notice in the benchwork photos an elevated platform the goes around the perimeter of the layout. We plan to run the 10th Anniversary Gold PE train on this track. We realize that most of our visitors tend to be non-train people, so having trains with continuous operation is a plus for us.
And Matt, what's next, PAINT, the first coat went on today. With all the snow we have had as of late and another foot tomorrow, the white paint we applied to the benchwork today is very applicable.
Lots to do. We will keep you updated with our progress.
Excellent craftsmanship
