Thank you, Mike and Peter!! All in all I did a fairly good job of staying out from underneath the layout during wiring. For connections near the back of the 30” shelves, I made connections on top of the layout, dropped the wires through holes and then pulled the wires towards the front edge where I have several sets of wire clamps along the way. I then pulled all those along with wires from the front to the wiring panel while sitting upright on my padded roll around stool. The concept really worked out well. For connections near the edge, the layout is high enough I was able to sit on the stool and just duck a bit with reading glasses instead of my normal bifocals. My dad would be proud. Even though he was a very strong man during most of his adult life, he always taught me to use my head not my muscles whenever you can.
Mark, I read your last three progress reports. Well done!!! You've made major progress. And I agree with your decision to defer ballasting until the scenery is in place. I'm doing that as well.
George
Congratulations on your milestone Mark. And thank you for the pictures and summing up what you’ve done to this point. I know how you feel about smaller parts. That is also one of the reasons why I switched to O gauge. Looking forward to seeing your progress.
Andy
Thank you, George and Andy! It is always good hearing from someone who has the same idea as me or has done something similar than me in the past and made similar decisions about changing. Thank you for taking a look!!
Moving right along Mark, you're sure beating me to the scenery. I have to stop expanding and start finishing I guess, you're embarrassing me! 
@Mark Boyce posted:Thank you, George and Andy! It is always good hearing from someone who has the same idea as me or has done something similar than me in the past and made similar decisions about changing. Thank you for taking a look!!
Mark, I too have enjoyed following your progress. Good luck with the scenery. I’m in the midst of packing away my trains and dismantling my layout to make way for our addition and my new, much larger layout room. This project is at least six months to completion. Then I can begin construction and apply some of the lessons I’ve learned from the others and you. Now if I can only find a good track planning tool or program.
And while I have 20x25 to work with, I’m thinking more and more about biting off smaller pieces because the thing does seem rather daunting.
any thoughts, anyone?
Thank you, John, Rubin!
John, yes you have a much larger layout and have taken the time for expansion too. Yours looks great!
Rubin, congratulations on the planned addition. I agree, with that much space, I would work on sections at a time, to not get overwhelmed with the tasks you don't like as well as others. My design was made on SCARM because that is what 'DoubleDAZ' Dave uses. I do not know how other tools compare.
Rubin, we have RRTrax and are pleased with it. 18 X 38 and the track plan has been within 1/4”. If you want some info, send us an e-mail. We are doing by sections; even that gets a bit old.
Mark really knows what he is doing. We try to never miss his updates.
@RubinG posted:Mark, I too have enjoyed following your progress. Good luck with the scenery. I’m in the midst of packing away my trains and dismantling my layout to make way for our addition and my new, much larger layout room. This project is at least six months to completion. Then I can begin construction and apply some of the lessons I’ve learned from the others and you. Now if I can only find a good track planning tool or program.
And while I have 20x25 to work with, I’m thinking more and more about biting off smaller pieces because the thing does seem rather daunting.
any thoughts, anyone?
Rubin- Try SCARM, the free version allows you to get your feet wet but it has a track piece limit. If you like it you can upgrade to the full version for a reasonable price.
Some guys like Anyrail too.
For your build- if you develop a plan and can get the bulk of the benchwork done, at least the big mess is behind you. Track can be done in modules so you can concentrate on one section at a time. Of course if you are eager to run trains then dive in head first.
Good luck with the move and keep us posted.
Bob
Congrats on reaching a new stage. I have always found shifting gears like that to be invigorating, giving me new energy as I turn to new tasks. I hope the same is true for you.
Hopefully Santa brings a lot of good things Mark. I think I have gotten enough from Santa already with my most recent visit to my LTS. 🎄🎅🎅🎅
FWIW, I have used RRTrack, SCARM, and AnyRail. I found AnyRail much easier and more intuitive to use, so that's what I stuck with. AnyRail has a free trial version as well so you can see how you like it.
Thank you GunrunnerJohn. I always appreciate your insight and advice.
As long as I am posting, I’d like to ask two more questions: 1) How do you vent for airbrush painting? 2) I have several engines that I’d like to convert to TMCC such as the Lionel scale NYC Mohawk, the Lionel Green GG-1 from 1981, the K-Line scale GG-1 and several others. My concern is that they all have PulMor motors, which don’t play nicely with TMCC, or so I am told. What are your thoughts? Do you do these conversions and, if so, what is the cost? I also hope that I haven’t violated the rules with this last question.
thanks, as always.
Thank you Bill, Steve, Dave for the compliments!
Thank you Bill, Bob, John for your comments in response to Rubin's question!
Bill, I sure have you fooled that I know what I am doing! 
Actually, maybe I do know what I am doing in that I ask questions before I blow something up or gripe about a product that I can't get to work because I didn't read the directions! 
I'm asking John questions quite a lot.
Steve, you are right about shifting gears to something new is invigorating. Sometimes, like wiring you go for weeks and can't really see any physical progress. I think that is a big part of where wiring bogs modelers down.
Dave, I do know some of what Santa is bringing; nothing earth shattering, but still well appreciated. I do have a couple MTH pre-orders in, but we could see them next Christmas. I only said that because I placed the preorders not very long ago, not that I'm complaining at all. I can accept things take a long while to arrive.
Rubin, 1. Back in my HO days, I bought a paint booth made by Badger I think. Connected the exhaust fan to a section of dryer vent hose and a dryer vent that I mounted on a board and placed in an open window so it fit like a window air conditioner. I haven't used it in this house yet, even though we have been in this house over 10 years. I do know I need to make a new vent. I'm sure others have more elaborate setups. I don't have a shop room. My 11x11 train room doubles as my shop. It can be a challenge. 
2. I can do my own conversions as long as they don't involve any metal work other than drilling a new hole in the chassis. Replacing the Pullmor motors would be easy for me electrically, but there is usually a lot of fitting and metal work to be done to make proper brackets. I have a K-Line NYC Hudson that I sent to Pat of Harmonyards in North Carolina. He has really turned out some gems, both mechanically, but with new electronics, paint, the works, or as little as you want. Send him an email that is in his profile, and he can get with you on what you want, what he recommends, and a price. Mine is in the queue at this time. Right now he is busy, but is retiring from his day job in 2022 and plans to work on a lot of engines. I see no violation of the rules in asking at all. Someone gives you a tip of who to ask, and then you contact them via email or phone.
@Mark Boyce posted:Connected the exhaust fan to a section of dryer vent hose and a dryer vent that I mounted on a board and placed in an open window so it fit like a window air conditioner.
That's a good idea Mark. No building permit required.
Mark posted: Steve, you are right about shifting gears to something new is invigorating. Sometimes, like wiring you go for weeks and can't really see any physical progress. I think that is a big part of where wiring bogs modelers down.
Mark you hit toenail square on the head that is where I am now. Spent 8 hours Saturday with a friend helping me and all we accomplished was to convert some temporary wiring to permanent wiring. HELP!!!!!
Mark, I got a bunch of preorder stuff that is always calling me. I just got a call tonight that the Atlas/MTH passenger cars of the Southern Road Name came in tonight. That does bring a smile to my face but I'll have to wait until the new year before I see them.
Yeah, Pat does excellent work, and your K-Line Hudson is going to be the biggest home run you have ever seen. He did a great deal to my NYC #3000 Mohawk, which I am still in love with. My first scale engine bought so many year ago has an even greater lease on it's life because of Pat. The scary thing is that I have two Hudson's(same K-Line one as yours and Lionel's Vanderbilt Tender) with him, I have two Commodore Vanderbilt's that will eventually had off to him, #3005 Mohawk and a surprise as well.
Just a ton of stuff in the works, and only a bit of time to hear the Pistons pumping on the rails. Maybe this weekend I can get a minute to do other things railroad related to move on projects here at home. At least one of us is working on the railroad.
Dave, when he did your NYC 3000 Mohawk, did he swap out the Pul-Mor motor? If he did not, how well has the engine worked in TMCC? I have found that several of the early TMCC engines with the old style motors had rather poor speed control. I’d welcome your experience.
May I ask what the cost was ( I’ve got 6 engines to “fix.”)?
Thanks,
Rubin
Rick, yes that is a great example of what I mean. I hope you get beyond the wiring soon.
Dave, I hope you get more time with your layout. I've certainly seen times like what you describe.
