As some of you are aware I enlisted the help of Byron Henderson of Layout Vision to critique my track plan before I begin building. Having no former experience building a model railroad I wanted a well trained eye to look over what I had designed in hopes that serious design blunders would be found before track hits roadbed.

I am calling it done, ready for submission to the GPB on Feb 7. May I present to you the LK&O track plan final.

A bit of explanation is in order for what is not denoted on the XTrack drawing...

I know the sky blue paint I put on the walls on Monday

Blue, your comment reminded me to make this post. I too am elated that progress is being made on the LK&O. Well, at least on the LK&O right-of-way. I find myself standing in the room staring at the blue walls with my imagination running at notch 8. What do you guys think of the color choice?

I am on Byron's schedule now so I have a deadline to make. T minus 30 days and counting. May I ask you take a look at the Firestone plant arrangement? A major rubber factory complex for switching activity is a druther. The green buildings are not exacts, just to get a feel.

Please shoot holes in my plan because otherwise it looks like to me I have the LK&O's namesake locales in place - Lapeer, Kitzmiller, and Ohio.

You were kind enough to point out my previous attempts at track planning resulted in disaster. For this I thank you. I have been trying to get continuous loop out of my head and instead focus on 1 trip through the layout. All the while maintaining the 3 locales and their proto track arrangement.

Am I getting closer to something workable in this attachment?

Thank you for your time and Merry Christmas to all.

The drywall work in the train room is complete. Wall painting starts today. Wahoo! Paint and a little trim out will make the entire basement finished.

This is a follow-up to the suggestions of using a wet sponge to smooth drywall joint compound. I sanded the initial application with 150g paper on a 10" bodyman handboard. I vacuumed and repeated this process until all joints were flat and straight without major defects. I then applied the final coat of joint compound 4-6" beyond the prior applications with a 9" knife pressed tightly. Immediately afterward I wiped the joint lightly with a wet sponge (not dripping wet but definitely more than damp).

Hello Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine readers. This is my first post as I an new to the hobby and just getting started. My name is Alan and I live in central Michigan. Having moved into our very first built-to-order house my wife has granted me permission (married guys know what I am talking about) to return to the hobby I loved as a kid. My oh my how things have changed in model railroading over the past 40 years. It is all so exciting.