Ballard-2

The Ballard track board was installed yesterday, September 3, and a very welcome development it was for me. My son Campbell was in town for the weekend, and provided the second pair of hands.
     Here is the track board, as it’s been stored for a couple of years, up on edge and very much in the way in the train room (eight-foot plywood slabs can be like that):

     As I mentioned in my previous post (http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2011/09/ballard-1.html), all supports were ready to accept the track board, so we just had to lift it into place.

Here we are lifting the board above the staging and preparing to lower it onto the supports. Wiring had been pulled onto the board top as much as possible.
      Next we had to maneuver it into correct position, in this view getting the east end aligned in place.

It was more difficult to align the west end, as the rails had to line up with the existing layout construction. The problem, of course, is that we had to work with arms extended, rather than under the load, as would have been far more natural and convenient.

But we got there. Here’s the happy workers after completion. By the way, Cam’s T-shirt, a souvenir of Alaska, says, “If you must smoke, smoke a salmon.”

     I couldn’t wait to grab a couple of structures and put them into their places, here the winery (right) and the Peerless Foods wholesale warehouse. Both need some repair before they’re really ready, but it was still gratifying to finally see them in place in Ballard, even temporarily.

     There’s some wiring revision and of course extensive scenery repair ahead, but it will be fun to progress toward switching Ballard, always a favorite part of the layout.
Tony Thompson