Halfway there!

We are just past a few weeks that are a nice illustration of the balance required to keep things moving on a layout when there is a full life going on aside from the hobby simultaneously.  Somehow it is nearly a month since the last post though it feels like a week!   Between activities for the kids and family commitments on nights and weekends, all the layout progress had to be crammed into moments when time was available.  

And yet there is progress, because even small steps over time add up to a whole. The new storage area off the Island is coming along well, now wired, mounted and painted up:

The end piece is made from leftover plywood to create a small drink shelf that can also hide the protruding supports for the new lift out bridge.  Holes will be cut to support beverages.

And it can be removed, allowing for installation of the bridge.  Here's an earlier test fit of the new bridge, cut from Gatorboard.  Gatorboard is a specialty structural foam product with an even surface and it is quite rigid, while being very light.  

Many thanks are due to Tom Schmieder and Jim Harr, who both have helped me bring this vision to life.  It was threading a needle in many ways and while there is a ways to go, we are getting there.  The bridge will get Masonite girder sides and needs track laid and wiring completed.  But in the meantime, we need to clean up in order to host an operating session for guests this coming weekend.  Building a layout like this sometimes means having to build while accommodating operations - a lot like the prototype!  

Spring has begun and the race is on to get this project set ahead of the May and the start of many outdoor activities.  And we get it done completing each step along the way.