It's been awhile since the previous post — note that I don't include dates on these. Hobbies linger through other chores, lack of interest, travel, whatever. My son moved on 16 months ago to a well-paying job. That led a month ago to another even better job. Oh! And my daughter and her husband had a son — now I'm a grandfather. I'm very proud.

Delia and I got a second home which has sucked resources and time. But, I have made progress and completed all the major construction and wiring. This journal entry shows the installation of the lower shelf yard before the addition of the helix.

The yard gives me a near-desktop layout for displaying rolling stock and locomotives, as well as a mechanism for turning locomotives around after they descend from the upper shelf.

A Kof switching locomotive, visible on the 10pm spoke of the turntable, handles the chores of reorganizing consists.

The tracks sit directly on the oak shelf in keeping with my desire to maintain a more furniture-like appearance. Wiring is routed under the shelf and out of sight. Still a little trim to do around the roundhouse cutout. Maybe I'll make a door (!).

The picture below shows the challenge of lower to upper level movement. The lift will be 48". Note also the inside of the closet showing the locomotive parking, as well as the Intellibox and transformer. Train control is ported to an Apple MacMini running iTrain.

The chimney in the corner awaits the helix.