Ok, with just 10 days to go I'm facing the now rapidly approaching tour with a new heightened sense of urgency on one front and satisfaction on the other.
Last few days I've had a few friends over to shake down the layout. One night we had four operators and I think every possible switching move and track spur was run over and every loco run. A few track problems were found and a defect was list prepared for my attention on the following days, I also got some good suggestions on some scenery tweaks and other minor things that helped heighten the realism of my scenes. The number one problem was dirty track, I've been so busy with construction that some areas away from where I'd been working have been ignored for quite some time and a fair bit of dust was on the rails. Well no more! Two days after the first session I had a second with different operators and happily the issues that came to light were not those I had attended on my defect list but some new ones including a few good suggestions on improving the labeling of switches and routings to make operations of some areas more easily understandable.
I also put together two new laser cut kits this week to fill in an area that I have a dairy farm planned. One was a Laser art Albion house kit which is a great kit with tons of detail and trim that went together well. The second was Northeast kit of a dairy barn that also went together well but did not include the same level of trim and completeness as the Laser art kit. (no roof material ).
Now with only a short time to go before the tour I'm going to turn my attention to these operating improvements and final detailing of certain areas. I hope to get a chance to service the rolling stock and prepare a short handout on the pike for those that come on the tour. Because the layout will only comfortably hold about six viewers I plan to set up some coffee and a train video in the garage as a staging area for the tour folks!
Wonder how they will feel about being staged.
