Yeah, it's been slow going. I have been working on a few projects, one being the coal mining / sorting / loading area. The photo below shows the trackwork being "dry fit" before final mounting, and the partially completed coal tipple straddling the tracks to check the spacing.
Coal trains arriving here need the ability to either pull in locomotive first, or back in caboose first. Either way, the loco or the caboose (with help from a switching engine) need to uncouple from the train, and then do a "run-around" maneuver to get back out while the coal hoppers are being loaded.
A little further up the line, the other project I've been working on has been a royal pain. If you remember my previous railroad, you may recall the lift gate running past the sliding door in the basement, and that I had to rebuild that gate to get it right. Well, what was once a swing gate on this railroad, at the room entry, has been rebuilt to be a lift-out section. The swinging gate didn't provide a wide enough access to the room - just poor planning on my part.
Above, looking across the upper level of the lift-out toward the coal mining area; below, looking across from the opposite direction. Track and roadbed are yet to be replaced.
