The new layout up and running, even a bit of backdrop (white, not blue)

The first weekend in April, Jim Stewart and I displayed the layout at the Ohio 2-Foot Meet (Midwest Narrow Gauge Meet).  Upon returning, I set my sites on the NMRA region convention set for the end of the month.  That gave us 4 weeks to finalize the plan (yes, I was going to use a new track plan see below), assemble the benchwork, hoist the layout up onto the benchwork, and fill the gaps with foam and track.  Jim had doubts, but I knew it could be done!  It took me till 5am on the night before the layout tour, to complete the loop, but it all worked!  I got up by 9:30am to greet the first guest at 11am (just like cramming for an exam in college).  Thanks to Jim for coming over on Sunday morning to clean the basement and host the guests plus all the other countless hours.  We only had 3 NMRA members visit the layout, along with 3 Eastern Loggers members (guys from my club), 3 neighbors, and 3 family members.  The number of NMRA guests was a disappointment.  I understand why.  Who wants to drive all over a city looking for layouts, then drive home, then go to work the next morning?  It is my understanding that most convention attendees rank layout visits as the #1 or #2 criteria for a convention.  The NMRA should reconsider when it shows layouts.  The National Narrow Gauge Conventions and Sn3 Symposiums (on par in size with regional conventions) usually do the layout visits each afternoon of the convention.  After this event, Jim and I did not see each other for over a month...we were tired of each other and tired of trains.  It was time for me to spend time in the Garden.

Sorry the plan is so light.  The center peninsula was not built for the show.  Only the continuous run around the walls was put in place.  The rough dimension of the layout is 12x22'.  This left another 12x22' foot space, mostly open and available for possible expansion to Kingfield or Bigelow from Strong.  The narrow section at the bottom (between Strong and Phillips) was a duckunder.

The new location of the Phillips covered bridge.  The original covered bridge section was not reused in the new plan.  One has to duckunder this 12" wide and 60" high section to get into the center of the layout.

This view shows the end of the scenery at Dickey bridge and the start of the foam added to complete the continuous run back to Strong.  Additionally, this is the end of the 24' of backdrop which got installed.  Some trimming remains on the joist which cantilever's the layout out from the wall.