And yet more staging...

As I mentioned in the last post about the dispatcher's panel, the introduction of CTC on the railroad provides the opportunity to run a lot more trains in any given period of time. And of course, more trains require more staging. So I spent the past week finishing the four turnouts on the west end and putting in some new tracks. The photo below shows the results.

The new turnouts (on the left) will provide another five tracks for the west end. I also added the track on the far right. This is a stub track that ends a short distance after it disappears around the corner. It will be used to store power and possibly a work train. The tortoises these tracks won't be wired up until all of the toggle switches on the west end panel are replaced with pushbuttons. And that's the next big project. 

Speaking of storing power, the first occupants of the track on the far right will be the LV C628 and EL SD45-2 that appear in the left of the photo. These two units will be protection power for now. Someday, the EL unit will be weathered and will be run-thru power and the LV unit may end up in CWE colors. Or maybe a CR patch-out. Time will tell.