Herc Driver's New Layout Under Construction

[Herc Driver]

Gee...I guess it has been a long time between posts on this thread. Well, here's the latest work as of a few days ago. As you will note, I made changes to the track plan, most noticeably, removing that long interior track that ran from one end of the loop to the other and just "dead ended" in the eastern (right) loop. Now there's a cut off the eastern mainline that runs behind the yard tracks and joins back up with the mainline just before the western loop. That track serves the smaller industries along its way. Most of the buildings have been moved around too as the "vision" of the layout morphed from the basic idea into a more complex one. There is obviously a ton of scenery still to add, all the buildings need weathered and detailed, and several tracks still need weathered too. The "blue spice rack" that I had once hoped to turn into a large industrial building has been replaced by the Walther's Superior Paper Mill kit, although, it isn't going to be a paper mill. There is one track serving it with access to the mainline by using the passing siding that runs along the top (north) edge of the layout. I'm still working on the road system all over the layout...with a lot of weathering and details to add to them as well. My latest project is adding power lines...just to give the city areas that "look" I want. My original idea on my previous layout was to use black thread, but after a few days, the dust collected on it and ruined the "look". Now on this layout, I'm trying 6-lb test, black fishing line. There's more elasticity to it, and it is much smoother and hopefully won't collect the dust like the thread did. The tough thing is stringing it up...always a challenge in Nscale. And, I need more cars and places to park them around the industry buildings. The roads on the western loop are not glued down yet as my parking problem is before the planning commission to be decided at the next meeting. All of the small scenery details (LPP's, street lights, stop lights, fences, etc) are still packed away until the road system is done and the building placement is finalized.

These pictures run from the western loop to the eastern loop. It must have been "Norfolk Southern Day" on the pike the day I took these shots as they are the main choice of available power in the yard. (Except for that UP Challenger "Excursion Train" sitting on the the northern-most mainline of course.)

And as always, comments/critiques/criticism is appreciated.

D'oh...those while smoke stacks are crooked. But don't worry, they're not glued in place yet.