Thank God I used white glue & l girder

[jglfan]

To the point of the thread title, if I had used yellow glue I wouldn't have been able to remove the ballast and ties without significant damage to the homasote roadbed. I liberally sprayed hot water on the roadbed, waited a few minutes, and scraped, and ballast and ties came off pretty easily, with only minor divots here and there in the roadbed. I let it dry for a few days as the basement is quite humid in the summer despite a dehumidifier. When dry, I sanded and applied a light coat of spackle. Here's a pic of that throwbar wire the turnout will be rebuilt around.
   

The other turnout:
   


This shows how far back I had to go to reach the end of the superelevated trackage. Just beyond there is a scene with the track crossing over a street on a girder bridge. I had a problem with that too and decided it would be redone as well.