On the evening of 26 Feb 2015, we broke ground on the first wing of our new X-shaped train layout. This will be one of the two “low” arms of the new layout, which will feature our new rail yard and will be built to fit an autumn theme. (Since we have four arms on this new layout, we decided to build each leg to focus on a different season of the year.) Over the next few weeks, we hope to fill in the ground, train track ballast and roads on this section of the new layout, then start to populate it with some new buildings and, hopefully, some new trains!

Here are a few pictures from our first few nights of building:

As we start to thaw from Minnesota winter, we also need to finish building the new wooden tables that will occupy the center of the new layout, and then we can start to fill that table in with some bricks as well. If all goes well, we should be able to run a couple of trains on our new layout at our special Art-a-Whirl Open House, as well as continuing to run trains on what’s left of layout #4.

I’m going to try to keep an intermittent photoblog of our progress in my Flickr account (same username), which I will be sharing into the GMLTC Flickr pool (which you should see at right). This will help our club keep a historical archive of our progress, as well as give you a peek at what we’re up to while the doors are closed. Please keep watching this space for updates!