I have laid out almost all of the track (except about 6 feet at the south end of the yard) using a large template (60 sheets of 8.5x11 carefully taped together) that I printed from my TurboCAD layout design. The template makes it a snap to trace the track centerlines of the layout onto the roadbed. Then I pasted FastTracks turnout templates at the appropriate spots and drew in the tie outer edges to be symmetrical with the traced center line. The footprints of the major buildings were traced from the template as well.
You can really see now what the layout will look like! And it looks great. So far the technique has surfaced one mistake I made in my TurboCAD drawing, but I was able to use the turnout templates to design a workable alternative. The goal is to have the main line done and trains running for Christmas. That is a special time for this layout, for those of you who have heard my story of The Miracle of the Exploding Wine Rack. This layout will be open for those traveling west from Scranton next year. Lee Rainey
