The world is unfolding as it should.  But is unfolding late.  We are behind schedule by about a month.  The final piece of the puzzle is in my garage so I can putts away very early in the morning or late into the evening.

We made a pattern for “the hole” behind Summerland and the saw mill so I could cut it out of a sheet of plywood and then build the hill on that.  We had a small store of 2 inch pink insulation at the museum and that was quickly put to good use.

It doesn’t look like much here but the plywood fits the hole and it will be high enough once the scenery is added.  It was cut so that the canyon road would be narrow and well hidden while there would be a high meadow behind the mill.

We cut new trees for this ‘out front’ section of the layout.  Cedar shingles were cut in 1/4 inch strips and then rounded off using course sand paper.  Accidental breaking of parts insured trees of varying height.  Furnace filter material is hard to find now as they have all gone to using paper but if you look around…….

It was cut in small pieces, sprayed with various old rattle cans of brown, green and yellow paint and then they were tossed into a sack of fine Woodland Scenics material.  They were set to dry over night.  After the ground cover was applied they were planted in place for effect.

Ready for the layout.  This is the sawmill side of the hill with the meadow rising up from the valley at the right.  I will try mightily to keep cows and ATVs off the property but I will loose that fight.

The same side of the hill as seen from the mill.  The logging road winds away out of sight at the top center just as planned.  Buildings are already missing from the mill  because scenery people are never allowed to finish.  New lights are being installed.

This is the remote, almost impassable, logging road through the canyon.

The road to the saw mill curves off to the left and is hidden from view as intended.  This was built to give the scene some drama because nothing else was going on in this corner.  Apart from:  Two family cars, an old station wagon, a wrecker called to a stopped car, a guy and his kid flying a model airplane, A semi without a trailer, two flashing RR crossing signals and a large sawdust carrier.  All with headlights, tail lights and rooftop beacons as required by law.

Six mountain sheep are on order but they will find a much quieter hillside to graze and raise a family.

Summerland Project 8A.  Fixing the public “go” button.

Problem:  When the public pressed the GO button on the layout they started three trains moving from station A to B, B to C and C to A.  That was good.  If they pressed it again while the trains were running the whole program of DC/DCC got screwed up and crashes occurred with some regularity.  That ws bad.

Solution:  Create a cct that would start the DC/DCC program AND turn itself off.

We found something we could work with on EBay.  These programable timer/relays could be tied together to provide a start trigger for the DC/DCC realy timer (20 seconds on and then off) and 4 seconds later, break the line to the start button for 180 seconds.  That insured that the trains had time to get to the next station – and stop – before being set in motion again.

Investment $22.00 and a whole bunch of time.