Well the Peachtree City layout was a hit and I decided to build that first.  I worked on many different layouts and options.

Once I knew the basic requirements I started to order track and other items.  Ebay was my favorite stop to try to find used equipment.  I was bidding on different items 2-3 times a day.  Some I got , some I did not.  Sometimes I found the ebay price to always be high to line prices, so I bought online using sales and special incentives.  The track, cars, locomotives, and accessories began to pour in.

I know many of you will find this hard to believe but I created a spreadsheet to track what I needed, what I had ordered and what I needed.  My basement started to fill up with train equipment.

Well I had the layout and the design and the equipment, now it was time to start building.  But before I started to build the actual layout I wanted to make sure that my layout was good.  The program I was using was able to set elevations based on track grade which I had set at 3%.  So I used the program and measure out posts and elevations and mapped the entire layout in my back yars.  I had a lot of help and in the end we had a yard full of stakes and string to simulate the tracks.  I learned that several of my measurements and calculations were wrong and I adjusted my plan appropriately.

Then it was onto deciding how to build the layout.  I decided to use boards and stakes to support the track and then I would fill in the dirt and landscaping afterwards.  You can see the pitures of what the initial layouts looked like.  I had some leftover Hardie Board trim from the siding on the lakehouse that i thought would be perfect for the track support.

We cut the template for the curves and begin the process of buliding the support for the track starting with the uppermost bridge and working down from there.