NTS&B Sixth Piedmont Pilgrimage Open House

My sixth Piedmont Pilgrimage turned out to be just as enjoyable as my other ones.  I had 3 full time 'helpers' (Roger & Sherry, and Bob P) , and a couple club members came over.  All told, we had 75 people including ourselves, which is another record.  Fortunately they were spread fairly evenly over the 4 hour period, so it didn't seem to be overly crowded.  The weather was cold and rainy, which may have helped attendance.  I did find out that I beat out a couple very nice HO and O gauge detailed layouts this year.

As usual, the weeks before, I worked my tail off trying to get last minute finishing touches in, mainly on the fall area and raised section..  I am still having track issues, but managed to get a couple trains that would run on each loop reliably (I thought). 

During the open house, I kept having problems on 2 tracks in the new area, and finally found 2 diesels that worked great.  We did not have any problems after that, until after we closed.  Then I laid down the Polar Express on top of the helix because I was controlling the wrong train with the remote.

From what I could tell, everyone seemed to have a good time.  I know I sure did.  Here's what the layout looked like the day before the Pilgrimage.

NTS&B Phase 5 fall raised area town started

Installed and wired the small town on the lift-out section of the raised area.  The light wiring is run over to a barrier strip by the power control station.  There is a 4 pin connector under the lift-out, for easy removal.  I haven't yet installed switches to control the lights, since I have other building and lights to add to the stationary section.  These can not be added until I install the main line track, because I won't know how much clearance I have until then.  Here is what the new town looks like.  The church will be located around the current position, but for now is only temporary.

NTS&B Phase 5 fall raised area track installed

The upper track is now installed.  Since the bridges are partially under the curved track, I had to make wider and slightly longer bases for them.  The small loop has been 'ballasted' and fastened down, with track power run to the power stations. Here is the final results.

NTS&B Phase 5 fall raised area tables tunnel liners and temporary mountain sides installed

Installed felt under tables for tunnel liners.  Also, temporarily installed it on the sides of the raised area, to try to make it look good for the upcoming Piedmont Pilgrimage.  Here's the pictures