It does not look much but there is a lot of complicated track laid in these two modules. I decided to scrap the Kato test layout as it had passed its usefulness days and I will shortly lay a temporary oval of track on Module 5 so that I can have a loop to test Locos. Consequently I have reused most of the Kato turnouts and straight track on Module 1a. Speedup the tracklaying considerably. I like the simplicity of Kato turnouts. I replaced a damaged PECO scissors crossing with a Kato and was amazed to find that Kato regard the unit as just ONE turnout with a couple of wires. The PECO scissors crossing required 4 point motors and 2 expensive frog juicers.

The challenge of course is to ballast the Kato track so that it blends in with the Peco track and is not obviously “toy” looking. If I can succeed I may well use more Kato turnouts in the future. I will elaborate on my immediate track laying plans and some significant changes to Phase II in a future blog.