T-Trak Layout Update

I took a break after concentrating for several months rewiring the oldest part of my HO layout and came back to the T-Trak project. I did some electrical finishing work on some of the modules and began scenery. Here's Module 4, which I am doing as more or less inspired by Amtrak's Empire Connection on the west side of Manhattan. Here's a prototype photo of the area I'm following that I found on Google:

I found a more or less New York style brick building at a swap meet this past weekend and covered over the tunnel to hold it:

I discovered that there are reasonably priced Japanese N kits for modern style apartment and office buildings on eBay, so I will be expanding the city area with styrofoam and adding some of these to the scene. The brick building will get some weathering and maybe some kitbashed details, and it will eventually fade into the bigger city scene. I'm realizing that building scenery upward increases the apparent size of a layout.

Here is some scenery work in progress on the other side of the layout. I talked about European modeling eras a couple of posts back, and the T-Trak project here is intended to be Epoch VI, 2005+, featuring Amtrak and other passenger operation. One thing you can see in YouTube videos and DVDs is that contemporary rail rights of way are scrubbed pretty clean, with a cleared area on either side of the track. A lot of old trackside details, like telegraph poles, handcar sheds, and such are gone. Here is some Epoch Vi right of way in work on my project:

The grass is Busch dry grass sheets held in place with Elmer's School Glue. Here is the major trackwork on Module 1:

The problem with both Kato sectional track and the basic T-Trak scheme is that layouts tend to be closed ovals. The junction with an outside track via the Kato double crossover is a way of getting outside the closed oval, which I am thinking about in terms of expanding this basic layout.

Here's a video that shows, among other things, the advantage of T-Trak with DCC. Everything, two trains, one reversing direction, and a switch being thrown, is controlled by one handheld NCE PowerCab. No need for a control panel, no need to reach into the layout to throw switches, no need to select blocks, each module electrically self-contained with simple wiring, so the whole thing can be disassembled and reassembled like dominos.