Hills and Multi-Engine Action

I added in two small hills around the interchange track at the back of the layout. They provide a small view break and enhance the impression that the tracks continue off the edge of the layout. They were made with cut chunks of the pink insulation foam that was used to make the base. The hills are covered with strips of paper to smooth out the gaps between the blocks of insulation foam.

The ground throw switches arrived earlier in the week and I installed them today. They work just as planned allowing the turnouts to the interchange and engine tracks to be power routing. Now I can have two trains on the layout at the same time. Moving an engine on one of the previously mentioned tracks and changing the direction of the turnout allows me to park the engine there while I use the other engine to switch the layout.

Currently one of the engine tracks is always live since the switch only alternates power between the two routes and does not allow the to both be shut off simultaneously. I would like both to be shut off somehow so I can bring in a train from the interchange track while both engine tracks are occupied, but that is a project for another day.