The SJ&T Railroad is a continuing "work-in-progress".  The currently completed areas (which include scenery) appear in light green above.  The "locale" names are included so they may be cross-referenced with the photographs in the photo galleries.  The gray areas show planned future expansions.  These will include the towns of San Juan and Virginia City.  The construction of benchwork for these areas will start in 2009.  You can click on the large track plan above (or any of the layout thumbnail images below) to see a high-resolution version of each drawing.  The areas which have changed from year-to-year are highlighted in yellow in the plans below.

Click here for photos showing the process of removing the TC&W from Jeff Dutton's basement.

Each of the 11 segments of Jeff’s TC&W that had finished scenery has had benchwork augmented and legs added making it a section of a sectional layout..  The sections have fastening points that allow disassembly for future relocation.  Broken or damaged parts have been fully restored.  Joints between sections were reworked to hide the cut boundaries. The area given to Suzie Dutton was replaced and new tracks added in that region.  The original backdrop areas that were fastened to the Dutton wall (and could not be removed) were replaced with new backdrops.  These new backdrops were attached directly to the layout sections and were painted to match the original backdrops.  Trackage, at this point, only allowed back and forth movement of trains (i.e., continuous loop operation was not possible).

Click here for photos showing the reconstruction of the TC&W in Shelly Levy's basement.

Permanent trackage was added in the upper left area and temporary track (in red) was added to allow continuous operation.  El Capitan Mountain has not yet been built.  This area is highlighted in yellow.

El Capitan Mountain was formed with the construction of the switch-back that climbs an 8% grade to the mine site on the mountain.  Scenery was installed in the open gap behind Tellurton.

A temporary track was added from the Hidden Valley, connecting into Foster Siding.  This allowed return through Tellurton and provides two separate loops for continuous operation.  The original closure from Pandera Ovens was removed and Cordova Canyon and the steel arch bridge installed.  The replacement of the short return loop at the Ovens is a major addition and defines the site for the future town of Westcliffe.

The trackage for Westcliffe was developed and partially laid.  A wye at Cordova Canyon was installed to provide equipment turnaround, as well as a switch that allows routing a train to Tellurton or to the future  town of San Juan.  Benchwork was built for the helix to raise the track from the 54-inch elevation of Herperas Junction to the 70-inch elevation required for the planned bridge to the San Juan area of the layout.  This new "high bridge" will provide an entrance "duck-under" allowing operators to reach the center "operations" area of the layout.  Considerable effort will need to be expended on constructing the scenery of Westcliffe to convey an interesting, prototypical background.