Progress to Date:
I began construction in April of 2010. As of November 1, 2014, I had installed and wired all the track on the revised track plan, painted the backdrop, installed my fascia and fascia curtain, and completed about half the structures that will ultimately reside on the layout. Most of my structures are wood, with about half being scratchbuilt, while most of the rest were either built as designed or kitbashed from craftsman type kits. Since I have a tendency to work on whatever moves me at the moment, and since I often choose a project because it makes a bigger visual impact than something else, I have a lot of semi-finished structures, and even most of the finished ones need more weathering and some final detailing. I've
only added foliage and ground cover to the center peninsula, and very, very few of those wonderful little details that bring a layout to life are in place yet.
(Hey, you can finish each project completely as you go along on your layout if you want; my approach isn't really recommended by anyone!)
My modest rolling stock collection consists of 3 forneys and 1 shay, a rail truck, an SR&RL long caboose, a 4 wheel bobber caboose, a combine, and 23 assorted freight cars -- everything RTR by Bachmann except for one boxcar built to SR&RL dimensions. (Yes, I know that there was never a 2 foot Shay in Maine, but the Bachmann version was just too cute to pass up, and anyway, one of the founders of the ACE had a friend who knew a guy whose third cousin worked for the Gilpin Tram line in Colorado!) Most of this equipment has been painted, weathered, and lettered for the ACE. I've tried several color and lettering schemes on my freight cars (boxcar reds and shades of grey, a diamond herald and A.C.E. initials), which I feel provides a bit of pleasant variety. I still need to add sound to 2 of the locos, and to repaint, weather, and/or add car weights to about a quarter of the freight car fleet, although I've already built all the open loads I need (coal, lumber, crates, pipe, cut stone, sand, and wire spools.)
I'm
now at the point where I can choose among literally dozens of projects
when I work on the ACE. ("Honey, I hear the bull moose calling me again; see you later.") I have no particular plan of attack, but tend to work on whatever I think at the time will make either the biggest visual impact or most improve operations. I know that juicing a few remaining frogs and re-aligning a bit of bumpy track is important, but I'm now that I'm finally experiencing almost no derailments, nor any spontaneous uncoupling while running, I'll probably just keep focusing on operations and structure building for a while. Well, I'm starting to get a bit more enthusiastic about ballasting, ground cover, and adding trees and shrubs, since the few areas where I've added those elements really do look a lot better to me.