Working West from IHC

 Once we completed east of IHC, we moved West. After westbounds pass through Iron Horse Campground, they round a curve to UNION Interlocking (CP99). UNION features a single crossover as well as switches to Track 3 and Track 4. Track 4 leads to West Springfield Yard. When we first constructed this part of the layout, we lined and spiked the switches in the normal position with the exception of the Track 4 switch, which was lined and spiked reverse to allow access to the yard.

We laid the roadbed and track for Track 3 first, as it was to the rear of the benchwork. From there we moved to Track 1 and 2. We ran the track all the way to where they would curve to meet ICE HOUSE (CP100). While we did this, we also tested out where we would place the yard switches to get an idea how much room we really had. 

Once we reached the curve just east of where ICE HOUSE (CP100) would be, we noticed a slight problem. The west yard lead and Track 4 were dangerously close to each other. Here space is very limited so we had very little wiggle room. We placed the SD80MAC on Track 4 and the SD60M on the yard lead. Sure enough, they made contact with each other. We decided to pull the yard lead in less than 1/8" and push Track 4 out about the same distance. There was plenty of room between Track 4 and Track 2 so there was no concern of contact there. Thankfully, the equipment cleared each other, although it is very close. As they say WILL NOT CLEAR MAN ON SIDE OF CAR.