Laying the first pieces of track and a video of a loco running for the first time

So after many months of preparatory work I am finally at the stage of track laying.

I am using Peco Code 75 track with live frog turnouts and slips.
I have decided to lay some 3mm (1/8 inch) cork sheet and then pin the track onto that. Once all the track is laid I will then ballast with OO Gauge loose ballast fixed in place with a 50/50 mix of PVA adhesive and water, with a drop of washing up liquid.
For turnouts and slips I have cut the cork to the profile of the track.
For plain track I have cut the cork into 23mm (7/8 inch) strips which is half the width of the track bed. I then lay two strips either side of the track centre line, secured with neat PVA .
For the tighter curved track I mark the cork strip down the middle, then make cuts every 25mm (1 inch) along the cork strip from the edge into the mark. This makes the cork strip easy to curve round the track centre line.
Having glued the cork down (held in place with push pins while the glue dries) I then lay the track along the centre of the two cork strips and secure it with Peco track pins.

Here are some photos of track laying in progress;

Where two baseboards join together the track rail needs to be cut so the baseboards can be separated, but it is important that the ends of the track rail stay in registration both vertically and horizontally.
To facilitate this I have fixed a strip of copper clad paxolin strip the same width and thickness of a Peco sleeper to the edge of the baseboard with glue and track pins.
The track rail is then soldered to the copper clad strip either side of the join, and the track rail then cut through exactly in line with the baseboard edge.
Here is a photo of a baseboard join:

This join will be painted and then disguised with the loose ballast that will be laid on the track.
No matter how many times you split the baseboards and then put them back together again the track rails should always meet up in line with each other.


To operate the turnouts and slips I am using Peco passing contact lever switches mounted in a Peco switch console, like this:

These switch consoles will be mounted around the layout on the edge of the baseboards that contain the associated turnouts or slips. They provide a very neat way of controlling the turnouts and slips without having to have connecting wires all over the place, or a separate operating panel mounted (somewhere) and connected to the baseboards with multi plugs.
Peco provide different colour switches to go into the console and mine will be colour coded as follows:
Main Line (black)
Cross Country Terminus (yellow),
Branch Terminus (white)
Fiddle Yard (red).

Finally I have made a short (3.5 min) video of a loco and some wagons making a test run on the first section of track, follow the link below to view the video on Dropbox (make sure you have sound turned on for the full effect).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hmuvhgtj0lop8ff/Railway.mp4