The bottom of the box

 It was going to happen one day and today was that day. Every single piece of track was used. The evolution of this track was a fascinating journey.

Originally Isaac put together a figure of eight around the lifting bridge. There was a shot loop and then a broad one. The broad one had the single arch hump back bridge and the seven arch viaduct in it. There were two sets of points added so the engine shed and repair shed could be in the middle.

In the meantime Isaac's brother was creating a separate layout using a small loop, the cross over and a set of points. This was designated as mummy and daddy's track. But when play started the large layout was the chosen one.

There quickly arose a difference of opinion about which direction the trains should be travelling. At this point I was elbow deep in washing up and wasn't wanting to arbitrate. I tried the wisdom of Solomon tack and said if they couldn't agree the track would go away. But this just resulted in two wailing boys.

Then Isaac had an idea that he would build a second loop so that the trains would not run into each other. This seemed acceptable to all parties so I returned to the kitchen sink. To be honest I thought Isaac was just going to create a short passing loop. I knew something more was going on when a few minutes later Isaac said he didn't have enough straight pieces. I suggested using the red suspension bridge. I came in a little later to find the inner and outer loops that shared just one straight.

I loved it. It was well thought out and executed. I particularly liked the use of the two short Y points as the entrance and exit to the outer loop. I also liked the way that it passed round the table leg.

After a few minutes it was decided to incorporate the small loop. Following a bit of rearranging this became a series of sidings. including some with a curiously twisting route involving crossing over itself. I did think the siding that passed under the slope of the lifting bridge wasn't going to work, but in fact there were a few wagons that fitted under there quite neatly. There was plenty of room on this layout for every train to be used.