Concerning trackwork, the gaps cut, or joints left unsoldered, worked well through the cold months and through a couple warm spells. We've had no more trouble with expansion and contraction of the rails. What I'm finding works well is to leave unsoldered joints between 3' sections of flex track and at one end of a single or group of turnouts. I still like to solder groups of turnouts just to keep things lined up and maintain good conductivity but I will leave a gap between every third or forth turnout in yards, etc. It might be overkill but I solder feeder wires to each piece of track isolated by unsoldered joints and generally space feeders at about 24" to 36" apart. In most cases each 3' piece of flex track gets two feeders, each about 4" in from the end.
I've also completed one of two helixes (or is it heli?) that takes 1.5 turns to get trains from Sutter up to Angels Camp. Nothing special to say about it, only that it is constructed with joints at strategic points and removable fixed curve track sections so it may be removed to access switch machines if necessary (I hope not though!). Here's the photo...
The next major track expansion will be to lay out the yard at Angels Camp at one end of the line and to put in the Ivgott Mine complex at the other. Still waiting on financing, someone needs to hit a gold pocket…
