The old boards (three 4' x 2') from an aborted previous build, and the six old 'test track' boards (four 4' x 1' and two 1' x 1') have now had all their components stripped, track removed and all but one sanded to clean off the top surface. The one not sanded was a scenic board that was going to be a station, and I'd glued down a layer of cork and surfaced it for a yard area. Unfortunately this wasn't easy to remove, so there are some gouges in the surface that will need filling. The board is still damp from water used to loosen the glue holding the cork in place so it will need to dry out first, then I can sand it to remove as many bumps as I can before filling the gouges. The appearance of the top surface of all these boards is not of concern as I'm intending to put a layer of cork down to lay the track on, not for sound proofing but to keep the fiddleyard track at the same height as the scenic boards when they have cork used for the ballast shoulder.

Once that's done, the next job for the old boards is to strengthen their corners with 2"x1" softwood blocks that will also be the backing for each of the boards' alignment dowels, and fit said dowels. After that, it will finally be time to rearrange the room where all this is to go so that I can test the fit (there's a notional 1" of spare space in the room for the layout on its length!), before fitting the clasps that will hold the board joins together.