Return loop rebuild
As planning continued, the original return loop benchwork was bothering me; it worked, but was not configured in a way that would easily allow it to support track above it, so I removed the original. This photo is taken shortly after the demolition was complete.
The original benchwork design - one of the earliest parts of the layout - is here:
http://goodman312.zenfolio.com/p834311615/e46228854