The hidden Elmore, staging yard will contain four tracks. It will be located in a 15-foot utility room adjacent to the main railroad room, and trains will enter it over the New River Bridge at Glen Lyn, then through a hole in the room wall.
Work has finally begun in this area. A "tunnel" was constructed through the concrete block wall between the railroad room and the utility room. Here's a picture of the east (train room) end.
The tunnel is built with a 1/2" plywood base and 1/2" Micore roadbed, surrounded with a 1/8" hardboard shell. Small wood blocks screwed to the end of the tunnel support the temporary New River bridge.
Beneath the bridge roadbed is a shallow channel to hold cables for staging yard equipment and other uses. The cable visible in the photo connects telephone, fast clock, and train order signal controls to the dispatcher's panel.
Here's the west end of the tunnel in the utility room. The staging yard lead will connect here, and the four-track yard will be sandwiched between storage shelves, in a dustproof enclosure.
All coal trains (except one from the Coal Gap branch in Hinton staging) will run between Elmore and Roanoke, with empties returning. Both staging yards have tracks long enough to permit 30- to 35-car hopper trains.