Oh yes, and for today's immediate progress I finally had a surface area setup to to lay parallel 9' tracks and run trains back and forth and back again... This flex track is nice! Off to the living room with the scissors, Joe PS. Thanks to the people on this board! I've looked at almost everyone's linked websites, layouts, pics, etc. and it's been VERY helpful.
Worked on three different areas of the mainline today replacing track were dererailments were happening, replace an electrofrog crossing with an insulfrog crossing, and did the same replacement of one switch. I was able to do everything with PECO electofrog switches, but there was just one area that by placing an insulfrog switch I took care of all the electrical problems. Trains now have several different routes to run. Tommorrow, back to laying track in the yard.
Ok Guys: My plan for this weekend is to paint my Nu-line warehouse and to finish my track plan. I will post pictures of warehouse when done. Here is another look at New track plan Let me know what you think????? The sidings are not locked in place yet just something to look at. Thanks Guys!!!
UP Mike: nice plan. More mainline running than mine, still plenty of switching too. looks like you are planning with fixed track sections. going to consider flex track? Rick; thanks for the advice. Dang, I already ordered 25 yards of cork! Standard Hobby had it cheap ($16). That AMI stuff sounds good. I saw a similar homemade idea in a mag recently "topper" tape and flexible sealant to glue the track. maybe I'll try some AMI and re-sell the cork if I'm won over. I tried my own experiment: the dense foam they make camping bedroll mats out of, about third inch thick, with flexible sealant on top. Worked well: track comes back up with a putty knife or other flat blade. The foam is just a bit soft for my tastes when pinning track, but it is cheap and easy to cut and flex. I think I'll use a local equivalent of Homasote on top of ply, MDF or insulation foam. I'm using Tillig Elite track and turnouts in all visible areas - it is beautifully made stuff, VERY prototypical. cheers Rob
Hey Mike, I think you've made some very nice changes to your track plan. Lookin' good my friend!! Now....get to work on that benchwork!!
got all the track in place. just need to ballast the main line and tar the intermodal tracks(in grave them into Pavement)
Mike - great track plan. For me, it has been a rainy (!) weekend, so I have been very productive. Laid track for 50% of yard, MOW track, worked on spur to service buildings, completed a major siding. I will post pictures at end of weekend...
Hi all, Just thought that you might like to know that we will be starting the new layout within the next few weeks. We got most of the lumber at Home Depot yesterday, we just need to build one thing in our shop and then it's time to party with the new layout . I will post pics often to let you know of my progress . Matt
Well, here's my first progress report from a week's efforts. I've got the mainline tacked and figured out. I have the WS risers giving me a rather steep 4 percent grade I'm not thrilled with, but what can you do on a door-size layout? I decided the tunnel was too difficult to do where I wanted to put it near the edge of the layout so will replace that area with another bridge. The bridge will have to be altered, however, as the track crossing beneath it is on a diagonal. I think I've figured out how to do it though. I had to trash a passing siding and make it a single connection after figuring out cars won't stay on an incline by themselves. The siding is now level. Only thing I'm having trouble doing is figuring out what the siding is going to be for. It's sort of on an upper scenery level and nearly landlocked by the incline of the main and a dropoff to the foreground. The other siding design I had for the other portion of the layout I had to trash completely when it wouldn't even begin to work with the scenery I had in mind. So the trackplan evolves yet again. Still not sure if I have it the way I want it. The struggle is to attempt to retain 4 sidings for industy variety but not clutter the area up in such a way there isn't room for a town. Being the founding father of a town is a lot harder than I thought. Waiting for the AMI roadbed to come in as well as the under track uncouplers so actual tracklaying can begin. Question: does it make sense to have your buildings before settling the trackplan or do you fit structures in the available space?
Well I don't know if this rates as progress but I've been practicing my soldering(notice I didn't say anything about skill ).I do have feeders somewhat securely attached (I hope) to 3 pieces of track.
Time for my first progress report. Week 1 As state above, my goal for the week was to get the Powder River Basin of my layout to grade and get the cork roadbed installed. I ALMOST accomplished that, but to my credit I accomplished two things that I had not anticipated doing. First of all, I went ahead and got another sheet of plywood down on the layout and began drawing track centerlines down on it. Second, I built two structures over the weekend, which, had I not done, I would have easily finished laying the cork in the Powder River Basin. So....here's some pictures of my progress over the week. This is the Powder River Basin. As you can see, I have the 2% grade in place and half of the cork down. This is the area to the immediate south of the Powder River Basin. As you can see, I have some plywood down. Also, the track centerlines are drawn, but you cannot see them in the picture. Below is a Micro Engineering kit that I purchased on Saturday. It was not in my plans to build any structures this week, but I did anyway (which kept me from accomplishing my goal). I was not entirely pleased with this kit so it may or may not make it to the layout. Engine House: Last, a car shop kit by Rix Products. This kit was a pleasure to put together and I thought it came out looking very nice. The Shops: My goal for the upcoming week.....finish drawing the tracks on what plywood I have down and put as much cork down as I can get down. I also want to raise the tracks to the appropriate grade where I can. I may also put a couple more kits together....a Coal Flood Loader and/or a Grain Elevator.
Rick, Thanks again for starting this party stuff. I've been waiting for motivation and I think this is what I needed. Although my progress may not seem like much to some, I felt pretty good about getting what little I got done and how it turned out. I got the cork roadbed laid on one end of the layout, I used liquid nails to adhere the cork to the styrofoam. Problem with all this is the smell of the liquid nails evidently waifed upstairs, when my wife turned the gas fireplace on upstairs it began to smell like kerosene in the house. Needless to say she didn't like that much. I need some alternate ideas for adhesive. Please help me out. She came up with the idea of me waiting until spring to do the rest of the roadbed, which is not exactly what I had in mind. All you RR wizards out there, let me hear your ideas !! Thanks in advance. Jeff JLN Rail
Great Job Hoss!!! Looks like you really got busy this weekend. Myself I wanted to finish my warehouse but instead I was running around picking up some Atlas code 55 track and getting my WS risers. I also reworked my plan for the LAST Time!!!!! (I think) [ 19. January 2004, 07:27: Message edited by: up mike ]
Jeff, Would a hot glue gun work for you? I agree with the Liquid Nails smell, I used that for my foam base/table adhesive and I can STILL smell it when I'm down close (2 weeks later).
I'm late, but I'll join the party! I plan to finish up all track word and ballasting and hopefully start scenery. I'm short of Layout Building funds so I'm just using what I already have. Ned to go to the hobby store (42 miles away) to get some houses, a railroad station several signals and maybe an industry that can utilize my 24 covered hoppers, lol.
Jeff, wood glue works very well for adhering cork to just about anything....and there is not odor. Thanks Mike. It was a busy weekend. Your track plan is looking good. I'm concerned about that REALLY tight radius on the upper leg of your L, but overall it looks like it will provide you with some fun times. I gotta warn you though....you doomed yourself by saying it was the last time you'd rework the plan. The last time I said that I ended up tearing completed benchwork down and starting over from scratch!!!
Thanks Hoss: The upper switching area will be worked by only GP 38-2 units. I don't think 90 Macs will look good on those 10" radius curves
Rick et all, I went out to the hobby shop today and noticed they had AMI. Seemed kind of expensive at $20 for 30'. But I guess maybe if you take into account that you don't have to buy cork, adhesive or spikes, maybe it ain't so bad. I only found it in N scale though, do they sell it in HO, and if so do you know of someplace online that sells it any cheaper? BTW guys, thanks for the input on adhesive alternatives, if you have any more ideas out there I would be glad to hear them. Thanks, Jeff
$20 sounds high for the AMI because it is almost that in Vancouver Canada. What you want to do is buy AMI is one scale larger than you are in, so if HO, but O AMI and cut it in two. The best tool for this is a dedicated pizza cutter from the dollar store- by dedicated I mean only for AMI. That means you will get double the amount posted on the box. So for example, I bought HO AMI for my N scale railroad. I bought four boxes of HO AMI which has provided me with 240 feet of sticky roadbed at $23 per box (30 feet in a box, but divided in two gives me 60 feet).
Mike, great looking plan! As for my progress, I got my sub-roadbed all tied down and put together, along with the cleats to hold the backdrops and fascia. However, I struck a snag when painting my foam roadbed and fascia panels. This is the first time I've worked with foam, and the primer Lowes recommended turned into a gooey dust. So a lot of time wasted there. Oh well... At work this morning a few guys had some ideas about the whole process. And it so happened we have a stock of the right paint. They were so enthusiastic I *reluctantly* let them prove they can do it. So we'll just have to wait and see... In the meantime I'll get the track painted and the flex-track trimmed to the proper lengths. William
