Work has been progressing steadily and I now have some track down. Any under-track magnets have been fitted and brass screws have been installed where the track crosses a sectional board joint. The rail is soldered to these screws prior to cutting the rails with a Dremel cutting disc. This, added to the brass locating dowels in the board ends, ensures perfect track alignment, each time the layout is erected. Jon
The track layout at the West end is now pretty much complete The next job is to re-attach the turnout motors and wire connections to the control bus, before starting on the ballasting. Work has also progressed eastwards to the junction and beyond. The track is just pinned loosely at the moment while I iron out some small kinks. Jon
The trackwork is almost complete now, except for the foundation trestles in the fuel depot and a couple of magnets that still need burying. The next step is to solder and cut the rails at the board joints, fix the bus connecting wires to the rails and reattach the turnout motors. Then I'll be ready to ballast. Jon
As always, this is going to be good. Hope it all goes to plan with no hitches. Did you see/ have you already seen the link I pm'd to you?
Over the past few days I have managed to get all the rails soldered and cut, where they pass over section/module breaks. I have also rewired the new sections into the layout and reconnected the turnout motors - easily done when you can turn the layout on its side. Finally, I had the first train running over the layout last night to test out all the wiring. Now to get some ballasting done. Jon
Of course it looks great! I don't know where to start there are so many great ideas here. Do you ever have to adjust the rails soldered to the brass screws? Do you just bend them a little or do you resolder? Why not paint the track now? I presume you will paint track after ballasting. So you ballast first and then add ground cover. I do the reverse of that as I want the ballast to be on top of the grass items. OTOH, if the area had vegetation growth, then ballasting first and grass last is logical. Of course. How did the double slip switch work? I always "feel" that it will be a source of trouble and I avoid them. Thanks.
Great. I see you solder the track over the modules. Then you cut. :angel: You have even screw length pieces of rail ! I'm looking for the next steps. Wolfgang
I use 5/8 brass screws on either side of the board break and when I'm satisfied the track is laid correctly, solder the rails to the screws, before cutting with the Dremel disc. Added to the brass alignment dowels on the board ends, I get a perfect alignment every time the boards go together. Jon
The rails rarely need adjusting once they are soldered to the brass screws. on the odd occasion when someone dropped a 5lb hammer on one joint, I simply unsoldered the bent rail, removed the out-of-line screw and replaced the rail with a new length. I tend to do all the necessary adjusting before I solder in the first place. I tried painting the track and rails but odd things happened to the paint when the WS ballast glue dried out. As it happens, I will have to paint the ballast to get it to match the stuff already down, so I'll do the rails and ties then. The vegetation can get messed up with glue if I lay/grow it before the ballast goes down. The 2 double slips in line are interesting to operate as there are so many possible routes. It should become easier when I have the switch panel modified, as the schematic will assist the operator. Jon
I started putting the ballast down last night. There is still some tidying up to do with a small soft brush around the turnouts before I can spray on the IPA and add the glue with an eyedropper. Jon
The ballast is now glued down (with WS scenic glue and an eye-dropper, after spraying with Servisol- IPA) I then spray-painted both the ballast and the track with a brown/grey mix, after which I drybrushed the ties with 'tie brown'. Now to paint the rail edges. Jon
Looks great, Jon. I think I see two double slip switches in there. The track painting is very effective.
Hmmm.... can't tell where any of it was ever torn up. You sure that you didn't just photograph another module??? Jon, as my generation used to say here in the US... Rock on with your bad self! Best!
