January Update

As each month passes, I move closer to completion of construction. In the month of January, I made some very good progress. 

In the last blog update, I displayed construction of the Valley spline. Once the glue was dry, I then installed all of the supporting structure. Some was a bit creative and some required more welding. With the spline mounted, I used a mini block plane to clean up any excess glue and eliminate any variance in the surface. It worked very well. It's a cool tool that I bought years ago because I thought maybe I'd use it someday. I finally was able to put it to work!

Track laying started at my version of Burbank Junction. The prototype had a tower, but by 1979, when my era starts, the tower had been removed. So, I just have the track work. Pictured is the Valley line diverging from the main. The spline will be in front of the benchwork as it descends to Valley Staging.

As this spline is much more visible than the Harbor spline, I am using Peco track versus Atlas. I have been using Atlas for all lower staging and hidden track. Thus far, I have installed over 1100' of Atlas Code 83 flextrack. I don't have a count of the Peco yet. Once construction is complete, I will include statistics about the materials used in a future blog post.

I continued adding more track onto the spline as I proceeded toward the helix connecting  Harbor/Valley staging. 

Pictured right is the stopping point of track installation. The track has been laid within one to two pieces of flex track from the helix. I'll have the helix connections installation my next update.

I achieved another milestone by finishing the upper level benchwork along the walls. The benchwork for the end of the Ventura Branch was completed. Next up is more roadbed and track. 

The dark areas in the picture is wet paint. 

In my last post, I pointed out areas where I was mocking up the track for Coast Staging. Coast Staging is divided into two yards. One yard is four tracks along the window wall, the other yard is six tracks down the centerline of the Taylor peninsula. The red arrows indicate the Coast Staging yards. The blue arrow is the Ventura Branch mentioned above.

After spending a ridiculous amount of time working on the staging ladders, I finally had them mocked up and ready for track to be installed.

Besides Coast Staging being split into two yards, I have the Ventura Branch that will cross the lead to the six track yard. I started by installing the diamond for the crossing. Once it was installed, I was able to project where the branch will go and I could build out the staging ladder.

In order to keep the staging tracks as straight as possible, a lot of time was spent installing and aligning the first track of the six track yard. This happened once the ladder was complete. Since I was fitting 6 tracks into a 14" wide space, extra effort was spent on centering the track spacing. 

Pictured right are four of the staging tracks installed. The track is laid out ready for the installation of track five. 

One of the downsides of using latex caulk to install track is drying time. When laying parallel tracks, such as the staging yard, I let the previous track cure for 4+ hours before installation of the next track. Since I'm using a spacing tool, it it critical that the previously installed track is cured and stable prior the the installation of the next track. 

You can also see the feeders for the ladder in place and ready to be installed. 

In the picture, track 5 had been installed. It is curing ahead of track 6 installation.

Finally all six tracks have been installed.

Each track is approximately 29 feet. I'm ready to stage long trains!

Pictured right, is the staging yard on the upper level. Taylor yard is on the right, and Alameda Street and it's industries are on the left. 

Next was to install the ladder for the four track staging yard. Pictured right is the beginning of the yard. On the left side of the picture is the roadbed for the Ventura Branch. 

As I moved on installing the track toward Coast Staging, I was able to complete the trackwork for the main track on the railroad west end of Ventura.

Pictured is the main track installation connecting to the Coast Staging yards. 

Against the wall to the right of the window is a helper pocket. The locos stored here will be used for staging only. As staging is dead ended, the helpers will be used to pull the train back so the road power can be moved to the other end of the train. I won't know how successful this will be until I've staged the railroad five or more times. 

The roadbed closer to the aisle is the Ventura Branch.

Track 1 of Coast Staging is installed and curing along the wall. 

On the right side of the picture is the Ventura Branch roadbed. In the distance is the crossing and connection to the six track Coast Staging yard.

Track 1 is installed and the yard ladder is laid out. The connection to the six track yard is visible as it transitions to the right toward the top of the picture.

The Ventura Branch track has been installed. It stops at the diamond. The loose track on the left is laid our for staging track 2 installation. 

A view of the connections to the mains.

The roadbed for the remaining part of the Ventura Branch is in the process of being installed. 

Feeders are ready to be installed. Gaps for the staging tracks have been cut too.

All four tracks are installed as well as the Ventura Branch to the diamond. 

The four track yard is complete. Each track is approximately 25' long.

Roadbed for the Ventura Branch is in the process of being installed. This will wrap up in the next update as well. 

In the picture is the runaround and a lead for a spur. I ran out of curve cut homabed for my 1/8" roadbed. I have plenty of straight on hand, but am out of curvable roadbed. I ended up building a jig used to add cuts to the roadbed, making the needed curvable pieces. I'm so glad I have a bandsaw.

Pictured right is not another view of the six track Coast Staging yard, but rather a view of the Alameda area (left of staging). My road pavement crew (Tim) has now moved on to painting the benchwork brown. Although I'm not sure if moving from highway engineering to dirt installation is an upgrade. LOL!

Interestingly, by painting the benchwork brown, the railroad doesn't seem to be as big. Clearly and optical illusion!

Construction on the three helices continues. The Harbor/Valley helix is ready to be lifted. The other two are close to completion. All will be lifted in the next update.

As each layer of the helix is completed, the track is added. Once complete, the feeders are then added. This makes the process a bit slower, but seems the best way to go about building each layer.

Lastly, I decided to use Peco track bumpers for all of my spurs. Some may later be replaced by crossed ties or dirt mounds. 

The Peco bumpers look to be a good solution. I now need to determine a good technique for mounting them. Jason built quite a few for me. Still more to build of course.

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That wraps is up for the January update. Next month's update will include the raising of the helices and completion of the benchwork on the Gemco peninsula. With any luck, track laying will be complete. 

Thanks for reading my blog. As always, you are welcomed to comment. My only ask is that if you comment using the blog comment tool, please add you name to your message. Most of the time, the posts show up as anonymous and I'm unable to know who I'm responding to. 

Rick