Saturday, May 28, 2016

East staging, west end.

I finally found the time to work on the railroad....


Time to build the west end of the East staging yards. Each yard is 9 tracks. The east end was connected previously with the loop at the end connecting each yard.  The goal is to make it easy to turn trains without using the 0-5-0. 

First up was to finish sub roadbed to allow me to build the ladders and route the lines toward the helix.



As you can see, the track will go to the left. That will basically be double track to the helix. The helix will be a 2 track helix with a separate line connecting to each staging yard.




Next up was to layout out the ladder. As is my normal process, I end up deviating from the original design. The drawing gets me close, but as track is put down the design evolves. Also, I decided to changed to #6 turnouts when I ordered all my track. Thus I have some adjustments to make as I install the track. 

As I build out the west end of staging, I'm a bit more focused on how and where switch machines will be placed. For staging I don't know that it's necessary to install the switch machines under the sub roadbed. 


Progress continued on the ladders. I'm trying to be slow and deliberate as I'm very focused on reliability. 






The body track is all Atlas track. I connect it to the Peco turnouts by crimping the Atlas rail joiners slightly with pliers. Connections between the ladder turnouts is all Peco flex.











With the first yard complete, I brought the track out toward the helix. I don't have a specific radius, but it's broader that the curved piece of plywood, which is about a 46" radius.






The second ladder was constructed faster than the first. The are not identical as I was trying to accommodate the sweep toward the helix. I don't see an issue with the difference. It will only bother me. The far end is identical. 





The last views are of the track coming out of each staging yard going to the helix. 



Overall, I'm very happy with the results. As noted in a previous post, I ran test trains successfully on the east end. Now I'll need to test the west end. Then it's time to start wiring. 



Wiring is the thankless job that shows very little visible progress, but it's critically important. I'm likely going to isolate each of the staging tracks electrically, so I'm considering how I want to accomplish that. It will likely be either be a toggle switch for each track or a rotary switch to designate which track will get power. And I need to determine where I want to install an auto-reverser. Of course, that's a little further out in the project. Also, once testing and wiring are complete, I can begin working on the main level along the wall. 


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