May Update

Risers, risers, and more risers...

The month of May kicked of with a continued effort on benchwork construction and the installation of more risers.

Here are two views of the Taylor Yard risers installed. That set up another 24' of benchwork to be ready for drywall. 

Risers were installed on each side of the benchwork curve. As noted previously, I'm backing my corners with plywood to provide a strong supporting surface and provide a sturdy mounting point for fascia. 

Given the price of plywood, I've moved from using an full piece of plywood to using a smaller piece for the curve support (fascia side) and filling the rest with scrap to provide a level platform.

And more progress going compass west from Dolores. The risers are noticeably taller as I lowered the benchwork by 2" to allow the mainline to begin the descent to staging. Some changes to the original design made this less critical, but the benchwork was already installed. 

I'll be using spline to transition to staging. This design change from a few months ago allows me to eliminate a helix and simplifies the staging transition from the other side of the peninsula. I'm keeping my grade under 1.5% and as close to 1.2% as much as possible. 

I broke out the laser transit to begin marking off the upper level height around the room. The top of the blue tape represents the top of the steel.  If you look real close you can see the green laser beam in some of the pictures.

I'm planning to have the upper level pieces fabricated by a friend. He can bust them out pretty quick. Much quicker than me. 

My calculations are that I'll need 124 pieces of varying lengths of 12", 18" 21" and 24". The plates will be mounted to the wall and secured with lag bolts. I'm using a design very similar to what Paul Deis has used on his railroad with great success.

After finally getting the turntable bump-out in place and drywall applied, I filled in the drywall sub-roadbed around the right side and down Taylor Yard to the left. 

A good amount of drywall mud was applied at the joints and covering the screw holes. While this is a bit more than needed, I like how it cleans up everything. Although 'everything' will be covered with scenery. Eventually...

The area west of Dolores was also drywalled.

And everything received a coat of paint. 

The paint both seals the drywall and provides a consistent look. As noted previously, the color of gray is similar to SP ballast in the area. When it comes time to ballast, the color of the gray surface will help to hide any ballast 'holidays'.

We started with laying out the track plan for the area west of Dolores. Once the main track was drawn, the first part of the main track homabed was put down and the lines roughed in for where the rest of the track will be installed. The effort was aided by using turnouts to get a perspective and make appropriate adjustments. 

It's been my experience that no matter how precise the plan is, adjustments to the track plan happen when the track is laid.

To the right is a snapshot of the plan for the areas represented in the pictures above.

Next was to start drawing the lines for Taylor Yard. We started with measuring from the front and using a 6' ruler (or 2 yard stick) to draw it out. It's a 32' section of dead straight track. Needless to say, upon inspection it didn't look right.

I broke out a small laser which I had bought for a tiling project. It worked well to point out the flaws in what was drawn. That will now be corrected. Once complete and the backdrops are installed, there will be no sight line to tell if the track is perfectly straight or not. However, I will know, so I'm making sure it is precise.

One other item to share is a video from Ron's Trains N Things about cleaning track. His research shared some great insights. I've always been a fan of Isopropyl Alcohol aka IPA for track cleaning. Going forward, the only IPA will be my choice of beer. I'll switch to using mineral spirits when track cleaning is required. And will likely try Ron's No-Ox recommendation as well. 

To date, I have never cleaned the track on the Exeter Branch. I've been running op sessions twice a month for 14 years. I have no idea why this is the case. It continues to amaze me. When I built the railroad, I expected to clean the track regularly. This is possibly because the railroad is housed in a finished and climate controlled basement. The track is all Atlas code 83 with half a dozen Walthers curved turnouts. 

I do clean all the rolling stock wheels from the 'gray crud' every two years or so. This provides a good maintenance cycle for the equipment too. If track cleaning becomes required, I'll use the method recommended in the video.

For the new railroad, track cleaning may become important as I'm primarily using Peco code 83 track. The Peco may have different oxidation properties than the Atlas, so I may have to implement a track cleaning regimen. The build time for the LA Division is much longer than what it took to build the Exeter Branch which likely will contribute to track cleaning being necessary.

Here is a link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBYxjcTWCB0

If you have experience with Mineral Spirits for cleaning and/or have used No Ox, please feel free to share.

That's about it for this month. Work continues on the LA Division with more track being laid in June. 

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