The Furness Valley Railroad

[chaz]

More progress with the fiddle yard - specifically the supporting woodwork. Some time ago (when I was still working at the chalkface) I was able to scrounge some cupboards and shelves that were otherwise destined for a skip. These formed a very useful storage area under the fiddle yard of my last layout so I am using them again.

 

Those first two pictures show the support legs screwed to each end of the cupboards, forming a good, stable unit.  The shelves in between will not be fixed but sit on horizontal cross-pieces. The idea is that they can be slid out to gain access to the useful storage area behind. Of course to make this practical any items stored on the shelves will have to be in large plastic boxes to make removal easy.

 

The baseboards for the fiddle yard need to be a little longer than the cupboards (the shelves are the same length). so that they meet above the centre line of the legs. Here a couple of recycled layout frames from the aborted FVRR have been bolted together. The longer one is too short but the assembled pair are too long.

The snap above shows how I am modifying this frame. On the left is the assembled frame cut to length. In the centre is a new end piece (actually another section of recycled frame) and on the right the discarded frame section, which is long enough to form another extension piece. This style of frame, with plywood strips spaced by timber blocks, is relatively easy to modify, providing the baseboard tops are only screwed and not glued.

More later.

Chaz

[chaz]

More progress but still only woodwork (I suppose as it's a US layout I ought to say benchwork!).

First photograph shows the first two frames in place for a trial fit. Both of these are recycled, made from a long and a short bolted together and then cut to the length required.

 

In the second picture I have cut plywood tops for these two frames, although as yet these are not fixed, merely laid on top (again) to check the fit.

 

Chaz

[chaz]

Yet more *&%$*+£ woodwork....

 

Photo above shows the upturned frame and baseboard top for the right hand end of the fiddle yard, which will include a Peco On30 turntable. Note the cross-member cut away to allow the turntable well to fit. You have probably noticed yourself that the number of tools involved in a job like this quickly gets quite out of hand.

 

 

...and that's the same frame popped onto the support legs for a trial fit. The odd shape at the front will be trimmed once I am sure of the alignment of the branch which will curve round in front of the the turntable.

The last photo shows how I arrange the corners of my plywood frames. Two screws, at right angles to each other, hold the joint together until the PVA has dried. This sort of construction is very stong and stable. As all four of my fiddle yard frames are "cut and shut" jobs from the previous aborted layout not all the corners are quite so elegant.

I now have just over thirteen feet of baseboard, in four sections, pretty well ready for the next stage. This will be to set them up so that they are in line and level, both front to back and along their length.  Getting the boards quite level is particularly important with the Bachmann cars as free running as they are - I do want them to stay put when they are uncoupled.

Chaz

Edited January 17, 2014 by chaz

[DLT]

Superb carpentry there Chaz.

Dave.

[chaz]

Superb carpentry there Chaz.

Dave.

 

Thanks Dave, but only providing you don't look too closely. 

 

It's all pretty basic stuff. A baseboard like this can be made with very few tools and the highest level skill required is the ability to mark out and saw reasonably accurately.

[DanielB]

That's me buggered then!

[chaz]

Every fiddle yard should have one...?

 

I am very aware that my fairly small fiddle yard (three tracks for the "main line" and two for the branch) will be limited in capacity and rather at odds with my habit of acquiring too much stock. Because of the sloping roof above the yard I can't install the usual rack of shelves above the baseboards so here is my solution...

 

 

The shelf started being exactly the same length as the cupboard below it. Obviously if it is to slide freely it must be a bit shorter, so I took three or four millimeters off of both ends with a plane to give a working clearance.

 

 

I used a pair of heavy duty drawer runners that I think came from B & Q (I have had them a long time).

 

 

I will probably have to add some strips (card or hardboard) to the top surface to stop the stored rolling stock from sliding about when the shelf is moved in or out. I don't think track would be a good idea as this would force me to rail the stock rather than just dropping it between strips, they are just to keep stock from knocking together.

I took a fair amount of trouble to get the shelf to slide freely - any snags in the movement might well cause mayhem amongst the cars. 

 

Chaz

Edited January 18, 2014 by chaz

[chaz]

Chaz,

 

How about a felt top cover to the top surface of the stock drawers?  The sort of green stuff one fixes under ornaments to stop scratching polished wood shelves?

 

Also, have you not considered a cassette system?

 

A felt cover to the surface is a good idea which hadn't occurred to me, and I think would stop the stock from sliding about.  Cassettes might well be useful but I intend to either buy or make a railer to make it easy to switch cars using the 0-5-0

[trisonic]

Important to me is that you can prove that the USA vs UK thing  is just a mental attitude, a good model is a good model....

 

I like both and also have a penchant for odd South American and Caribbean prototypes (Cuba, for example).

 

You're building the main track on the visual element with wood ties and spikes?

 

Will follow with interest.

 

Best, Pete.

[trisonic]

In case you are unaware of it this is an interesting prototype in the eastern half of the country - Cass, West Virginia. Not so much for the operational content but for the typical Appalachian landscape as opposed to "Wild West".

 

 

 

Best, Pete.

[chaz]

Important to me is that you can prove that the USA vs UK thing  is just a mental attitude, a good model is a good model....

 

I like both and also have a penchant for odd South American and Caribbean prototypes (Cuba, for example).

 

You're building the main track on the visual element with wood ties and spikes?

 

Will follow with interest.

 

Best, Pete.

 

"USA vs UK thing" - matters not a jot to me Pete. I can't see any point in criticising someone's choice of prototype. It's the quality of the modelling that matters.

 

Two reasons why I decided to go US - one, as I have already said on my other topic, I fancied a complete change. And the other? I was seduced by the quality of the Bachmann On30 models, both their look and running qualities. And such value - I picked up a new Mogul from one of the big dealers in the UK for £48! A RTR O gauge tender loco for £48 - WOW, Admittedly it will involve some work putting DCC into it but that's no big deal.

 

And, yes, I am only using Peco in the staging area (the fiddle yard to us Brits). On the rest of the layout the track will be wood ties with the rail spiked. As seen on this section of the aborted first version of the FVRR....

 

Sorry the photos are rather poor but as that layout no longer exists I can't shoot better ones.

 

 

Edited January 21, 2014 by chaz

[chaz]

In case you are unaware of it this is an interesting prototype in the eastern half of the country - Cass, West Virginia. Not so much for the operational content but for the typical Appalachian landscape as opposed to "Wild West".

 

 

 

Best, Pete.

 

I had seen video of this line, Pete. I do like the scenery, wooded slopes are exactly the look I want for the FVRR.

[chaz]

Yet more woodwork (sigh)...

 

The staging tracks baseboards being ready I spent time setting them up level and aligned. To level them I joined the legs at the top with strips of plywood. These were fixed temporarily with G-cramps and adjusted up and down until the boards were accurately horizontal both along their length and across, and level with the adjacent boards with no step up or down. The plywood was then screwed to the legs with two screws front and back.

 

 

I then added a small plywood plate to the front, overlapping the top of the leg and the ends of the two adjacent boards. This keeps everything in line.

 

 

The front legs were fastened to the floor with small right-angled brackets. This prevents them from moving should I lean against the front of the boards.

 

 

 

Those last two photos show the four boards stretching along the length of one side of the room, ready for track -

[81A Oldoak]

Excellent progress Chaz. 

[chaz]

To fit five parallel tracks into the staging area (fiddle yard) I have had to push them closer together than the three inch minimum suggested by the NMRA. Before I started pinning down track it seemed a good idea to check clearances...

 

 

 

...close, but acceptable (just!)

 

 

First section of the staging to be sorted was a Peco On30 turntable. I have been used to building 7mm brass kits so lets just say this kit did fit together but with some filing and a soupcon of Anglo-Saxon.... I couldn't resist putting a loco, a Bachmann ten-wheeler, on to the table. As you can see this loco is a very tight fit.

 

 

...and there's the first board on the Workmate having Peco OO track fitted. I took some care to get the alignment of the tracks where they meet the TT correct. The turntable itself is fixed with two small screws. As it's in the staging area the visible screws don't matter, indeed I will not be bothering to paint or weather it.

 

Incidentally the pin-hammer is there to move rail in the tie (sleeper) base and to tap on rail-joiners. It's a brave (foolish?) man who uses a hammer on Peco track pins. I drill a 0.6mm pilot hole with the Dremel and then push the pins in, a little at a time, with a pair of snipe-nosed pliers, pushing them fully home with the flat side of the pliers and GENTLE force.

[Guest Isambarduk]

Chaz, "... push the pins in, a little at a time, with a pair of snipe-nosed pliers, pushing them fully home with the flat side of the pliers and GENTLE force."

 

Would one of these be useful:

 

 

for example see here at £7.95.  I don't use mine often, but when I do it's the bees knees.

 

David

 

[chaz]

Chaz, "... push the pins in, a little at a time, with a pair of snipe-nosed pliers, pushing them fully home with the flat side of the pliers and GENTLE force."

 

Would one of these be useful:

 

 

for example see here at £7.95.  I don't use mine often, but when I do it's the bees knees.

 

David

 

A push-pin? It might well David. I think I would still need to start the pins in the pilot holes with the snipes. Not sure a push-pin would be accurate enough to find the hole - trackpins are only about 0.7mm diameter.

 

As I have said above the only Peco flexible and points will be in the staging area, out in the scenery the track will be timber ties with the rail spiked down.

[Guest Isambarduk]

"I think I would still need to start the pins in the pilot holes"

 

Yes, I agree!

 

David

[chaz]

Today I finished laying the track on the end section. The track that curves in front of the turntable will eventually become the entry to the staging for the branch from the wye junction.

 

 

Trying to roll some stock on and off the turntable showed me that the turntable is much too light and free moving. I would line it up carefully with an approach track but found it often moved slightly when I took my hand away. I plan to glue some lead to the underside, between the girders and some foam rubber pads at each end. These will rub gently against the (smooth) well walls and, I hope, cure the problem.

 

 

Couldn't resist putting some stock in position to check the capacity of the tracks. I had planned to limit freight trains to six cars and a caboose and this does seem to fit.

 

Chaz

[chaz]

I got thoroughly sick of bending the Peco track pins trying to put them in with the snipes and looked wistfully at the push-pin that David suggested. I was on the verge of going on line to order one up BUT I am too impatient and I thought probably wouldn't get it until Tuesday at the earliest. As I wanted to get on I decided to see what I could improvise...

 

 

A short piece of K & S brass tube, external diameter 2.4mm, and a piece of steel piano wire 1.4mm in diameter. The latter had its end filed square and was fixed very firmly in a pin-chuck. Hey Presto! An instant (well nearly) push-pin. It works very well and since using it I haven't bent a single pin...

 

 

I do tend to use it two-handed whereas a proper pin-push is a one hand tool, and yes David, you do need to start the pin in the hole before pushing it home. One small point - the heads of the Peco track pins vary in size and occasionally I find one which will not fit into the brass tube - ones like that go into the bin.

Edited January 25, 2014 by chaz

[chaz]

More progress (at least it isn't woodwork)....

 

Started wiring the track I have laid.  I decided that the Peco points in the staging area will be flicked over by hand. With no point motors fitted I am adding small limit switches to the tie-bar ends to switch the polarity of the crossings.

 

 

 

I don't like relying on the point blades for electrical contact. So I wire them like this before fitting. Peco have very helpfully provided a gap in the plastic tie-base for this arrangement, but oddly don't refer to it in their instruction leaflet...

 

 

 

Every separate piece of rail has its own dropper wire - no reliance placed on rail joiners!

 

 

It's easy to keep the wiring neat when the only connections needed are from the rails to the DCC bus  and from the crossing switches to the crossings.

[81A Oldoak]

More progress (at least it isn't woodwork)....

 

Started wiring the track I have laid.  I decided that the Peco points in the staging area will be flicked over by hand. With no point motors fitted I am adding small limit switches to the tie-bar ends to switch the polarity of the crossings.

 

 

 

I don't like relying on the point blades for electrical contact. So I wire them like this before fitting. Peco have very helpfully provided a gap in the plastic tie-base for this arrangement, but oddly don't refer to it in their instruction leaflet...

 

 

 

Every separate piece of rail has its own dropper wire - no reliance placed on rail joiners!

 

 

It's easy to keep the wiring neat when the only connections needed are from the rails to the DCC bus  and from the crossing switches to the crossings.

 

Very wise practice.

[chaz]

Very wise practice.

 

Just the result of experience, Chris. On my old 7mm layout I had a couple of short sections of rail that went dead after rail-joiners stopped conducting. Rather than wait for problems to develop I am forestalling them with feeds to every separate piece of rail.

 

Chaz

[chaz]

Tried out my improvised push-pin into 6mm plywood without a pilot hole (pilot hole in plastic tie). NO GO - the pin bent into a very odd shape inside the brass tube but didn't penetrate the plywood. Pity as it would have speeded up track laying.

[81A Oldoak]

Tried out my improvised push-pin into 6mm plywood without a pilot hole (pilot hole in plastic tie). NO GO - the pin bent into a very odd shape inside the brass tube but didn't penetrate the plywood. Pity as it would have speeded up track laying.

 

Help is on the way. ETA 1015Z.