Three Feet and Thrupenny bit problem (and a drastic solution)
Entry posted by pbkloss
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So my last entry found me trying to debug the point work in the station throat and the curved approach track. I had replaced the first 10cm of the approach curve as most stock fell off without fail at the point marked with an arrow:
sadly, all that happened is that the stock ran on the replaced track and then fell off at the next original section -dash it. Here the obvious occurred to me. Even though I thought I had laid this curve very carefully, I had not taken sufficient care to make sure the curve was smooth and the radius not too tight. This section was made a very long time ago (20 years possibly) with the then new fangled SMP 18.83 track. This is before it was known that it would over time shrink and become under gauge. Plus, I had intended the curve to be at least 3'6" radius, but somehow the section nearest the station throat was (now I checked it) only 3'0". And on top of that, the track had not bent smoothly when I laid it and had a distinct thrupenny bit look. Add to this the age of the board, insufficient support for the 12mm chipboard and you have a recipe for the disaster that I've experienced - Huh.
So, what to do? I knew that I would need to make new curved sections to take the line around my converted garage as the new room is slightly narrower than the room the layout came out of. But making those new boards will take a long time and I need something to run stock on as I'm building it. So, I'm making a temporary straight board as a sort of fiddle yard as I have 2 metres or so from the station throat to the end of the room, essentially from scrap bits. Then I can build stock and build the new curved boards as I want, knowing if the stock stays on the track that is there it will run on anything (!). So here goes:
Some pictures of the 'new' board under construction, made from left overs, it will last long enough ....
The end here has the pattern makers dowels transplanted from the 'bad' curved board so it readily mates with the station throat board, like this: (sorry it is blurred)
and here with some track loosely placed as to where it will go:
and now a bit of paint on the track bed so it doesn't glare so much (the majority being Screwfix green underfloor foam):
Now needs track laying and electric connections made!
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