Chris Gilbert Posted December 30, 2013 Author Share Posted December 30, 2013 I've started laying the track for the extension Firstly I cleared about 2-3 inches of the old track Next the new track was attached I then removed the sleepers either side of the join and screwed down two lengths of copper clad sleeper strips I then solder the rails to the CCS and added more screws After cutting along the joint it was sprayed with sleeper grime. With a bit of luck it should be dry soon so I can continue I've started laying the track for the extension Firstly I cleared about 2-3 inches of the old track Next the new track was attached I then removed the sleepers either side of the join and screwed down two lengths of copper clad sleeper strips I then solder the rails to the CCS and added more screws After cutting along the joint it was sprayed with sleeper grime. With a bit of luck it should be dry soon so I can continue 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Williams Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Chris, Are you going to need more of the ash? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Is that double sided copperclad strip....? If it is, it helps to gap the screws so they are electrically dead, I once nearly destroyed a Shinohara crossing trying to isolate it from a mystery short, when the real problem was a nearby baseboard joint and power finding a path down the brass screws and along the underside of the strip. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted December 30, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 30, 2013 I found this out the hard way too although the short didn't appear straight away after laying and wiring the track. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 S? B) Nope. Bigger. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Gilbert Posted December 30, 2013 Author Share Posted December 30, 2013 Chris, Are you going to need more of the ash? Yes please Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Gilbert Posted December 30, 2013 Author Share Posted December 30, 2013 Is that double sided copperclad strip....? If it is, it helps to gap the screws so they are electrically dead, I once nearly destroyed a Shinohara crossing trying to isolate it from a mystery short, when the real problem was a nearby baseboard joint and power finding a path down the brass screws and along the underside of the strip. Thanks Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Williams Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Yes please Steve Hopefully my cousin will have been having log fires. I am seeing her tomorrow, so I will ask her to save any ash she gets and I'll get sieving!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 But Jordan, do you not know the story of the three bears? H0 is too small, 0 is too big: S is just right... I don't doubt it (except for the price ) but I've seen the evidence in this case... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Scottish Modeller Posted December 30, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 30, 2013 Hi Chris, All this activity leaves an open question - just hanging and begging to be answered! What size will the layout be by the time it gets to Glasgow? Need to let Ian know as soon as possible before the nice little gap sites that are spare at present get filled in... Thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Gilbert Posted December 30, 2013 Author Share Posted December 30, 2013 ! What size will the layout be by the time it gets to Glasgow? Hi Phil It's all sorted thanks I've been in contact with Ian before Warley The full length at Glasgow will be 14 feet 9 feet of the layout with four and a half feet main fiddle yard plus another 6 inches by the silos to allow double headed locos run round. I will be adding another four and a half feet fiddle yard to behind the silos for TVNAM next year!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prof Klyzlr Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Dear RMwebbers, Um, just a quick one, isn't there any better way to go gaps in copper sleepers so they aren't so visually obvious?(IE no scale 6" furrows down the sleeper centreline)Maybe using a razor saw (IE thin as possible),and cutting gaps hard-up against the web of the rail where there is a natural (IE visually expected anyway) visual linear line? It would seem logical that by "hiding in plain sight" against the web of the rail, one can have their gaps, and keep them "invisible" at waaaay-tooo-close viewing distances too... Just thinking out loud before launching into a dropleaf-traverser build session today... Happy Modelling,Aim to Improve,Prof Klyzlr 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 I've used filler such as Squadron Green to fill in the gaps in the ties(sleepers). Tedious, but it helps. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Gilbert Posted December 31, 2013 Author Share Posted December 31, 2013 I'm going for the easiest way I know to hide the cuts It's also my vain attempt to hide the join between the two boards. I will add another highway bridge to make it twice as big and add a few view blockers either side to hide the joint a little Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 (edited) Chris - what about widening the bridge, and fitting the roadsign onto a vertical pole (telescoping brass tubes - use the one on kurumi.com for a pattern and solder them!), and placing the pole immediately in front of the split in the backscene? That line/join is always the most difficult bit to hide, and that seemed to work with Sin City Yard - the other alternative might be a divided multi-lane highweay with a central barrier, with curved-top light standards in the centre - again one up against the split Edited December 31, 2013 by shortliner 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 (edited) Dear RMwebbers, Um, just a quick one, isn't there any better way to go gaps in copper sleepers so they aren't so visually obvious? A ) Paint on a solution used to etch circuit boards (if I can find the spare crystals I have stashed away). B ) Use a Dremel-type motor tool with a brass wire wheel, or a glass fibre brush to remove excess copper. C ) Solder the rails directly to the brass screws, if the joint can't be hidden. D ) Only model street running, although this makes disquising the join in the road surface trickier. Edited December 31, 2013 by 298 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
highpeak Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 I am using Central Valley turnout bases as a jig using an idea developed by Joe Fugate. On the copper clad timbers I cut the gap where it can be hidden by a plastic tie plate salvaged from surplus CV ties. The tie plates can be thinned down by rubbing them on sandpaper until they are "only wafer-thin Monsieur", then glued over the gap.The only snag is that on the copper clad ties there isn't the grain detail that the CV ties have, but it isn't really noticeable once the turnout is painted and weathered unless you look really closely. I think this method gives the strength of PCB construction with the detail afforded by the CV product. I'm not entirely happy with relying on glue to hold everything together, though the thinned barge cement does a decent job and I am happy with it on plain track with a few slimmed down spikes for good measure. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
highpeak Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Gap cut close to rail base: Tie plate cut from CV tie and sanded down very thin: While cutting and sanding tie plates might sound a bit tedious, it is actually quite mind-numbing. But I don't think it takes any more time than filling gaps with putty and sanding them, and the PCB ties would really stick out like sore thumbs amid the plastic ones if there was no tie plate detail at all. I have tried the tie plates from the Proto 87 stores but found that the rail foot of the Model Engineering code 70 rail I am using is too wide to fit them. I don't know whether they make different ones for code 83 that might work, but the sanding down method works for me, fiddly though it is. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Gilbert Posted January 8, 2014 Author Share Posted January 8, 2014 As work progresses at North Haston I thought I'd share my thoughts on how the layout would now operate at shows. Originally I had planned to just scenicing the staging area but after closer studying I thought I could add some interesting operation to the layout, if i added fiddle yards to either end of the scenic section I've decided that North Haston, which has moved back up to the New England area, as it allows a larger variation of railroads, is now an interchange between a regional railroad/shortline and a Class one/regional railroad company. I'm not setting which is which in stone, so one day I can operate with ,say, the CSX interchanging with the Guilford,and the next day I could operate the Guilford interchanging with the Vermont Railroad. Using the track plan below I will try and explain how it will operate. The class one/regional railroad comes in from the left on track one and pulls all the way to the right (3), once it's cleared the turnout the train backs up along the rear track (2) and uncouples just passed the grade crossing. Once uncoupled the mainline loco pulls forward under the highway bridge, the road is change, it then backs up and stands on the front track (1) clear of the crossing. Next the regional railroad/shortline train arrives from the right, the loco uncouples from its train just in front of the warehouse and heads off to couple up the the inbound train standing on the rear left hand track (2). The class one/regional railroad loco then starts up and couples to the outbound train and exits stage left. The regional railroad/shortline train then pulls back in, carries out any switching that is required then departs right to service the rest of the line. Once all this has happen an officers train, a Sperry Rail Car or even a light engine lash up might appear and then we start all over again. Hope this makes sense... NS ex-Conrail Dash 8-40CW stands at Noth Haston 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robatron86 Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Those ties do look fiddly, but also look well worth the effort. The extension is coming on nicely . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 My word, Haston has growed!! Interchange operations are great for small layouts - to me they are a good way of justifying more than one train 'on scene', & also justify the fairly quick turn-round of freight cars - far more realistic than cars being spotted at an Industry where in reality they might then wait hours or days, only on a model layout to be switched again a few minutes later... An 'Interchange' layout doesn't need all - or even any - on-scene Industries for the cars to go to, & finally this sort of operation stands out, to me at least, as being "typically US" operation, far more common to happen on US railroads than it might in the UK, if it happens at all here these days?? I don't know, I'm not really up on the UK scene at all these days... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supaned Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Thumbs up from here for the extension - I look forward to seeing it in operation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcanman Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Well thought out Ops, Chris. Should be great fun to operate and good for exhibiting, as there will plenty of action to keep the punters interested at Glasgow. Mal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 (edited) I am helping Chris and co. out on Friday till about 1415 on Saturday - come and say "hello" Edited January 8, 2014 by shortliner Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 I really like that plan. Is it Glasgow already? Liked to have gone there... Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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