Okay, found out my mail was sending my pics to the spam folder. Yay for Yahoo. First, the new spur into the center. Then locos that have arrived.
This is only my opinion, but... From an operations point of view, I'd want something to do in Daphetid. But as it is, there's no run-around up there, so you end up pushing a drop-off all the way up hill onto one stub, and picking up a bring-back from the other stub (swapping stubs each time) and dragging it back down the hill. The trestle is a trademark of this layout, but I'd be tempted to greatly shorten it (or slide it around to the right side of the layout). That would leave you room to expand Daphetid across the middle/top of the layout, with a run-around track (a crossover between the two extended stubs would do) so you don't have to push railcars all the way up there. I know, this is a famous model railroad, designed by one of the great model railroaders of all time. But that don't mean I don't think it can be improved upon by individuals with perhaps slightly different interests than John Allen had when he designed it. But this ain't my rodeo. Ya gotta "rope & ride" your own!
Hey! If that span across the two tracks is 9.75", then I bet the Unitrack through truss bridge would look fabulous there! The new spur will provide for more/elaborate operations. I created an "industrial park" for 4 small industries on my layout. I haven't chosen the final cut of industries yet, but am considering how some might supply others, etc. so not every railcar move is between yard and industry.
Jake, I'm waiting for that very truss bridge for the yard right now! And you have me wondering about what I might be able to do at the Daphetid area. Maybe eliminate the spur on the left side from Gorre and make the Daphetid area bigger.
Well, been getting older engines running, an ancient Atlas 0-8-0 got some TLC and it responded like a kitten to warm milk. Ran a bit spotty at first, but then perked up and ran for an hour flawlessly, hauling about 10 cars for the last 15 minutes or so up and down the 2% grade on the layout. The little Shay is a riot! Started off with 5 ore cars and a caboose, and it never even blinked. Then out of sadism, I hooked up some more and it just snickered at me and took off, hauling 10 cars all over at half power. Cleaned the track again, it is running smoothly, of course, Murphy will be waiting somewhere. Did some rough measuring for the turntable tracks, I should be able to have about 8-9 tracks off the turntable, that includes the enginehouse and service track.
Those Shays were noted for dropping that drive shaft. PS- I like how you added those giant fingers to your layout. Quite the scenic feature!
Well, my box arrived today with bridges and assorted bits and pieces. @BigJake the truss bridge looks really good over the passing yard.
Beautiful!!! BTW, you can replace that adjustable length track piece underneath the bridge with a standard length piece cut down to fit. Just cut the excess length out of the middle of the roadbed, slide the two roadbed ends together on the rails, and then trim the rail lengths to fit at the end of the shortened roadbed. I think Mike Fifer (Fifer Hobby) has a video of this.
If that viaduct to the left of the bridge is a 13.75R45, you can replace it with a 13.75R30 viaduct, and swap the unitrack piece out (let the longer track run off the far end of the viaduct housing.) This may help if you don't want a whole 45 degree curved span there.
Hmm, if all else fails, I guess I could just take and cut the existing viaduct to the exact length needed. Thanks! Also, decided to revise the central area as I will be losing some ground footage to the Daphetid Branch line. So the turntable will go to the center and the spur off to the right. This should [Famous Last Words] still allow 6-8 tracks off the turntable for the Engine House and staging tracks.
Like cutting Unitrack pieces to length, cutting a section out of the middle of a viaduct (and gluing the remaining ends back together) preserves the interfaces on the ends for Kato piers and abutments. I would stack an identical radius viaduct section on top and use it's end (remove track- and viaduct joiners) to guide the saw cuts, using a flush-cutting saw to ensure the squareness of the cuts, so the cut ends will re-assemble correctly. It might also be helpful to use the curved unitrack section to properly align the two ends while gluing the viaduct ends back together.
Andy, thank you for such good suggestions! Well I tested and got all my existing switches working with the controllers. I was especially pleased that the Mainline/Passing Track switches worked together without having to cut and splice one of the feed wires. One used controller is bad, okay that happens, I still had enough to get all the switches on the Mains working. I will need to order one more Left hand #6 for the Daphetid Branch and another controller. My 2 #4s will remain manual control for right now, but I will drill the holes for future wires now. Mainlines are running smoothly, so once I get the wiring for the switch machines run, I will start gluing down the Mains.
I'm using the Kato switch controls. I am in love with the automatic power routing feature of these switches.