Track and industry positions have been finalised, with input from son Matthew, of South Lewistown fame! Tomorrow will see the first sections of trackage laid and shortly afterwards wired so the first movement can take place. Bus wires will run the length of the layout so feeders can be easily connected as track is laid. As DCC is used, no section switching is required. Point control will be by slider switches operating rodding from edge of baseboard and the switches will also control frog polarity as in previous layout. This was very reliable. Photographic evidence will appear very soon! Also descriptions of the various industries and operation. I am really looking forward to running the first trains and also the sounds of Alcos when I start fitting the sound units to some locomotives. Stay tuned! Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
Looking forward to a sketch of the track plan! BTW- Are you now completely out of Slovenia? Or still working at selling the house?
I will do a track plan soon, now track is finalised. We are living in England now, but still have the house in Slovenia until it is sold. Until then we can pop over for holidays Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
Downloaded AnyRail and will use it to make a track plan. Have used it in the past, but must have deleted the program.
Got about two-thirds of the turnouts and track laid yesterday and rodding for switching them. Rest of track today, then fit and wire up the slide switches to frogs. Will soon be ready to connect up the DCC controller Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
Most track is now laid and now fitting and wiring of turnout control switches is underway. For full picture see http://www.andersley.co.uk/awgallery.html
Should have said that the layout is 3 meters by 0.5 meter. There will be a 2-track staging yard at right hand end. Not planning any further expansions Ken
I had the same question about expansion because the leads off the double track/run around do not allow for a loco to move very many cars. I would think an engineer would want to get behind a train and then pull the whole thing off the end in order to move to the other side of the run around for switching. It would seem like longer leads at the ends of the module would allow for more realistic moves.
The staging tracks off the ends at right will include a headshunt, so plenty of space to pull several cars if necessary, although they will usually be switched a few at a time. The staging will easily accommodate the longest train which will fit in the run round. A train will normally arrive on the right side, a switcher will take off the caboose and move it to the far end into the caboose/locomotive road. The locomotives will cut off then move forward to the headshunt then back, then forward again into the the locomotive road with the caboose. After all switching is complete, the caboose will be added to the rear and the locomotives onto the head end ready for departure. If another train is due to arrive, the departing train will be on the left side track (as viewed from right hand end of layout).
Did you paint the track first? If so what did you use? I am thinking of spray cans rather than airbrushing
We used three color spray cans; dark gray, Brown, and black. It works fine as long as someone's right there with a rag to clean off top of rail. I had one issue with it though. Once dried, rail was essentially cemented in place. Want to alter a curve ever so slightly, forget it. We airbrushed the new table, looks identical, but more flexible results.
I usually airbrush the track before ballasting with rusty color. (Humbrol used to make 'Track Color) paint but discontinued so now I use any darkish brown. As has been said, wipe off the rails immediately! As all this track is reused from my Slovenian layout it is mostly painted anyway, so after ballasting I will airbrush again to weather the track and generally muck it up so looks more well used industrial track. Alan www.andersley.co.uk
Started making card mockups of building extension across ends of layout. Until I ran out of cereal packets! Fertilizer building will be extended across the end of the layout as shown by the card mockup. Includes a covered hopper loading bay. Farmers' Co-op building extended across the other side of tracks with a covered access from the main building. Includes a reefer loading bay. This will help hide the staging yard.
