Well, progress is continuing. Area for the lift out is finalized and the surrounding foam cut to fit. Have to wait until Thursday to pick up my [hopefully] last sheet of foam board so I can cut the liftout as a single piece for strength. But have been running trains, so that is fun as I discovered non-dome passenger cars fit just fine with the clearance. Gotta pick up a Surform tool too, as mine has disappeared. Anyway, here are pics:
Well the panels took the glue well. I went digging through the Unitrack parts and found the turnouts for the upper trackage. Going to wait to hook up the rest of the tracks till my back feels better, but these pics will give an idea of how the Fox Mesa area will be laid out. From the NE corner the curve runs into a switch giving a passing siding that leads into the two switches at the NW corner. The last legs there will be based on being long enough to accept three forty foot boxcars or four ore cars.
Well started work on fitting the upper tracks and discovered that while I have curves coming out my ears, I have almost NO straight sections. So gonna have to find a cheap lot on fleabay to get the Station and Passing tracks completed. Grump grump grump...
Well, gonna head to my nearest LHS [almost an hour away] tomorrow, they do have the Unitrack I need. Will also pick up the rest of the supplies from Lowes for the lift out and base scenery.
Is it an easy drive, Deacon? My nearest train store is about an hour away but it’s an easy drive. Enjoy your visit to your LHS and show us what treasures you bring home.
Hopefully it's an easy drive for you. Good hunting Until about a year ago, my only really choice for a LHS was an hour + drive across the greater metro Atlanta area. If you have been to Atlanta, you know anything that involves a drive like that is not easy and quite nerve racking these days. Fortunately there is nor a shop a mere 12 miles away but still 20 to 30 minutes to get there.
Well, I picked up the foam insulation board today. Strangely enough, all they had was gray colored stuff, before it has been pink, green or blue. Anyway it can't hurt as a scenery board starting out gray. Also picked up the rest [hopefully] of the Unitrack to figure out the Fox Mesa tracks, can't glue everything down up there til my magnets get in, but can make sure everything fits.
Okay the top cover for the liftout has been cut, will work more on it tomorrow night or Sunday evening. BUT, I did get the layout clipped together on the Fox Mesa section and everything fits! WOOHOO!
Well, gonna grump this morning. Tried the new Concor Kato 4-8-4. Runs great but...my 11" minimum radius curves and it don't play well together. So now gotta decide whether to save it for running at shows or sell it. Then discovered my Kato Mikados wouldn't make the low clearance I thought I had solved, so I had to cut more foam away and replan. But the Mikes now make the clearance. Then running into electric gremlins on the new extension. So today was rather annoying so far on the train front, but I do have to admit that using the foam board construction is wonderful.
That is disappointing, Deacon. The 4-8-4 is a very nice engine. You may have gotten the polarity reversed on one of the new feeders on the extension. It’s very easy to do. Having these kinds of problems is frustrating but with a little patience and perseverance you’ll get those gremlins kicked off the layout.
Joe, you nailed one of the gremlins right off, I did swap polarities, but got that figured out. Thank you for covering that. I think it's mostly some really dirty track from a lot I bought, so gonna try wiping it down again later, cross your fingers. I guess I'm gonna sell the 4-8-4, getting to only run it a couple of times a year, well, nuts. It even will [barely] fit on my Atlas turntable!
Glad you banished that gremlin, Deacon. As to the 4-8-4, if it was mine I’d sell it. I wouldn’t be happy if I couldn’t run it on my layout.
You might consign the 4-8-4 to yard duty... Kind of a waste of a good loco, but if you really like its looks, who cares? Or maybe you have a place to park it for "display", and you have to periodically run it back to the roundhouse for maintenance. Just another move to schedule with your other trains to avoid interference, etc. Having something that can interfere with a 'normal' train's run can add operational interest. But if you can't use it, someone else can, and will pay for the privilege.
Work progresses on the Upper Extension, I found the electrical gremlin and banished it. Will need to widen the upper area for the track, but that is not going to be a major headache, just foam construction.
Once the gremlin was chased off, I was able to do some measuring and a little de-cluttering. Also, I have added a switching spur or parking track to the central area, but am not sure if that will stay there or not. Anyway pics today.
