Starting the new layout!


Ron for securing the track in awkward places use no nail's for projects, what i do is squirt a bead down the trackbed and then smear it level with a small scraper or scrap of styrene, place the track onto it and then i place steel weights along the length till the glue sets, it sticks down VERY well, another thing, if you use flex track solder several pieces together, it makes laying it dead easy and you don't have joints on curves that could cause derailments
keep up the great work
 
Ron for securing the track in awkward places use no nail's for projects,

Thanks Steve B, but I was only kidding. I have all the risers in there but the roadbed is not secured down. I can just lift the area up and nail and glue it down.
By the way has anyone got a preference for caulk/adhesive for code 83 atlas track. I've use PL caulk for foamboard because I had it around from glueing the terrain together. It held the track down pretty well but it's a light blue color... difficult to hide under ballast.
 
Liquid Nails is a brown Color. What about hotglue? Sets quick, is genrally Clear, AND fairly easy to remove if you ever decide too
 
After a couple week hiatus (those darn holidays get in the way of progress), I'm finally back from another trip down to my Dad's house.

This trip I filled in all the riser that were missing. When we 1st cut and layed out the roadbed the riser were 4-5' apart, just to get it in place and make it easier to move a couple riser instead of a whole bunch, if need be. Well, needless to say it bounced like a trampoline.:eek: Now that we are happy with where everything is, the permanent risers are in place now.:D

While I was gone my Dad set up a "cork road bed station" to cut the cork strips. I have a link to where I got this idea in the 16th reply of this post. It works great!

Here's a shot of the station.
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This next picture is of a jig my Dad made to ease laying out the spacing of the cork and track. The length of it is 4", It can handle a 3 track main with
2" spacings. And the width of it is cut to fit between the distance of the adjacent outside rails. click to enlarge any picture.
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We glued it down to the plywood with regular carpenters glue, because it was handy. We tacked it in place till it tried, and in large areas like switch pads I took long strips of wood and clamped it along the edge to hold it flat.
Here's a section tacked and waiting to dry.
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Here's a switch pad area now.
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Still more to come...
 
Now, this isn't so much "Progress", more like "disgusting".:eek:

If you've been wondering where we get all this "meticulous, exacting" work done, this is my Dad's work shop.

Watch Your Step!
Here's the entrance just adjacent to the layout. Very convienent.
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OH my God! Where's the floor?!
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In here is actually a well equipt shop with tablesaw, mitre saw, joiner, drill press, sanding station, bandsaw, all the hand tools needed (plus some)... the only problem is finding it all, hehe.:confused:

That's it till next trip...
 
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Somehow I'd forgotten to post up about your progress.. OOps! Great progress and some really nice gifts from the fat guy in red!!
 
"Myowngod" : That's one of the most realistic shop scenes I saw in a while,....Very detailed!!!...If that's N scale, even better!!! :) (joking) Very cool, You definitely have some nice tools to work with. Good luck!!...Keep us posted!!
 
WOW, here I thought I was looking at some more of Bob Boudreau's interior detail photos! ;)

My trainroom looks like that too, at least for the moment while I'm correcting some track defects. The other reason may not be as easy to remedy: In spite of the infrastructure upgrades (heater/AC, insulation in walls and ceiling), the rest of my family members still see it as a garage and treat it accordingly - i.e. leaving the doors ajar, using it as a "warehouse of last resort"...:mad:

Anyhow, your layout is coming along quite nicely - looking forward to seeing the end product!
 
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Anyhow, your layout is coming along quite nicely - looking forward to seeing the end product!

END PRODUCT! Come on now, You know there's no "End Product" in model railroading. It's always an on going thing.:) But I know what you mean. I can't wait to get the scenery to a point I can have a magazine come in and shoot a few rolls... Oh wait, I was dreaming there for a second, hehe.
 
Scott I hear ya! I think once the last of my 'construction'-type work is finished and cleaned up, I'll have an easier time convincing the CFO to go along with that idea (at least for locking the place when I'm not in there anyways)

Ron, my definition of 'end product' has always been: Trains able to run on the track, with a few scenicked areas [definitely not the whole thing LOL].
 
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Update from afar

I haven't been down to my Dad's in a couple weeks but he has been busy.
There is finally track officially down. He got the lower staging area down with re-railers entering and leaving each spur... just in case of you know what. There are no switch machine installed yet but I'm probably going to use the basic Atlas under-table ones. I wish we could afford the tortoise machines but with the amount of turnouts we have it adds up. Does anyone have any feedback or past use of these machines? I would like to get the track as bullet prove as possible before covering it up with higher levels.

Here's some pictures he sent
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AH... I can see that long passenger train coming around that long sweeping curve, through a stone arched bridge and ducking into a tunnel... I can smell the steam engine now, hear the whistle blow, the bell ringing...
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More to come...
 
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Here's the completed staging area.. The 2 inside tracks are for storage and then the outside passing track. You can see the cork roadbed cutting jig in the background.
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He tested out clearances with the long passenger cars going in opposite directions, and of course had to modify the track just a bit on one of the tighter radii. Par for the course.

PS- He ended up using Brown latex base caulk to hold the track down. We both agreed the solvents in the liquid nails might warp the track abit.
 
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Ron,

Amazing stuff!

Looks like you and your Dad have a a really great layout going up there! Terrific looking work, you and your Dad have made a great foundation of work to build upon!

Starting off with such a well laid out and well built foundation can only pay off a hundred fold later on and if the rest is as good as what you have been doing then it will be truly impressive indeed!

Keep up the great work and keep the pics coming they are a source of inspiration for me.

Peace.

Coyote
 
Ron and your dad! Very interesting and impressive work you'r doing. I find it great when you can see/watch the "birth"of a (big) layout in the way you both do.
Thanks that you want to share that with us by posting it each time!

Jos
 



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