The Uffington and Davis Railroad (The Uff Da Line)

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MilwRoader_Steve said:
- The structure off board is the Walthers RJ Frost frozen storage - - doesn't look like it will fit anywhere.
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It will fit barely. In the fifth square from the top on the left, put a switch in the reverse loop track and it should fit further down in squares 6 & 7. The loading dock will be on the back side next to the parallel tracks on the left.
 
Greetings all!

Yet another rendition.

220208_final_maybe.jpg


1. The solid pink lines are view blocks. The N-S one will be about 15-18 inches tall and taper off to the edges. The western side will be rural scene supporting the grain elevator there. The eastern side will be urban/industrial. The view block separating the curves from the yard area will be shorter in length, maybe 8-10 inches. I might maybe try the same effect but using hillocks and trees, but there is not much space up there. View blocks I am looking to make from 1/16" styrene sheet with commercial backdrops glued on as I am not much of an artist for painting the scenery.

2. I am hoping that the redesigned interior will flow better for ops. I could possibly delete one of the northern spurs for more separation.

I have begun construction of the outer loops. That will keep me busy and still able to think of the interior.

I welcome any comments or critiques; thanks!

Steve J
 


Still after it, gents. The inner and outer loops are both complete, and laying out the reversing loop. Got the roadbed down for the curve last night. Now comes a string of evening meetings, so may not be any progress until Friday or Saturday. Oh well, real-life comes first, I suppose.
 
Another update:

Starting the reverse Loop!!

I soldered together a full piece of flex to a cut-off piece to make a 51" long flex. I bent the flex using 18R RIbbon-Rail gauges (I have both the 5" and 10" in that radius and LOVE THEM!!). Then I tried another experiment.

Instead of trying to lay out and draw an 18" radius curve, I simply put the bent flex to the desired radius (18"), placed and pinned it a few places, double-checked the radius of the bend. That is one nice thing about Micro Engineering flex - it stays bent rather than spring back to straight. Now it does have a little spring action, so those ribbon-rail gauges come in VERY handy. After confident of placement, I took a Sharpie and put a dot in the approx midpoint between every 3rd or 4th tie or so. Unpinned the flex and used that 10 inch long 18R ribbon as a guide to connect the dots and draw the centerline of the curve. Yes, I know that the outside edge of the ribbon rail is actually a tad more than 18" radius, but it was close enough.

Split pieces of WS foam roadbed and glued to the drawn centerline. Pinned and let dry overnight. Next morning I checked the bent flex to the roadbed and am very happy with the result!

Glued down the flex with caulk after using one insulated and one metal joiner to connect to the TO (the PSX-AR I'm using as an auto-reverser says to offset the 'breaks' by 3/4 inch. I'll go back and use a cut-off wheel to cut a gap and fill with a piece of styrene). Weighed down with ready-at-hand weights (really, not bought special for this) - my now-trademark bottles d'Vino. Use Bordeaux style bottles, not Burgundy. Bordeaux are the straight bottles, and Burgundy (or Pinot Noir in the States) have a larger curved shoulder. The straight give a better weight-to-contact distribution.
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One other ??trick?? Having read that the soldered joint of a curved flex is the most likely place for a kink to occur, I kept the 5-inch 18R ribbon rail in place over the soldered joint while the glue (latex caulk) dried. This keeps everything nicely in gauge and true curve.
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Checked last night and I am quite pleased with the results!

Thanks for the read, Steve J
 

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Here is the reverse loop:

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Completed and tested and worked just fine. I do hear that many have issues with reverse loops. I am using the PSX-AR from DCC Specialties and followed instructions. I think maybe those having issues might not have offset the gaps by the 3/4-inch as directed from the ops manual. Mine is running smooth as silk with zero hesitation when transiting from the main to the reverse and back.

Thanks for following!
 
Greetings all! It has been awhile, but no real significant changes. Tweaking a few things here and there. But the other night, I got an idea that perhaps a Walthers/Shinohara #2 Wye could help the interchange going into my industrial interior. So here is the newest track plan, and I am liking this one lotses. Yes, I do have a line on said Wye So can get pretty easy!

220425_UffDa_final.jpg

I think that may be the final answer!

Again the pink line will be a backdrop/view-block. Western side painted rural, east side painted urban. Structure on the west spur will be a grain elevator. The interior industries will serve as a sort-of shunting puzzle. But should be fairly easy to serve all the industries.

One thing I have done is to install some super-magnets as uncouplers. I like them and they will serve all my industrial spurs where needed.

Comments welcome!
 


Greetings all,

I know it has been awhile. But I would appreciate a looksie at this track plan.

Again the yard and outter loops are installed and running. I have been wrestling with the inner tracks and think I may have hit on a plan. My previous track designs looked good. but were unworkable in the no trains could go in to the southern spurs except head first. Not great for ops.

So this plan gives me two track sorting legs and a runaround to get on the other side of a string of cars.

I lose a bit of the idea for the industries and backdrop divider - but I'll think of something. My focus is on ops, not scenaery per se - - - no matter what I may or may not have told the wife-unit!

Thanks for the feedback folks!

Steve J
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Personally, I think the top one looks best Steve. I think the bottom one is too busy. Busy May be what you are looking for though?
Regardless, your layout is awesome from where I sit.
 
I just came across your build, I must say you certainly put the pedal to the metal. From what I can see you have a nice sized room there along with the layout , are there plans for expansion? :) I totally agree with the dcc specialties auto reversers , they work great when the track gaps are done proper.
 
As others have said - reaching those back areas is going to be tough, on my prior layout I thought a 3-4 reach would be no problem, It was ok as I started cause I could stand on the step ladder and reach - but once I started getting scenery in place I was always crunching something trying to hang out over it to reach the back side. Otherwise lots of operating potential.
 
MilwRoader_Steve said:
Again the yard and outter loops are installed and running. I have been wrestling with the inner tracks and think I may have hit on a plan. My previous track designs looked good. but were unworkable in the no trains could go in to the southern spurs except head first. Not great for ops.

So this plan gives me two track sorting legs and a runaround to get on the other side of a string of cars.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but I think you've over done it. Why do you need two runarounds? And even at that real railroads will use the main for one half of the run around.
track rework.jpg
 


MilwRoader_Steve said:
Yes I liked it, but if you follow the tracks, you'll see that there is no way to get cars to the southern spurs unless the loco goes in head first. Which locks it in. Can't drop a car and escape.
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One would simply have to service those spurs before the train has gone through the reversing loop, and pretend it is a different town. Engine pulls nose first into the switchback.
 
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