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Well now that bridge fiasco is over with. I need to start on some much needed trackwork in the main room.
I had torn out the entire corner section, when I cut out the middle benchwork. There was a crossover on the right side wall, and I had way too tight curves there. Now with the crossover relocated to the drop down bridge. I will install a LH curved switch there, to make that a much bigger curve.
I started working out the track config tonight. I have a 2% foam incline that starts at the right wall after the curved switch.
Thats a photo backdrop I created myself. I shot a series of photos, used photoshop to make a huge panorama file. Then took it to a local print shop, printed on regular photo paper, non glossy.
I use cheap latex caulk to glue everything. Foam to base, cork roadbed to foam riser, and track to cork roadbed.
Hi Michael,
It may just be the angle the first photo was taken at or the fact the line leading into it is off a bit but it appears as though there is a bit of a kink where the curved switch and the new curved track meet rather than a smooth continuous curve? If so you can try flexing your new track to accommodate the positioning of the curved switch or you may need a more gradual curved switch.
Hi Michael,
It may just be the angle the first photo was taken at or the fact the line leading into it is off a bit but it appears as though there is a bit of a kink where the curved switch and the new curved track meet rather than a smooth continuous curve? If so you can try flexing your new track to accommodate the positioning of the curved switch or you may need a more gradual curved switch.
Done! I completed this section now. And I finally have a mainline back up and running again. I still need to run the feeders though, will get that done today. And start testing.
That's exactly what I was going to ask. Quite a project. I sure hate ripping out trackwork and making corrections. A big pain in the a**, but I do have a lot of experience doing that. It will probably be well worth the work. The broader the curve, the better it will work and look. I wanted broader curves, but the best I could come up with was a 32 inch minimum radius.
Thanks Iasm. Didn't sand the dry wall mud or anything. I just painted it with brown latex paint. And while the paint was wet, I sprinkled in some real dirt, and WS grass.
Ya the gopher holes were bad. I can't believe I had those for 3 years. LOL
I started laying out the inside trackwork, to see how everything will work.
The middle straight track will be an ME girder combo bridge.
The curved track near the edge, will be a wood deck bridge.
And yesterday I received delivery of the Vollmer bridge. This will replace the Atlas bridge near the wall.
I painted it already. I'm adding some brass walkway detail parts to it.
Good job, that looks much better then how it used to be, no offense.... Isnt it something how as our layouts progress we learn different ways of doing things, and it ends up with us going back over areas of our layouts that we are not satisfied with... Thats one thing i like about model trains, you can always change something
