12-28-2014, 10:01 PM
I've had a bunch of "fun" with the layout.
Laying the turnback loop, I surveyed it out for a 30" radius, then had a devil of a time fitting the track in. The last bit of S curve ended up a couple of inches off the line.
Then I noticed I was using the 36" radius curve template.
The track running from the curve is over an L girder with a 1x2 separating it. The switch machines I was going to use (Bluepoints or Fastracks Bullfrog) go down more than 1 3/4". So we made a trip on Boxing Day* to the hobby shop for a bit -- called a Tadpole. Radio said that the highway was jammed along the stretch we were going to use, so we went to the other LHS. They were closed, so back up (along the toll road) to the first one. Got my Tadpoles and bought a pack of red-winged blackbirds to make it over $10. Found that the tadpoles don't fix the clearance problem anyway. So I did wiring.
Today I checked my box of switch machines and found a couple of Rix Rack flat mounts that fit in the space. I re-did the wiring and mounted the first one. Now the problem I worried (very little) about years ago: I'm using roadbed on this layout and the last layout was just on the homasote. The activating wire is now 3/16" too short.
And now controller #4 no longer seems to be powering anything.
*Martyrdom of St Stephen
Laying the turnback loop, I surveyed it out for a 30" radius, then had a devil of a time fitting the track in. The last bit of S curve ended up a couple of inches off the line.
Then I noticed I was using the 36" radius curve template.
The track running from the curve is over an L girder with a 1x2 separating it. The switch machines I was going to use (Bluepoints or Fastracks Bullfrog) go down more than 1 3/4". So we made a trip on Boxing Day* to the hobby shop for a bit -- called a Tadpole. Radio said that the highway was jammed along the stretch we were going to use, so we went to the other LHS. They were closed, so back up (along the toll road) to the first one. Got my Tadpoles and bought a pack of red-winged blackbirds to make it over $10. Found that the tadpoles don't fix the clearance problem anyway. So I did wiring.
Today I checked my box of switch machines and found a couple of Rix Rack flat mounts that fit in the space. I re-did the wiring and mounted the first one. Now the problem I worried (very little) about years ago: I'm using roadbed on this layout and the last layout was just on the homasote. The activating wire is now 3/16" too short.
And now controller #4 no longer seems to be powering anything.
*Martyrdom of St Stephen
David
Moderato ma non troppo
Perth & Exeter Railway Company
Esquesing & Chinguacousy Radial Railway
In model railroading, there are between six and two hundred ways of performing a given task.
Most modellers can get two of them to work.
Moderato ma non troppo
Perth & Exeter Railway Company
Esquesing & Chinguacousy Radial Railway
In model railroading, there are between six and two hundred ways of performing a given task.
Most modellers can get two of them to work.