Fluesheet's Shelf Layout

[Fluesheet]

Getting started.

The key hurdle (mostly mental!) that would have to be cleared before getting started were the crossings. I chose to hand lay these on a template I printed from the Fast Tracks
(<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.handlaidtrack.com/HO-14-Crossing-Printable-Track-Template-p/tt-ho-x-19.htm">http://www.handlaidtrack.com/HO-14-Cros ... o-x-19.htm</a><!-- m -->), and they came out looking very nice, but required some love with a file to really work well.
The build gallery for the crossing is here: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://goodman312.zenfolio.com/p1058566081">http://goodman312.zenfolio.com/p1058566081</a><!-- m -->


Once these were complete, I was confident that the rest was possible.

Shelf cut and CadRail plan printed and attached:


I started laying track on the less-complex left end, using turnouts that I had built a month or so before. The track in the foreground are Central Valley Model Works "Branchline" ties (#2002) that were used as-is. These were spiked through the tie every 10th tie or so. The spiking required pilot holes in the tie to prevent the tie from splitting, and the spike themselves had to have their heads trimmed, so it became a more tedious task than I'd expected.

The middle track's ties are Central Valley's #2003 ties - mainline 8'6" ties. These were too closely spaced on the strip, so I ended up cutting these into groups of twos and threes to spread them out and give a "lighter duty" look.

Notice that part of the plan is torn up - I found that "humps" caused by the seams where sheets of paper were taped were causing problems if turnout points were located over them, so up it came - getting the paper out from underneath the spiked spur was a real pain!




Build Gallery:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://goodman312.zenfolio.com/p802892396">http://goodman312.zenfolio.com/p802892396</a><!-- m -->

More Later!

Matt