Freelance 2011

[jonte]

That Peco three-way fits in well, Reinhard, and glad to see your making good progress too.

Jonte

[faraway]

... making good progress too....

Not really. I did try the street running today. Went to down town Stuttgart and got 1/10" blue foam to raise to tie level and planned to get 1/100" styrene for street surface glued on blue foam and fit under rail head. No 1/100" styrene in store so I got 1/100" card stock. That was a bad mistake...
The card stock crimped from the glue (and would do even more from paint), snapped out of the rail head and bent into the sky

I had to remove everything, ordered 1/100" styrene at a mail order store and have to wait until, it arrives. Will do some ballasting in the mean time.

[faraway]

New level raisers (2,5mm blue foam) have been glued to the sides of the tracks to support the road surface. New 0,3mm styrene should arrive tomorrow or the day after. I did also change the old track 6 into a more straight run (lower photo) for a better fit into the street. The old curve parallel to main track 5 did not match the planned street route. Intersections will be added later as the new industry buildings will growth in the background.

[Russ Bellinis]

Finally, If I might be so bold to suggest, Reinhard, and it's only my humble opinion (bearing in mind I still don't really know what I'm talking about ) that the 'kick back' siding #10 could be considered unprototypical again due to the extra time involved in switching it. Perhaps it should face in the same directions as either groups 7 - 9 or 11 - 13 inclusive? Having said that, there's a prototype for everything.....................

Jonte

Reinhard, don't worry about possible "unprototypical" track arrangements. L.A. is so congested at some of the industrial areas that any track layout is prototypical. I don't have access to the pics, but a friend of mine was showing me pics of some of the LAJ trackwork, like three way switch going right to a two way switch to a switchback crossing one of the legs of the three way!

Furthermore, with the advent of not needing a caboose (if they ever were required for LAJ's switching operations I'm not sure), local switching locomotives often leave the yard in the middle of the train to allow switching both leading and trailing point spurs without needing difficult moves. If you doubt odd track arrangements, just look at "the patch."

[faraway]

It's done. We've got a street running track in the south industry district
It is not perfect but much better than the street running track in the north yard I made last year. Street markers etc. will be added when the intersections are build.

Russ, I try to stay away from all "unusual" where ever possible. The dramatic space problems enforce so much curiosity it could be very easy over done. e.g. look at the distance of the new street to the next main track. It would be perilous to drive at the track side of the street... The 3-way turnout and the single ended classification tracks are already a very free interpretation of the A-yard.




Next step is to get some ballast on the yard. We will see how the 3-way turnout performs after ballast and white glue torture. The electric connection of the switches/blades not very convincing. I did solder jumpers as I did it with the Atlas turnouts.

ps. You might smile but I did not have one single day I had to stop all operation during the rework. I like to play and build in parallel.

[Brakie]

Looking over your pictures I like the way you can still see signs of the track that's been removed from the long brick building.

I suppose the company switch to trucks? :cry:

[faraway]

The yard is being tested now. The 3-way turnout is a weak element. One switch rail does not press tight to the closure rail and lacks intermittent power. The link alone does not reliable distribute power to the switch rail.

I do not plan to add more details to the foreground (yard and road) until basic work of the industry in the background has been completed.







ps. You might have noticed, there is no yellow power in the yard today 8-)

[cn nutbar]

Very impressive Reinhard---I really like those background buildings

[Gary S]

An amazing amount of work in a short period of time. And I like the background buildings too. Looking good!

[nickhp]

Great looking layout, have enjoyed the evolution of the design!

The one thing that bothers me is the side of the road nearest the yard tracks. I have never seen an example where a road has tracks that could both be in use at the same time on either side of it - imagine the despair of some old grandma out for her Sunday drive all of a sudden having moving trains either side of her If it was a runaround track it would be fine, but having vehicles on the road sandwiched by moving trains on both sides is too unsafe, especially when the road is so narrow? I am sure someone will go find a prototype now , but I have never seen one over here in the states.

Cheers

Nick

[jonte]

Hi Reinhard

I concur with my previous contributors that you've accomplished a great deal of work in a relatively small amount of time; most commendable.

I also envy your operating potential - will keep you entertained for hours at a time !!

Sorry to hear that the 3 way's giving teething problems. If you eventually decide that enough is enough and dare to remove it, but wish to replace it with another 3 way, I can recommend the following company in the UK who will fabricate one to match the Peco offering, except that this one will work first time I know that at a little over 60 Euros, plus shipping, it's twice the price of Peco, but at least it will stop frustration setting in.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.marcway.co.uk/ooempw.htm">http://www.marcway.co.uk/ooempw.htm</a><!-- m -->

Food for thought anyway.

Best wishes,

Jonte

[faraway]

Nick, you got me I had to step (to?) deep into fiction to accomplish what I wanted with the given constrained space...
a. the road should be much wider to form two full lanes on both sides of the track. That is the way I did see it on many photos and videos in the LA area.
b. the track next to the road should be at a much greater distance. I feel 20' should be the minimum distance.

Jonte, the 3-way turnout works fine after I did readjust the switch machine to firmly press the switch blades. It is just no robust design. However, good to know there is a backup in UK just in case. Thank you.

[Brakie]

Guys,Here's my thoughts..

Why would Grandma be taking a Sunday drive in a industrial area?

I see that road being used by trucks and employees going to and from work..Besides all that,that's no high speed main line but,industrial tracks.

[faraway]

I got some inspiration from Youtube videos like this one : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MH6YlCYv...detailpage At about 1:30 minutes is a switching cut free running on a street like an automobile. A passing automobile is just ignoring it and passes by in the other direction. That made me thinking that within pure industrial areas on not so busy roads more coexistence than usual is practiced.

This video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlp3x0-xx...detailpage shows at 2:30 minutes a track running not in but unusual close to one lane of a road. Opening the door of an automobile might be risky some time.

The LA basin is a great area to get railroad and automobiles very close together

However, I would be glad if I would have the space and not copied this extreme scenes. It is very easy overdone if too much extreme scenes of the prototype make it into one small layout.

[Brakie]

Reinhard,I like your idea of having track in the streets..It once was common to see tracks in the middle of the street in industrial areas of large cities.Of course in some ways the road lead to trucks getting the traffic and latter urban renewal apartment complexes replaced the older manufacturing companies that had closed their doors or moved to better locations..