@Don Merz 070317 posted:Still doing trackwork. I figured out that one switch I put in on a curve coming out of Avery yard is in a BACKWARDS orientation!! So now I have to rip it out and put in the correct switch. My 3-track passenger platform from TW Trainworx has one platform that fits between the tracks no problem. But the other platform is too wide and will have to be cut down widthwise to fit. No big loss. I sure can't relocate the track because it is track 3 out of 5 and would have a ripple effect requiring half of the yard to be moved!
I have the two Lionel Bascule bridges installed, face to face. They are behind (in the sense of how the fake river flows underneath) the **** Gate bridge and at the same height. So I figured out (call me rocket scientist!) that the whole installation MAKES NO SENSE. If the boats going underneath will clear the **** Gate bridge, why would they not clear another regular bridge behind it? The lift action of the bascule bridges is (prototypically-speaking) completely unnecessary. Also, they meet in the center of the "river" at a stone pier which in modeling terms is required. They cannot just meet over open air and magically lock together strong enough to support a train. So the center pier is a must-have. But again, this means that a standard truss bridge would have served (in a prototype sense) just as well. There is no justification for having bascule bridges there other than the fact that I bought them and I want to use them! I decided not to care. There they are and there they stay.
These are the perils of doing NO real track planning. But I decided up front that this thing was a toy, not a prototype model. I will still enjoy watching those bascule bridges going up and down even if the USS Missouri isn't going underneath them to accept the Japanese surrender! Hmmmmm.....the Missouri....has possibilities....
All the best!
Don
Don, It is your layout and whatever suits your fancy is THE way to do it!!!!
