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Made some progress on one end of the layout, go a bunch of track and eight switches laid in.  I don't know why I thought this would go quick with 22 switches and over 400 feet of track, but it's sure taking longer than I had originally anticipated!  I like the fact that I can cut flex track to size, brings me back to the tubular track days.  OTOH, it ends up being more time consuming and it's really easy to screw up.  I also found out, to nobody's surprise, that the paper plan doesn't always work when you actually get track in hand!  I've had to get a bit creative in a couple of places, but over all I'm happy with how it's coming.

This section was all cleaned up and with the arrival of my remaining switches, it's all in place.

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A view from the end.

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This is the workshop end, the rail at the edge is my maintenance siding, that's where I'll put stuff on from the bench for testing and drive it out onto the layout.

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Last edited by gunrunnerjohn

Yes, Alex, I had a lot more flexibility, that was part of the problem!   One issue with flex track it's so much easier to create a paper plan that won't actually work in reality, and it's not that obvious until you are physically placing track!  Several places I found that due to the placement of my switches and the models used, my turns were too tight.  I'm shooting for a bare minimum of O72 anywhere on the layout, so if they work out to be less, I had to rejigger the plan to make them work.

And you haven't finished the landscaping yet??

All I have to say to this is...

Raspberries To You

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Made some progress on one end of the layout, go a bunch of track and eight switched laid in.  I don't know why I thought this would go quick with 22 switches and over 400 feet of track, but it's sure taking longer than I had originally anticipated!  I like the fact that I can but flex track to size, brings me back to the tubular track days.  OTOH, it ends up being more time consuming and it's really easy to screw up.  I also found out, to nobody's surprise, that the paper plan doesn't always work when you actually get track in hand!  I've had to get a bit creative in a couple of places, but over all I'm happy with how it's coming.

This section was all cleaned up and with the arrival of my remaining switches, it's all in place.



A view from the end.

20201218_085540

This is the workshop end, the rail at the edge is my maintenance siding, that's where I'll put stuff on from the bench for testing and drive it out onto the layout.

20201218_085604

Looks good John.

Two questions....

1- What happened to the second level shelf on the left? Did I miss a post?

2- I would have expected the service track to make a right turn and land the trains right at the bench

Stick a couple of buildings in the middle and call it scenery. We will not pass judgement.

Bob

@RSJB18 posted:

Two questions....

1- What happened to the second level shelf on the left? Did I miss a post?

2- I would have expected the service track to make a right turn and land the trains right at the bench

After considerable thought and consideration, I realized that my plans for that would really not work out very well.  Any scenery for a town that was placed that far away would be pretty much lost when you're viewing it from 12-13 feet away.  Besides, with the lack of space for sidings, I decided that maybe a three-track siding back there made more sense.   The three tracks in pink replaced the shelf.

As far as the track to the bench, I figured the track in front of my side bench and cabinet would probably not have been all that functional.

@Ron H posted:

Looking forward to seeing a locomotive testing the trackwork. Use the one most likely to derail. Do you have a finnicky steam locomotive to run?

Ron H

Does a bear do his business in the woods?   I'm sure I can rustle up some temperamental locomotive for the test.

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Last edited by gunrunnerjohn

After considerable thought and consideration, I realized that my plans for that would really not work out very well.  Any scenery for a town that was placed that far away would be pretty much lost when you're viewing it from 12-13 feet away.  Besides, with the lack of space for sidings, I decided that maybe a three-track siding back there made more sense.   The three tracks in pink replaced the shelf.

As far as the track to the bench, I figured the track in front of my side bench and cabinet would probably not have been all that functional.

Does a bear do his business in the woods?   I'm sure I can rustle up some temperamental locomotive for the test.

One can never have enough sidings. Wise move.

Looking good!

I see you used curves switches with a continuing curve on the inside route that I assume is O-72.  I had allot of issues with these situations where I matched the O-72 line I scribed on the table, only to find out I needed a little bit more relief for the  curve radius when transitioning to the switch and off of it.  I tested a few of bigger engines but not all of them, where I found the conflict later on.  Definitely encourage you to try your all your big engines in these places for these situations.

@Tom Tee posted:

John,  Your track work is easy on the eye.  Nice eye candy.

It's supposed to be train candy Tom!

@Phil McCaig posted:

You're getting there, John.   It's going to be fabulous.

Someday...

Looking good!

I see you used curves switches with a continuing curve on the inside route that I assume is O-72.  I had allot of issues with these situations where I matched the O-72 line I scribed on the table, only to find out I needed a little bit more relief for the  curve radius when transitioning to the switch and off of it.  I tested a few of bigger engines but not all of them, where I found the conflict later on.  Definitely encourage you to try your all your big engines in these places for these situations.

Actually, coming in and leaving the curved switch the curves are wider, I just tried to keep it flowing.  The curve after the exit is right at O81, it exactly matches the O81 Atlas curve.  Going into that switch, there is 18" of almost dead straight track.  I didn't have a choice about the O72-096, it was the only thing that would do the trick in that space.  I looked at the larger curved switch, but it was way out of hand for the space I have there.  There is no curve anywhere that's less than O72.  I tried to keep things in the 80-90 range.  I have some O81 & O90 atlas sectional track that I use to judge what I'm bending.

Not to say I won't have issues somewhere, with this much track and that many switches, I'm bound to screw up in a place or two!

Last edited by gunrunnerjohn

John, I have enjoyed seeing the progress. That's impressive bench and trackwork!

I like your service track arrangment. That's a good place to confine those initial test runs when a repair comes in. I've sometimes made the mistake of letting some rather filthy customer repairs from the store track crud over my whole layout.

With all that track and potentially hard-to-reach locations, how are you planning to handle track cleaning?

Yep, I could have chopped those columns down, but When looking at the floor, I'd have had to do something about the rug and the Pergo floor, the column intersects there.  That would have been messy, I don't have any of the flooring or rug, so they stayed.  Actually, I'm thinking the one that's closest to the left side I may actually cut a road through it for some scenic relief, I think that would look cool.  They'll also get some sort of decoration, maybe I'll make them into giant redwoods.

@GregR posted:
With all that track and potentially hard-to-reach locations, how are you planning to handle track cleaning?

Track cleaning?  What's that?

@Lehigh74 posted:

Only 2.

Well, technically, two and two halves.

Yes GRJ....your scenery seems to be lacking...lol. OTOH...your layout will be quite worth it once you can get the consists running...keep rockin!

Yep, I had this silly idea of getting the track all in place first.

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Yep, I have a friend that was here and is coming back on Sunday, hopefully we'll have more progress to report.  It's sooooo much easier with two people, especially when one of you is up on the layout screwing down track.

With the combination of the Dremel and my trusty 6" cutoff saw with the aluminum oxide cutting blade, we can make short work of cutting track to size.  I'm am ending up with a lot of 3-4" pieces of track, somehow you can never plan all the cuts to use everything.

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