Adding light to the subject

Well, it has been some time since I have posted - mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa! I have been very busy with several issues but I have not neglected the layout.

I was able to buy a large number of commercial lighting fixtures at a very low price ($5 per) so I went around and put over 35 up in the place of the twin bulb shop fixtures I originally installed. This took a little time as I had to rewire some of the ceiling to rebalance the bulb count by light circuit as I was adding so many bulbs ( going from 2 to 3 and 4 bulb fixtures). I actually melted a light switch due to a slight overload. Fortunately, I was right there and no damage other than to the switch occurred. You can see in the photos that the light fixtures have full reflectors which made a terrific difference. I feel like I am in an operating theater now. It makes it so much better to work on the layout. So, all construction stopped as I was in the ceiling above. I located the higher intensity lights over the aisles and left the twin bulb units over the areas where the scenic dividers will go later. In the first picture, the light in the right foreground is a twin. The lights in the right distance are the new ones. They look like spot lights in comparison.

Preparing the town of Herndon

As we finished the hidden siding, I also wanted to finish the entrance to Herndon. Ed Rappe constructed the ramp down off the main line into the town. I also nailed down the Celotex material to form the roadbed and base for the buildings. I think we will have a fuel oil dealer here along with a team track and the station. It will give a way freight some work to do going east to Harrisburg.

You can see all the tools required, including an air operated brad nailer to nail down the base.

In the third photo you will note that I had to cover the track with tape to allow me to form the roadbed shoulder with plaster. In the last shot, it is all painted flat black to represent the cinder subroadbed. Now I have to build a couple of turnouts and lay the siding tracks in the town. I am pleased with the long curve through town.

How to avoid kinks

Well, we have had to build this extensive hidden yard out of many pieces of 3 foot long track sections on a curve. So, how do we avoid getting kinks in the numerous joints?

Here is the process I followed. Frst, I lay the new section on the end of the track. In the first picture, you can see the pencil line drawn on the roadbbed that the bottom section of track is following. I do not spike down the last 6 inches so it can form a tangent to the curve. I can then see how much rail has to be pulled out of the tie strip to match the track ending.

Next, I place the new section into a fixture that I made out of homasote and strip wood that hold the tie strip in place as I draw out the rail. In the third picture you can see how much rail I had to pull out.

I then thread the tie strip onto the existing track to get the rail in place to put on the joiners. I cut away the tie plates so the joiner sits flat under the two rail sections. The new piece of track is left in a straight alignment when I put the joiner on so there is no lateral force on the rail. You can see this in the fourth picture.

I flux the rails and the joiner and then solder the pieces together. Once it cools I pull the rail to be sure I have a good joint. If all is okay, I then bend the new section along the pencil line as you can see in the last picture. The soldered joint is strong enough to ensure there is no kink and good conductivity.

I will leave a slip joint at the end of each siding to allow for expansion and contraction.

Completing the hidden yard track - part 2

Well, we undertook the tedious task of laying many sections of flex track to put in the hidden yard. My fingers are sore from all the joiners.

There are about 300 feet of track in the yard with the eight tracks. I have been able to lay about 90% of the track but I have had to stop as the other end sub roadbed is not in place yet.

I have used up all my joiners and a ton of track nails to get this all down. It took a week of effort but it looks good with the concentric circles. The radii grow from 62 inches to 90 inches. The is about a 6 foot difference in length from the interior track to the exterior track.

I used older Atlas track as this will be hidden and no one will notice the difference in color.

Continuing the Branch - up to Shamokin

Even as we work on Herndon, we have to get that branch to climb up to the overhead storage loop. In the second photo you can see the existing end of the line coming around the corner at an elevation of about 67 inches. That is just about even with Rich's head as seen in the first photo. He is placing the verticals on the wall that we will use to hang the 2 foot wide benchwork off the wall. I have set them even with the existing roadbed as that will rise significantly over its length. The line will climb up from 67 inches off the floor to about 73 inches along the wall (about 2.5% grade requiring the helpers) and then turn to the right and come over the

top of the aisle and then turn back to return , climbing up the center of the room until it reaches the overhead loop at 80 inches of elevation.

We will feature the Glenburne Colliery along this section of the wall. I plan about 3 siding tracks with the building along the wall. The conveyers passed over the main line so we will try to represent that as well. This mine was just before you came into Shamokin, PA. We will just have a representation of Shamokin on the right side of the room where the line turns back. The turn to the right will begin at the end of the supports that are on the wall in the third photo. Another engineering challenge is to get this supported without interfering with the aisle and the mainline that will go below it in the area of the saw horses.

It will also be a challenge to operate on this section as the track is at eye level for me and over the head of some (Rich and others). So, I need to build some sort of scaffolding that he can walk on yet I can push it out of the way when walking through there.

I cannot complete this though, until I build the main yard of Northumberland as I need the space in the center of the room to use my saw in building the main yard. So, that will be the focus of our next major construction phase when I return from a family gathering. Thus, the engineering will be given time for reflection.

Starting the hidden yard

Later that day, we were able to build the throat and lay one section on each of the eight yard tracks. This gives you a view of how the yard opens up. In the first photo, you see that the yard will go into a curve right after the throat. We are just squeezing everything in, with a minimum radius of 62 inches on the interior track and maximum radius of 90 inches on the outer most track.

The track will come out of a tunnel where the roadbed changes from grey to black. We are using Atlas number 7.5 turnouts as large engines will have to go into the various tracks. They certainly take a lot of room but that is the price you pay. Each holding track will hold about 35 cars plus an engine. This should give us some operating flexibility.

Finishing grading the Main in Herndon

Rich came over and gave me a hand in finshing the plastering of the ballast shoulders for the main through Herndon. We gave it two coats of spackle to handle the shrinkage and then Rich smoothed the dried compound with a wet sponge and spackle knife. Now we are painting the roadbed flat black to simulate the cinder under layer below the ballast. We will not ballast until I have painted the track and put down the scenery layer. We do not want to foul the ballast with plaster from that action. I still have to lay the sidings in Herndon but will do that next month. I can build the main through town so we can move towards getting something running.

In the last two shots, we closed out the work session with laying out the 8 track hidden storage yard that will be covered by the main yard. The two Rich's are pinning the switches in place as we get the general format set. I have already drawn the 8 radii for the tracks around the curve. Rich and I set the easements into the curves and now we are going to lay the throat.