[Ozzie21]

I didn't get so much done this trip as other things got in the way, house repairs and other stuff. I did however manage to get into the shed and put up some more woodwork and trial fit the curve onto the embankment which will lead into the yard area.


This curve is laid at 48" radius with roughly 60" easements at each end. I may have to tighten these easements up to 54" as I want to add an extra turnout for a helper siding at the top of the grade.


These will support the enrtance to the yard throat. I'm thinking of raising the main line about 6 inches or so on a elevated trestle so the main line doesen't interfere with switching operations in the yard. Yard will connect with the main line at either end.


Upper deck supports. As the lower staging will for the most part be in darkness I'm going to fit LED strip lighting along the front edge of the upper deck. I'll face off the lower staging in a shadow box effect.

Well that's as far as I got so that's it for another 6weeks. More plywood should arrive before I get back so I can make a start on sheeting the upper deck. Now I have to start and make turnouts

Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia

 

[upnick]

Hi Charles,

More excellent planning for the trains to make their way around the layout cant wait to see more progress in six weeks, do you have any particular scenery in mind yet ?

The LED strip lighting is a good idea i have some on the way from Hong Kong 5Metres for under £4.00 post free is good vlaue but take a little more time getting here take a look at the warm white type rather than the white / bright LED's before purchasing quantity to cover the area you require.

 

[rainey06au]

That is one heck of a layout! Great to see the work coming along nicely!

 

[silky_jack]

That is HUGE!!!! Nice work.

 

[Big Dave]

you are very lucky to have so much room this will be some layout when its done will be watching with interest as it grows.

 

[Ozzie21]

QUOTE (upnick @ 17 Apr 2013, 02:51) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi Charles,

More excellent planning for the trains to make their way around the layout cant wait to see more progress in six weeks, do you have any particular scenery in mind yet ?

The LED strip lighting is a good idea i have some on the way from Hong Kong 5Metres for under £4.00 post free is good vlaue but take a little more time getting here take a look at the warm white type rather than the white / bright LED's before purchasing quantity to cover the area you require.

Nick, not sure where the LED strips are coming from, China I think. A mates getting them for me and think it's A$22 for two 4 meter lengths with transformers.

Had a look a scenery around the world I know for the most part it's green. That's about as far as I've gotten on the scenery side. I have a mate who's a wizard at that so I'll leave it up to him when the time comes.

Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia

 

[Ozzie21]

A little more work done in the last couple of trips but not as much as I had hoped for. I managed to extend the previous effort around onto what will be the station/yard area and lay a bit of track and add some LEDs to give turnout indication. I should have used bi-colour LEDs but it's easy to change.




Where the plastic bridge section is shows how high the running main will be elevated along the backscene board. This will run for most of that wall, 30ft.




it's taken about 3yrs to put a piece of track on to the back of this turnout. The extra 2m's allows me to run around a train

With this extra 2m in place I reckon another 156m should finish it off. When that will happen I have no idea.

Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia

 

[Big Dave]

Thats going to be some layout when your done with it nice to have that much space

 

[Ozzie21]

Okay, I finally got some more work done. Big job was installing a Walther's 130ft turntable, needs to big for the Alleghenies and the Big Boy. This should have been fitted the easy way by cutting the hole when the base board was still on the ground. But no I had to do it after I fitted the base board to the bench work which is 5ft high.
That made it tricky to reach so to sum up I cut the hole not only in the wrong spot but slightly to large as well. Luckily I had a sheet of 1/8th ply which I used for a gap filler. The turntable is fully digitalized and indexed so with the push of a couple of buttons locos can go for a ride. Next I had to lay some track temporarily so I could run a loco on to the turntable.
Then I had to position the roundhouse which of course was not where it was planned so it's only 3 stalls instead of the 6 I had planned for. So to make up for it I'll make space for some house/ready tracks off the turntable. Of course one little error puts everything else out so the buildings in the pictures are only posed. The roundhouse is fixed in place.


This was where I got to a couple of months back. The main line will be the track at the back with a passing loop/2nd main.


Where the cork roadbed is was supposed to be the main but it's going to have to come up and new foam road bed fitted in it's place. Cork is really noisy especially after it's been ballasted.


This looking back towards the roundhouse. The yard tracks will occupy most of the space.


This is the staging tracks underneath. I'm not happy with the 2x2inch posts so I'm going to make wooden C channel out of a piece of 3x2 and two 4x1's. Should be strong enough to hold the upper deck up with minimal bracing.


One Walthers 130ft turntable. As it's digital I power it off the accessory bus.


Other buildings positioned just for show.The grey building will be the enginemens bunkhouse. Seemingly they were run by the YMCA in the past.


Athearn D&RGW Challenger sitting on the turntable run off track.


Now I have to get from this board to across the room, circle the three walls descending all the time to get to>>>>>>>>>>>>>


>>>>>Here and the job would be nearly complete

After that all I would have to do is fill in the bits inbetween

Then the job is done and I can have a golden spike.

Regards
Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia

 

[reddo]

Good progress Charles. I noted the gaps in your posts - I have the same issue with my layout in France, and having to live between Munich and SE England for work so even though I was down in France all last week got little (read nothing) done except unload all the locos and Vollmer kits I bought.

Having a last house under refurb doesn't help as need to be out and about ordering stuff for the second fix.

Hoping to get a load done in trips in May and then July, even if I can just get the flipping dcc wiring done to be able to run something properly. In hindsight my enforced 18months off work was a Godsend to get stuff done.

Yr trips up and down the east coast remind me of the trips I used to make on a weekend up to the Hunter for the drive

Cheers

 

[Ozzie21]

Reddo, thanks for the comments. Yes the trips aren't as frequent as I would like but it's an 8hour drive with about 3hours in kangaroo infested country, with feral pigs to boot. Much as I would like to get down more often it's not practical to do so.
When we had more time off and fuel was lot cheaper I would be doing it a lot more often but times change and I'm a lot older so driving that distance is getting tiring. I need to find a job close to home that pays the same or more would be better
But alas nothing yet.

Regards
Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia

 

[neil_s_wood]

Looking good Charles. That's an awesome shed you've got there.
Cheers

Neil

 

[Ozzie21]

Neil,thanks for the comments. When I go back next time I should be making turnouts but I haven't decided whether to go with a No6 or a No5 in the yard. It depends on the big steamers as to how easy they navigate a tighter turnout. If I'm still thinking about that I may lay a bity more wood work, get rid of the 2x2's and fit the "C" channel.
Then if I get time I may make a start on working up to the top deck. We shall see as there is a fair amount of scenery to do plus the backscene and I still have two industrial areas to do as well. Ohh I'm getting a headache

Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia

QUOTE (neil_s_wood @ 28 Apr 2014, 08:37) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Looking good Charles. That's an awesome shed you've got there.
Cheers

Neil

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (Ozzie21 @ 28 Apr 2014, 10:40) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Neil,thanks for the comments. When I go back next time I should be making turnouts but I haven't decided whether to go with a No6 or a No5 in the yard. It depends on the big steamers as to how easy they navigate a tighter turnout. If I'm still thinking about that I may lay a bity more wood work, get rid of the 2x2's and fit the "C" channel.
Then if I get time I may make a start on working up to the top deck. We shall see as there is a fair amount of scenery to do plus the backscene and I still have two industrial areas to do as well. Ohh I'm getting a headache

Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia
Yes Charles, you've certainly got a lot of work to do there. If you do country scenery you could grassmaster a fair bit of it quickly though. Probably the quickest and cheapest way to cover a big area.

Cheers
Neil

 

[RussR]

wow, it's been a while since I logged on here, this is really coming along!

i'm still working on my track plan