Track Laying Part 6

Just one piece of track fitted this morning, amazingly it fits perfectly without having to be cut. 😊

The whole length

One end

The other end

Two pieces of track cut and fitted this afternoon to complete the pair of tracks at the front of the layout

Later in the afternoon I cut and fitted the final pieces of track

Section of track at the rear of the layout which will be behind the hald-relief buildings

2nd and final siding and last piece of trackwork cut and fitted

The whole trackwork ready for wiring up

Keith

Track Laying Part 6

 

2 days ago, I said 

"I have no inclination to do any more work on the layout now until the new year, unless I get bored".

Guess what? I lied!!

This morning I cut a short length of track to join the pair of points to the joint section at the other end of the central baseboard. 😊

At the other end of the layout I have marked where I have to drill holes through the baseboard for the drop wires from the track which will pass through the baseboard.

Close-up view

The whole section marked up

This afternoon I cut to length the final few short sections of track.

Short section of track cut to length

And another

Final short section of track cut to length completes the siding

The siding is long enough to take a loco, 3 wagons and a brake van

This only leaves the full lengths of track behind the terrace, through the station and the longer siding at the other end of the layout to finish, I actually have enough track to complete, but I have run out of fishplates and need to order some more.

Keith

Track Laying Part 5

 I have been doing a bit of tweaking this evening.

I cut a short length of track to complete the right-hand loop.

This loop is now ready for further work.

Keith

Track Laying Part 4

 What I thought was going to take all day, I managed to complete this morning, which was to fit the 3 remaining cross baseboard sections of rail.

This cordless rechargeable vacuum cleaner has proved essential when doing this sort of work.

Keith

Track Laying Part 3

 2 more pairs of cross joint rails fitted today.

2nd pair of rails held in place same as yesterday

Rails soldered to the brass screws

Rails cut and sleepers fitted

3rd pair of rails soldered to the brass screws and sleepers fitted

Rails cut and all 3 pairs of cross baseboard joints finished

3 pairs of rails cut to length ready to install at the other end of the central baseboard

Keith

Track Laying Part 2

 I was intending to start fitting the rails that cross the baseboard joints this morning, when I had a rethink of one of the screws.

This was the screw in question, I felt it was too far away from the joint because of the original baseboard screw hole to be any use

Repositioned screw

I fixed this 6-way extension lead to one of the layout legs to give me more power options

With the intention to cut the rails required I moved my little vice from the right side of my workbench to the left, where it is easier for me to use being left-handed.

I cut two 40mm lengths of rail then fitted them between two pieces of track to gauge them correctly and used some handy weights to hold them temporarily in place

All ready for soldering the rails to the brass screws

Soldering completed on one side

Soldering completed on the other side

Once the screws and rails had cooled down, I slid some spare sleepers and chairs onto the rails.

Using a razor saw to cut through the 2 rails

The cut rails at the baseboard joint

Keith

Track Laying

 Having spent most of the last 2 months working on the half-relief terrace and having struggled with fitting the curtains 3 days ago, I thought I would have a change.

First I checked if I could position the track behind the half-relief builds on the edge of the baseboard to give me more space in front.

I have started to work on the track by fitting brass screws at the baseboard joints where track crosses from one baseboard to the next, the rails will be soldered to these screws to hold the rails firmly in place.

Unfortunately due to bad planning some of the baseboard screws are in the way of where I wish to place the rail securing screws, this is one of them

This is where the other two were, annoying, screws already removed

Single screw moved to a new location

The pair moved to new locations

Someone has turned the sun off today so I am having to resort to using lighting

4 brass screws fitted at this baseboard joint, unfortunately one of them I have had to move away from the edge of the baseboard due to the hole from the original baseboard screw which I could not reuse

At the other end I have been able to use the original hole for the baseboard screw for one of the new screws

8 screws at the front of one end fitted

Last 8 screws fitted at the other end

I must admit this part of track laying I was dreading, but it helped I did it before on the old layout,
but was still daunting all the same. I had been seriously considering just gluing the track down, and have ummed and arghed between the 2 methods over this week, I finally decided today to do it this way. 

Keith

Curtains and Start of Wiring

 This morning I started fitting curtains to the windows of the terrace but only got as far as 2 pairs as I started to get the hand shakes, so I stopped as I didn't want to spoil any.

This afternoon I made up a cable from the controller to the baseboard, and fitted 5 terminal blocks under the baseboards, one for the wires coming from the controller, the other 4 either side of the 2 baseboard joint ready for the inter-baseboard wiring.

Wiring connected to the back of the controller

Other end of the wires connected to a terminal block under the baseboard

Completed cable with cable tidy fitted

One inter-baseboard terminal block

Matching inter-baseboard terminal block on the other side

Future wiring will not be done in situ, I will remove each baseboard one at a time, and tip them vertically so they will be easier to work on rather than from underneath.

Keith