Way to go!
What I especially like is that you've built something that can stand alone, but will be easy to incorporate into a larger layout 'when the time comes.'
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Lionel collector, stuck in an N scaler's modelling space.
Congratulations to both of you. It's always a thrill when that first train runs!
Tom
Life is simple - eat, drink, play with trains!
Go Big Red!
PA&ERR "If you think you are doing something stupid, you're probably right!"
The Portland Terminal Railroad is up and running. Some of you may recall it is a 6x2 foot urban layout that will sit inside what is, essentially, a big shadow box. It's been awhile but I finalized my track plan and transferred it to my foam top. Then I got my track laid and soldered my feeder wires. It took a little while to learn to solder but I got through that process using previous threads here for a lot of help.
Next, I connected my feeder wires to my buss using IDCs. I was really happy with how quickly this process went. I have to say I worried something might go wrong in the process of clamping the IDC closed on the two wires and I might have to run and solder another feeder wire or two but I made 18 connections and all worked well.
I can now run my trains on my six feet of "mainline" with its sidings. I want to finish the buss so I can plug and unplug power using banana plugs.
The the next step is to make mockups of the buildings I want to use. Since this is an all urban setting, there will be 12 or more structures. I want to lay out the roads, too, and hope that by having mockups I can get a better idea of just where to place the roads. I'm going to make the mockups using corrugated cardboard. I have a friend who is an architect who showed how to work with cardboard to make simple models. I'll post photos of things when the mockups are done.
This forum has been essential to me in learning how to do much of the work so far. Thanks to everybody.
Mark