Once you get ALL the yard tracks smooth & even, soldered / caulked down, & cut, then & ONLY then is it ok to release the clamps, remove the styrene and separate the sections so you can file the rail flush:Gorilla Glue is strong, but I still file only down, and I put my thumb over the rails to relieve any stress on the solder.Make sure you file flush + a smidge: if the rails touch each other when mating the pressure of the clamp will pop them off the solder.I also slightly camphor the head with a single light pass of the file.The most difficulty aspect of Free-moN is to get the tracks from different modules to line up: fortunately usually there are two people setting up: one to hold the two module endplates flush and the other to clamp.Usually it takes a bit of finessing and a lot of patience.And that with modules with a SINGLE track.This yard has SEVEN, and they all have to line up perfectly or it won't work (or only some will).Seems like the model railroad gods were on my side today, as all seven line up great between the two main sections:Now all I have to do is slip the 2' insert between them (with a sheet of styrene between each gap) and then lay the curved track on the insert so it matchs up with the established track on the main sections.My crate of unassembled Bullfrog turnout controls should show up soon, too, so I'll get to figure out how to do the double-actuated (one on each side) control rods.I'm also going to be building a sloped hardboard shelf & lip on each side that will hold our iPhone & NEC throttles as well as protect the Bullfrog knobs below it.Thanks for watching and hope to have a video up soon.Cheers!
M.C. Fujiwara
My YouTube Channel (How-to's, Layout progress videos)
Silicon Valley Free-moN
For the feeders I've been soldering the wire "L" bent under the rails / joiners:Then I solder them to the buswires.At first I tried suitcase connectors, but 22 gauge to 12 gauge doesn't work too well.Luckily, I can just put the modules on their sides on my workbench. (yeay!)When laying the track over the middle section, I first put a sheet of 0.020 styrene between the sections before clamping:Even though I use a Ultra Thin Dedeco separating disc, the styrene makes sure that there's rail to file back flush with the endplate instead of wishing it'd grow a 1/32" to prevent a wheel-grabbing gap.I thought of this trick after I cut the first track (at bottom):As you can see, a wider gap than the other above it (when I used the styrene).[The styrene is in place in the photo above: normally there's barely a gap in the upper rails]Also, because the separating disc comes in at a slight angle:The styrene allows enough space for a flush file.By laying the rail over the PC board ties first, the solder helps create a smooth path over any little bumps or skewed PC boards / endplate top.Sometimes there's a little rise but hardly noticeable.[cont.]
Saturday: installed temp Caboose Ind. ground throws and buswireAnd Sunday:We ran trains, using our new staging yard!Woot!And here it is in action:watch?v=txeqQms9Zjg&feature=plcp&context=C433f96bVDvjVQa1PpcFPo5FJc9Aov08UbbGiy6815n6vRlpl9Fg=What was cool is that Steve's Lockhart, TX module, which use to be the end (though there was some single main after it), now became the "meet", so a train could go out to the loop while one entered staging and another left.Nice long runs with long trains!More important: both the Shoofly module and the staging yard fit in the back of my car with all their legs (and mine)!So the show is over, but there's another one coming up (hopefully) in June, so I have time to finish the yard.Installed the phone jacks at either end we use to connect the control buses between modules and UTP panels:Good ol' Gorilla Glue keep's em rock solid.Steve has a 6-pin crimper, so the wires are straight through.Got more turnouts, so I installed the rest of the ladders on both sides:Notice I don't run the track up to the edge: need to leave room for the track to "float" a little over the PC board ties (which are raised a little) but I explain all that in a video I should have edited tonight or tomorrow.[cont.]
Had started posting some of this over on my "Shoofly" module construction thread, but then realized that there's going to be a whole bunch of photos & how-to's specific to staging yards & module construction (especially Free-moN), so thought our new staging yard module should get a thread of its own.The story begins on April, Friday the 13th (duh duh duh...) when the Silicon Valley Free-moN group set up for a week-long show at the Hiller Aviation Museum. With four main modules, a large turnback loop, and many small 45 deg. fillers, we were able to get a decent mainline going, with trains of 10-16 cars running through some nifty scenery.However, after operating Friday & Saturday we soon realized that, besides the turnback loop, Steve Williams' Lockhart, TX module was the only one with a passing siding, which soon became the passing / runaround / staging / terminus, as well as limiting us to about two trains at a time: one running out to the loop & back while the other loco did a runaround to get ready to leave when the first returned.We needed staging, and another runaround, and we needed it bad.Like an oreo needs milk bad.And by the next weekend when the whole group would be there to run trains.So Sunday, April 15, I looked at the sheets of wood in my garage and found two pieces of 16" x 4' 1/2" very nice ply (birch?) that my dad had used as center cross-supports when he built a queen-sized mattress box-frame for us when we moved back from Japan 10 years ago.That determined the size of the yard sections (4' is perfect for transport), but using #7 turnouts limited the tracks to 7 in just 12" of space (using 1 1/2" centers). What to do with the other 4" of width? Ah, hah!Free-moN module standards call for a minimum of 12" wide endplates (of 3/4" birch ply), so I centered the main at the 6" mark, offsetting the whole yard to one side. This left room for 1) a diesel service facility on one end and 2) a turntable for those of us who run steam and F-units. Later I realized I could squeeze in a MOW track for the wreck crane set I just got as well as a Machine Shop that could double as a programming track (something else we didn't have).Using the two sections, that'd give us a 6'+ main, two 52" and two 30" staging tracks plus runarounds on each side.Which would work fine as the passing siding on Steve's Lockhart, TX module is about 5'.Still, it seemed a bit short to me (can you ever have enough staging?) so I designed a 12"x24" insert that curved 15 deg.As it lines up with and extends the middle yard tracks, it can be inserted either way, bending the whole yard in either direction.And the extra 2' means plenty of room for long trains!So Sunday morning I went to the hardware store and got some 2'x4' 1/2" sanded ply handipanels, 1 1/2" sq fir for the legs, and bunches o' bolts n' washers. Also stopped by the LHS and got a bunch of Atlas C55 flex, but was heartbroken to find only 3 each of the L & R #7 turnouts! D'oh!Usually I handlay turnouts, but since I had less than a week to get something built & operational, I went with Atlas. Luckily I found a few more #7s at a shop down in San Jose, so had just enough for a main, two staging & one runaround.So Sunday, Monday and part of Tuesday, after appointments or being at the show, was all cutting (no tablesaw, only circular, chop & jig), gluing & screwing.Was moving so fast I took only one "progress" shot:That's my McGyver compass to get the 70+" radius of the insert (eyeballed it over a dot on the concrete)By Wednesday it looked like this:Thurday: finished track across gap & on insertFriday: feeder wires, handlesSaturday...[cont.]