Christmas is getting closer, this steam locomotive showed up in my mailbox this morning:
Michael
The Breitenbach - Rosenheim Railroad V3
Today I took down the last 10 cheap China made shop lights:
I also added 11 feet of strip light:
I made it around the corner and slowly the room is loosing it's dark cave feeling:
I spent the rest of the afternoon removing all the 110V wiring for the old shop lights. To end the day on something positive I added another 8 feet of led strips. The room now looks a lot friendlier, can't wait until all the lighting is installed (I'm at about 50% now).
I only managed to install another 8 feet of striplight today:
In the afternoon I had another visitor. Doug and his wife Kelly came to see the layout and we had a fun afternoon!
I finally got a shipment in from my importer but it was all turnouts and no flex track which means I have to find some other project I can do...
OK, I decided on a new project. I'm going to build the west staging yard. I can do it because for this I'm going to use a different brand of track. It's code 100 track made by PIKO and I have enough track and turnouts to build the yard. I didn't want to build a staging yard this early in the construction of the layout because it means that I will have to make a decision of how many trains and what train lengths I want to run. I was trying to push this decision back as far as possible but now I guess I don't have a choice. Oh well, so be it...
I started cutting the horizontal supports and screwing them to the background. Tomorrow I will add the vertical supports, plywood will probably be put on the day after.
As planned I added the vertical supports:
I bought some plywood today and cut the sheets in half for the staging yard:
I unpacked some of my PIKO turnouts and found out that I have enough space for one more staging track than I thought ! I'm using the same turnout arrangement that worked so good for my N scale layout.
I made the return loop for the staging yard:
I had a busy morning and early afternoon today. I screwed down all the plywood for the staging yard, installed the roadbed for the incoming mainline and the return loop, and installed all these sheets of foamboard for the yard itself:
Michael:
I'm curious to know why you left the center of the staging return loop open.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
hon30critter Michael: I'm curious to know why you left the center of the staging return loop open. Dave
So I can get to the track. Access hole !
michaelrose55So I can get to the track. Access hole
OK, that makes sense. I didn't realize that the return loop was so big that you couldn't reach across it. Do you plan on putting anything in the opening to catch cars in the (unlikely) event of them string lining?
hon30critterOK, that makes sense. I didn't realize that the return loop was so big that you couldn't reach across it. Do you plan on putting anything in the opening to catch cars in the (unlikely) event of them string lining? Dave
I definitely will. Too dangerous otherwise (don't ask me how I know...).
The mainline has reached the staging yard:
A nice surprise this morning, this German class 110 electric locomotive was in the mail:
Hey Michael -
Looking at the photos of your Dec 18 post . . .
Do you plan some sort of edge barrier? I get a little nervous for two reasons: 1) pushing a string of cars can cause a jackknife and it's a long dropoff, and 2) men of my, um, caliber need a couple of inches clearance between edge of benchwork and first track.
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
ROBERT PETRICK Hey Michael - Looking at the photos of your Dec 18 post . . . Do you plan some sort of edge barrier? I get a little nervous for two reasons: 1) pushing a string of cars can cause a jackknife and it's a long dropoff, and 2) men of my, um, caliber need a couple of inches clearance between edge of benchwork and first track. Robert
Robert,
Yes, there will be some kind of edge barrier. Luckily my waist is still size 34 and I'm keeping it that way so I don't have that particular problem ...
Okay, good. I feel better now.
I've laid more track and made it through the return loop:
Just out of curiousity, how do you get to the staging area? I know you have the access hole in the return loop but how do you get between the staging benchwork and the outside wall? Both ends of the staging benchwork appear to be tight up against the end walls. Is this a 'crawl under' situation?
Thanks
hon30critter Michael: Just out of curiousity, how do you get to the staging area? I know you have the access hole in the return loop but how do you get between the staging benchwork and the outside wall? Both ends of the staging benchwork appear to be tight up against the end walls. Is this a 'crawl under' situation? Thanks Dave
Dave,
if you look close you can see that there is a door...
AHA!
I missed the bit of door frame in the corner of the picture.
The question was really bothering me because I couldn't imagine that you would have a crawl under situation with all the space you have. Pardon me for questioning your sanity!
Regards,
hon30critterPardon me for questioning your sanity! Regards, Dave
My wife does that every day!
I installed all the turnouts at both ends of the yard:
Now I have to make up my mind about how I want to subdivide the tracks and what kind of train lengths I want to use.
michaelrose55My wife does that every day!
I started to work on the staging tracks. I installed enough track to test place a freight train and now I have to make the decision about train length. The train as you can see it in the pictures is a little over 9' long, the maximum length that fits in the station tracks on the layout. I can have a few longer trains if they are just something to look at and run through without stopping. In that case I can make them as long as the tape in the pictures, about 13'.
The train as it sits there has 23 freight cars, the longer version would have 33. Which way should I go?