I don't want to stop your post dead in the water, but I wanted you to see this. I was thinking of you when I scanned it. Photo by me.
April 1987, McCook, IL on a southbound Proviso transfer going into IHB's Argo Yard.
The trackwork is almost complete now, except for the foundation trestles in the fuel depot and a couple of magnets that still need burying. The next step is to solder and cut the rails at the board joints, fix the bus connecting wires to the rails and reattach the turnout motors.
Then I'll be ready to ballast.
Jon
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The track layout at the West end is now pretty much complete
The next job is to re-attach the turnout motors and wire connections to the control bus, before starting on the ballasting.
Work has also progressed eastwards to the junction and beyond. The track is just pinned loosely at the moment while I iron out some small kinks.
Work has been progressing steadily and I now have some track down. Any under-track magnets have been fitted and brass screws have been installed where the track crosses a sectional board joint.
The rail is soldered to these screws prior to cutting the rails with a Dremel cutting disc. This, added to the brass locating dowels in the board ends, ensures perfect track alignment, each time the layout is erected.
Steve_F wrote: What track and turnouts are you using there Jon?
What track and turnouts are you using there Jon?
Peco code 75, Steve. I fancy experimenting with some of Peco's code 83 flexi track and swapping over the code 83 ties with the code 75 ones to get code 75 track with US outline ties, but I'm not sure yet if the rail profile of the code 75 will be too sloppy in the code 83 ties.
After sanding the cork bed reasonably flat, I started cutting the track to suit and laying it loosely in position. This allows me to find any uneven or troublesome spots before actually fixing the trackwork down.
It also allows me to mark the positions where I need to drill holes for the turnout motors and where to drill the holes for the brass screws at the board joints.
More to follow as I progress.
The destruction continued for a while longer - the heavy engineering plant and the scrap yard bore the brunt of the heavy-duty damage and a number of trees were felled and several buildings were demolished.
That about wraps up the demolition for now. Now to start on some reconstruction.
Looks like you're modeling the Chessie System, now!
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
The work has commenced
Now to get the new track arrangement sorted out.
Current and proposed track plans for the West Yard
The modifications are intended to keep as much of the switching away from the main running line to keep things moving.
Terrific, Jon! ..... Great layout! Great models! Great photography!
Thanks for sharing all of it in the MR Forum!
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Jon,
Yer killin me bro. The track you're proposing to rip out is miles better than any of my existing trackwork. I applaud your standards, but here in the Estatas Unidos, we have lots more frost and ice than you do in England. Hence the road bed is often less than perfect, especially around Chicago near the great lakes where the wind whistles right through your very body in the winter. It is often scary watching the rolling stock in the museum yards here in Danbury lurching back and forth on our less than perfect trackage with subsided ties and loose spikes. I doubt the active lines are as bad, but I've seen a lot of less than perfect track out this way in daily use. Just a thought.
On the video, it may be unintentional, but the reflections off the windows of the buildings really add to the realism of the scene. My . Cheers, J.R.
Great stuff. The videos were awsome!! The only thing that I can see that you MIGHT want to change wold be the crossover in the next to the last photo. The one that the NYC passenger train is crossing between the road and tower in the video. The rest of the track looks really good. I really like the way the loco sways going through the turnouts and trackwork. That looks real!!
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
I've just uploaded some video showing some of the affected area of track - watch out for the clips titled 'Looking East' and Looking West'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4u2x6csSuk
Now that the dust has settled after the London exhibition last month, I am now looking to realign some of the track and move several of the turnouts to improve operation at the West end of the layout.
I also intend to reinstall the cassette fiddle yard behind the backscene to create a junction going north, halfway between the East and West yards.
The modification will involve ripping up most of the trackage in the photos below, other than the siding with the freight cars on.
Looking West
Looking East
I have already purchased the new turnouts and flexi track, although the speed and cost of this little enterprise depends on me lifting most of the existing turnouts in one piece.
To be continued...