Adding Staging

After thinking about adding an interchange siding, I set of on a conquest to add hidden staging.  I should have planned this from day one, but thankfully there were a few good spots to add tracks without too much trouble.  Better yet, I had a few spare turnouts, all of which were the correct size and orientation!!  

On the main, approaching Jonestown I have added two turnouts.  The one going towards the wall gives me about 3m in length, and will be hidden by a low backdrop panel.  The one facing the yard will sneak down and around the layout, before splitting a a set of points and hiding under the elevated section, giving two 4m long staging roads.  I am also extending the head shunt at the end of the photo and this will lead to staging also (single 4m track). 

Looking the other way.  I laid this siding this afternoon so will post some more updates soon.

The other staging track (and original interchange idea) was from Heidiville.  This track will go through the backdrop and sneak long the raised section and wrap around the back of the layout, giving another 4m long staging siding.  I did this siding in concrete sleepers so it looks like it is a different network connection.  

So, after a week of thinking, I have ended up with 4 x 4m staging tracks and a 3m staging track, making it seem like there are lots of different connections to my little train world.

Enjoy!

A bit of a tidy up, and getting things ready

After running my US outline stuff the last few weeks (mainly Wisconsin Central), I have been really torn about going back to Aussie outline, especially with the wide variety of US freight cars and the ability to have a lot of small industries, and even large industries (ie paper mill) that receive a lot of different freight cars.  I may still go back to that space, but I thought it be best to get out the real models and start planning an operating session.

The rural container terminal located at the terminus Nathans Point.  I had a pair of SCTs on the layout from the other day, so they did the honours of running a 15 wagon container train.

A pair of SSRs on a mill wheat train at Heidiville.  A normal sized grain train cannot load without a shuffle of wagons.  Also at Heidiville I am looking at installing another turnout which leads to a single hidden track/staging/interchange.  This will give the feel of a branch line not modelled.  

The container terminal at Jonestown has had a kick along over the last few weeks and especially today.  I painted the ply, extended the sidings slightly, set up the containers, and put containers on a second intermodal train, ready to depart.  The container block the two long grain intake roads.

Jonestown Yard with a Graincorp grain train waiting for the next turn of duty, plus quit a few steel wagons needing some sorting.  Jumbo coil and butter boxes will be the main freight on the layout. 

The other end of the yard with a pair of Graincorp 48200s on a short string of NGPF/KF hoppers.  

I'm still torn with if I want/need off layout staging.  I initially didn't build anything as I know that a second level or deck would take a lot more time and I ran the risk of never actually getting anything finished.  The option now is to put a deck over Nathans Point, but it will kill the scene, but there isn't enough space underneath (which is where is originally should have gone).  

I've also been busy filling in the track joints with sleepers and brushing a bit of brown paint around to get rid of that unbuilt look.

Enjoy! 

Jonestown Yard Completion

Three weeks ago it was an empty space, but yesterday saw the completion of the track laying for Jonestown Yard.  

The yard is a 6 track arrangement that is connected to a triangle at one end and has a dead-end head shunt at the other end, effectively making this a terminus yard (and also acts as staging).

I've already been thinking about getting my Wisconsin Central stuff out and using it like a classification yard, running locals to other parts of the layout, and through trains around the layout, only to return and to be classified as per the waybills.  

Currently the frogs are not powered, but I have a hex-juicer to install and test out, along with a PSX circuit breaker.  

Sorry about the lack of prototypical trains scattered on the layout.  The kids are having fun! 

Jonestown Continues

A few hours on the weekend working on Jonestown Yard.  This is the only significant yard on the layout, and acts as a working yard, plus open staging, having a total of 6 tracks in a 3+3 configuration.  The front 3 are common roads (mainly for steel and intermodal) and the rear three are the grain roads as they have access to the grain unloading tracks in the foreground.  

Each yard track will be around 3800mm long although the tie in at the far end will be a bit of a challenge.  All the roads will run to a single head shunt about 4 locos long, to allow run-around moves.  

The control panel was a bit of a tester to see how things fitted, and safe to say, the wye/triangle needs to be bigger to allow a better fit for the route indicator lights.  I'll also split the panel so the far right end of the yard is located near the points (about 8m away from this panel).

With the 6 yard tracks, I'll square them all up so they start as the same length which will make it a lot easier for wiring, as I can put all the droppers in the same place.  I learnt this after doing Nathans Point with staggered joints on the main, loop and grain road.    

By the end of the week, I will hopefully have 6 fully laid and powered yard tracks, but they'll be stub tracks for the time being.

Enjoy!

Starting on Jonestown Yard

Having worked the track aruund Jonestown Junction last weekend, I made a strong start on Jonestown mainline, to the terminus station, plus started the planning for the main yard.

The main and loop tracks are laid, and wiring will happen over the next few days, and then onto the yard.

The yard ladder is difficult as I am trying to get good length sidings, but basically run out of room at the far end of the photo, where the trains all converge and run to a head shunt which needs to be about 1m long.

I'll get the main and loop operational, plus install the Tortoises and do the control panel, and then start planning out the yard arrangement.

Enjoy!

General Update

I managed to weasel about 10 hours this weekend in the shed, and progress has been very good, although I could easily put in another 10 hours for wiring and installation of Tortoises.  Here are few photos of where I am up to:

The overall shad taken from Jonestown Junction.  The long mainline run along the left hand wall and back down the peninsular is wired up and gives a great mainline run.  The points in the bottom left of the photo are ow installed and just waiting on the Tortoise to go in.

Another shot of the overall layout.  A little messy and I keep moving my work space to suit progress.  The large space down the left will be Jonestown Yard (6 track, on layout staging/fiddle/functional yard).

Jonestown Junction.  The outer loop is the main and the inner is the Grain loop.  Junestown Junction has a wye.  Why?  Because I can!  The bottom left of the photo is a dead end leg of the wye and will go to a small steel siding, but it will also allow me to put in a lift out bridge to allow continuous running on the layout, as it is built as a point to point design.

Jonestown Junction again, but you can see the points on the right which will swing trains into Jonestown Yard.

Enjoy! 

Tidy up at Nathans Point

I'll have to post some photos of the climb after Heidiville, as I now have the track completed on the back side of the peninsular and along the long wall of the shed, giving a good run to a temporary station.  

Below are a few shots of a quick spruce up of the terminus at Nathans Point.  

A bit of paint and a vacuum does wonders!

Enjoy! 

Progress at Heidiville

Progress has been steady on the town of Heidiville over the last week, with a few hours put in over the weekend and an hour in the morning and evening before and after work.  Here are a few photos showing progress.  

Most of the cork is down and the track arrangement is being planned.

The main and loop are pretty much confirmed but the grain loop is a work in progress.

The train is all down for Heidiville (left side of the peninsular), and the 'blob' infront has been trimmed up.  Inside the blob will likely be a rural town, with the mainline starting a climb on the left side of the scene divider.

Droppers installed and getting ready for a morning of soldering (and a good burn too!)

The Heidiville panel.  This is an improvement on the Nathans Point panel as this has LED lighting installed to show the route.  Green is for the main and yellow for the loop or diverging route.  Only the main has Tortoise point motors and the rest are manually operate with the Peco spring still installed.  This is only a temporary panel as I printed the design out on some A4 paper and glued it direct to a bit of 3mm craft board.  I did the track plan in Excel.

The next section being worked on is the climb between Heidiville and the large yard at Jonestown.  This will rise about 70mm over 3.5m creating a decent climb for loaded trains, before dropping again back to level ground.  The single line main will pass through hills and valleys for about 8m, although I have two locations eyed-off for main line loading (one grain and one container pad).    

Tonight we had a short running session between Nathans Point and Heidiville with a grain train, a gas tank transfer, a steel shunt and a passenger service.  

Enjoy!

Nathans Point Update

Its been a busy couple of weekends in the train shed.  Here is a bit of an update:

A temporary control panel has been installed for Nathans Point.  This allows control of the Tortoise point motors.  The final panel will also have orange and green LEDs to show the route.  Apologies for the sloppy wiring, but I was keen to get this one section up and running so I can move on with other parts of the layout.

The back of the panel with the DPDT switches.

The NCE DCC system is down the end of the layout.  I intend on making this shelf the control area for all the various DCC and 12V items.  

Once of the Tortoise point motors installed.  I had to cut into the L Girder to fit this one.  Not great, but not a big issue either.  

G535 sits on the track as power is turned on for the first time.

Success!  All the droppers were wired to the track bus without issue (except for two burns from the soldering iron!).

The track and the droppers.  A pretty tidy finish, but should have aligned them closer to the end sleeper.

The droppers before being wired to the bus.

Enjoy!

Laying Cork and Track - Nathans Point

Nathans Point station is the 0.00km mark on my layout which is a bit unconventional since most terminus locations are the end of the line.  Well, this is the start of the line in my book and it is also where I am starting the track laying.  While the layout isn't a TOMA, I intend on working on Nathans Point (all 8m of it) until we have fully operational track and maybe a bit of scenery.  

I have been laying 3mm cork, cut from a 1220mm wide roll.  A good straight edge and a sharp box-cutter knife are essential.  I am using a piece of aluminium angle as the straight edge which is the perfect width for HO scale trackbed.  

Nathans Point arrives as a single mainline and splits into three tracks (main, loop and grain).  The end of these sidings is a couple of sets of crossovers to allow cross over movements.  The main moves are for the passenger service to come off the main and run into the platform.  Off the loop end is the intermodal terminal.  

The main is designed to be a dead end, but I will build a bridge across the doorway for continuous running at times.  It won't come out for operating sessions, but will be good to get some kays under the belt of new wagons and locos before they go on the roster.  

So far I have laid a few metres of track and the 5 turnouts at the southern end of the yard.  The photos show the intended use of the sidings.  

I still need to install and wire up some tortoises for the crossovers, but that shouldn't take too long.  

Things are progressing well!

Layout Planning - Nathans Point

A few photos of layout planning from last week.  The first one is a pano of the layout shed, then a few shots of Nathans Point (along the wall), and a coupld of shots of an SSR at Heidiville (the penisular).

Enjoy!