Saturday, January 31, 2015

I've Been Working On The Railroad(s)

For the past couple of weeks I've been laying Fast Tracks turnouts on the narrow gauge, wiring them up and hooking them to Caboose Industries ground throws. I've found that the 224S, designed for Atlas code 55, is perfect for Nn3.

So far all the turnouts needed for the yard are back in. They were originally Marklin turnouts and it took a bit of fitting for the Fast Tracks turnouts to fit, but all has been arranged to work. Some of them still need a bit of tweaking but so far they work pretty good.

I brought a new plastic drawer set home today and cleared off both the 4x8 table layout and the narrow gauge that sits on top of it. The control panel has been removed from the 4x8 and the wiring has been all cut from underneath. It is now a collection of track on a piece of plywood, nothing more.

The only thing I will save is the turntable. I have no plans for it, but it will go in a box with the roundhouse and perhaps get used on something later. Tonight when Eldest Son gets home I'll have him help me take the narrow gauge off the top of the 4x8 and then deconstruction of the table will commence.

I'm also going to start clearing some of the things out of the room that I have never used and have no plans for, there is quite a bit of that hanging around. I'll probably end up with a bunch of cabinets lining the outside of the room with the layout(s) on top of them.

The clearing of this first permanent layout that was never quite finished will give room for the other projects that I have in the works, and maybe I'll get one of them done before I'm all through. I have three in the works at present; the Clarinda module pair, the rock quarry, and the narrow gauge.

On another note, the track has been ordered for the Z scale layout. I haven't figured out where it will live, but I'll make room for it. I'm using Micro-Trains Micro-Track so that I won't have to hand lay any turnouts (the AZL Mikado is very finicky about its track work, it won't run on the narrow gauge but the GP7 will) and it will be a city scape.

The tentative track plan is below.

And that's what I've been up to lately.