December 3, 2017
Just prior to Thanksgiving, I was hurrying to get enough benchwork done to let my nieces and nephews run trains back and forth. I put down some temporary track and they had a ball just running on the 40 feet of track.
After a little break, I went back and made some fixes and got sections U5 and U6 mounted on the wall.
Prior to the break, I also assembled modules U7 and U8 but did not put any temporary track on them. These are gluing to be single track mainline going over the main yard on the lower level. I need to cut some more spacer pieces to get these sections level before securing them to the shelves.
Finally, I had purchased 12 Trinity oil tank cars from ScaleTrains.com and got half of them out to measure the train length. I also got a buffer car to lead the string of cars, along with some extra decals that I need to add. These are very nice cars, even at the "Operator" level.
December 5, 2017
Thanks to a little crowdsourcing in the NMRA group, I've refined my track plan for sections U5-U7. If you compare the first three photos to the photos marked Version 2.0, you can see that the interchange yard on the left was tweaked to have a siding and a yard lead. This allows any trains needing to switch cars to get off the mainline, even though the eastbound main (on the left) is just after the staging yard.
To support the industries on the right, another person suggested keeping the double track going further "east" (towards the bottom of the photo) instead of merging the double track into a single track sooner. This allows a train working the industry spurs on the right to have extra space without blocking the entire mainline. To make it easier to operate, I think I'm going to power the turnouts and make the turnouts on the mainline (the concrete track) DCC-enabled. I was just going to do regular Tortoises, but making them DCC-enabled will allow for correct signal indications down the road.
The module just "east" of these two (towards the bottom of the first picture) will be double track for about 5-6 feet and then merge into a single track. This adds some operational variety, since double track everywhere isn't realistic and makes the dispatcher's life very boring.
I also got my first order of RR-Cirkits products, so I can install detection hardware from the outset instead of trying to retrofit it later. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all works together, even though I'm quite a ways from being able to do a full operating session.
December 10, 2017
I finished up the track work for the eastbound side of modules U5-U6. I ended up foregoing adding the yard lead coming off the siding. The track comes down a cork ramp into the flat Homasote area, and the yard lead would have either needed to be on cork or the train would have been going up and down while switching. We'll see how it works in practice, I can always add it in later. Trains coming down the eastbound main will have headroom to do their switching, which should be minimal, into the interchange yard.
I need to add feeders into the outside two tracks yet, but you can see my "work train" down the outside track. The mainline is isolated and I've already "installed" a RR-Cirkits coil around the feeder wire. When I get the other feeders installed, the second red feeder will pass through the coil to give me detection, and eventually signaling, capabilities.
December 20, 2017
I've gotten two of the industry spurs and the passing siding installed, along with feeders to all those tracks. I've got holes drilled under each of the turnouts in case I want to put in Tortoise drives for the spurs in the back.
For the transition between the mainline and the siding, I had shaved down some cork but ended up replacing it with a wooden shim "ramp" trimmed to fit the space. I like this approach better, since the cork falls apart if you shave too much.
I also went back and isolated the utility room track for block detection purposes and will have to redo the positive feeder to go through a detection coil. It's a minor change but I think it will be valuable in the future for traffic control in and out of staging.
During my Christmas vacation, I finished up the track on modules U7 and U8, which are just narrow "mainline" sections. Because the track nails wouldn't easily go through the cork and hold in the plywood, I used DAP Alex Plus clear caulk instead and I'm very happy with the results. I drilled a hole under the #8 turnout for an eventual installation of a DCC-enabled turnout motor, and I'm really happy with how smooth the trains roll through this nice wide turnout. I also wired it all up with detection coils that will be connected to the Watchman covering sections U4-U9.
Module U9 will take care of the remaining 7' and curve towards the south wall of the basement. I've also cleared the space under the upper staging yard so that I can reinstall the large L1 and L2 modules there, as I don't really have room to assemble the rest of the modules until I get those out of the way.
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