After some time away from construction, I got started again on the roadbed running through the sump room. This involves drilling into the concrete to put up shelving brackets, which is always fun, especially when the drill hits something that it can't get through -- probably some rebar or something. I've got the hole between the lower staging yard cut and have started cutting the 3/4" birch that makes up the supporting framework. I'm using thicker plywood because of the changes in temperature and humidity in this unfinished part of the basement.
August 26, 2018
I got a lot done this afternoon, it just doesn't look like it. I got the remaining two brackets installed into the concrete but it looks like one will need just a little bit of a shim under the plywood. I was going to put a fourth bracket in but decided that it really wasn't necessary based on the distances involved.
I also rewired the upper section through the sump room so that all the track is detected. This involved moving the positive feeders so they all routed through the detection coil. In addition, I had to install the Anderson Powerpole connectors for the removable section. These took a little bit of work but I'm happy with the results. There are YouTube videos showing exactly how these go together, I used this one and found it immensely helpful.
The connectors are designed to only fit together one way. The metal clip is designed to crimp onto your wire, and then you push the metal clip into the end of the plastic connector. You need to be careful when crimping the wire or you can malform the metal connector and it won't fit.
Once you have the wires crimped and installed, you can slide the plastic connectors together to make a single connector.
They stay together with friction and there's a small snap when the connectors make contact. This is the standard connector being used with Free-Mo modules, as well.
I also prepped the #6 Atlas turnouts for the lower staging yard by trimming the throw bars and surrounding ties, as well as removing the ties where the rail joiners will go. For the upper yard, I laid out the tracks first and then tried to fit them to the turnout ladder, which was a mistake. This time, I'm starting with the ladder and working towards the end of the yard.
September 22, 2018
With some help from a model railroader friend, we got the benchwork completed for the sump room on the lower deck.
The birch plywood is below the level of the Homasote on the other side to make it simple to transition to the cork roadbed.
I was going to make the lower section removable, as well, but since it's below the level of the circuit breaker panel, it turns out there was no need to do this.
The curved piece has an outside radius of 33 5/8" and inside radius of 27 5/8", so the track will not quite make the 30" minimum radius, but it's pretty close, even for long 85' passenger cars.
The metal shelving bracket had to be cantilevered a bit to reach the curve, but it's only a few inches of extension.
The support within the studs is secured with 3" deck screws on either side, so it's not going anywhere.
September 23, 2018
I wired up the detection coils on the upper deck of the sump room track, which is known as block 201 in the system. Instead of wiring the CAT5 cable directly to the coils, I made use of some 12 gang plastic barrier strips that I found on Amazon that can be cut to length.
It's amazingly satisfying to see the occupancy lights turn on and off as I drive my train through the layout, such as it is. I got a second Watchman board to take care of the lower level blocks, I'll be installing those coils as I start laying the lower deck track.
September 24, 2018
After doing some layout work for the turnouts at the yard throat, we drilled holes for the Tortoise control wire and then laid the first staging yard siding. Instead of nailing the track, I'm using DAP Alex clear caulk. You only need a thin layer of caulk to hold the track down, and it dries clear. I used it on the upper modules and was happy with the results.
I also ran more wire for the Tortoise bus on the upper level and tried my hand at wiring up the DPDT switches to control the local Tortoises. Those wires are really, really small... having to use 24 gauge wire to connect these switches up.
September 29, 2018
I finished building the lower deck staging yard. The minimum track length is 12', several are almost 15' long because of how the ladder was laid out. The upper staging yard was done using track nails, which took forever and the results were less than optimal. For the lower yard, I used the DAP Alex clear caulk as an adhesive. I laid out a bead of caulk, spread it with a putty knife, and then had time to lay out the track. I used my 6' aluminum ruler as a straightedge, starting at the turnout. I used track nails on the turnouts instead of the caulk, just to avoid any unnecessary caulk getting into the turnout. This worked quite well and it took longer to trim the rail joiners than it did to put down each track. The results are shown here:
I am going to put dual bus wires on this section, since it's 36" wide. I drilled holes through the crosspieces and installed my terminal strips. I painted the rest of my backdrop material before running the bus wires.
Next steps:
- Install backdrops on modules L6-L9
- Secure modules to each other
- Install terminal strip on each section
- Cut wire holes through crosspieces
- Run bus wires (track power, Tortoise bus)
- Wire feeders to staging yard
- Layout industrial district in L1-L2 and L5
Lots to do, lots to do.
