Finally got around to finishing the trackwork- now comes the wiring part! After months of virtual standstill, an upcoming house sale has finally opened up some time to get my trains running- I figure it would be a nice addition for some open house walk throughs.
As you can see, I took the Carolina Central theme and modified it slightly. I'm modelling a more urban area, along the lines of the south side of Chicago. I added a couple more twists to the tracks, where I plan to have the trains snake their way through some "concrete canyons". I'm also gong to put in a "high line" of sorts, although I haven't decided if it's gong to be home to the "El" I have up there now, or if I'm going to make it a freight line. Although I'm leaning to a double tracked main line, modelling one line as abandoned.
You can see where the old layout was- I laid most of that track before I made a few mistakes- namely, when I was cutting insulating gaps past the frogs, I cut them too close to the frogs (actually cut the turnout- and effectively destroying the turnouts- that was a costly lesson. Oh well- I switched from Blue Moon to Budweiser for a few weeks and all was well). This time I'm cutting the gaps an inch or so past the rail joiner. I also tried to do too much for my first layout, and I fell for the trap. This time it's KISS. Well, mostly anyway. I'm sure the diamonds might pose some challenges. We'll see.
Oh, I also learned that it's not neccesary to actually glue EVERY piece of track down, especially the turnouts. Glued points are fun to work free.
Actually, they're not.
All the track is Peco Code 55, except for the 90º crossing (Atlas Code 80) and one of the turnouts on the siding track in the back, which was an old Peco Code 80 InsulFrog from a previous layout.
View attachment 36604
View attachment 36605
View attachment 36606
View attachment 36607
Anyway, I have a quick question concerning the turnouts. I'm using Peco ElectroFrog turnouts, so I know I have to cut insulating gaps past the frogs on the turnouts, but I'm not sure where to cut gaps in this section of track. Can anyone give me a hand here?
View attachment 36608
I'm only wiring this entire layout as one block- DCC is right around the corner, and I'm not a fan of complicated wiring.
As you can see, I took the Carolina Central theme and modified it slightly. I'm modelling a more urban area, along the lines of the south side of Chicago. I added a couple more twists to the tracks, where I plan to have the trains snake their way through some "concrete canyons". I'm also gong to put in a "high line" of sorts, although I haven't decided if it's gong to be home to the "El" I have up there now, or if I'm going to make it a freight line. Although I'm leaning to a double tracked main line, modelling one line as abandoned.
You can see where the old layout was- I laid most of that track before I made a few mistakes- namely, when I was cutting insulating gaps past the frogs, I cut them too close to the frogs (actually cut the turnout- and effectively destroying the turnouts- that was a costly lesson. Oh well- I switched from Blue Moon to Budweiser for a few weeks and all was well). This time I'm cutting the gaps an inch or so past the rail joiner. I also tried to do too much for my first layout, and I fell for the trap. This time it's KISS. Well, mostly anyway. I'm sure the diamonds might pose some challenges. We'll see.
Oh, I also learned that it's not neccesary to actually glue EVERY piece of track down, especially the turnouts. Glued points are fun to work free.
Actually, they're not.
All the track is Peco Code 55, except for the 90º crossing (Atlas Code 80) and one of the turnouts on the siding track in the back, which was an old Peco Code 80 InsulFrog from a previous layout.
View attachment 36604
View attachment 36605
View attachment 36606
View attachment 36607
Anyway, I have a quick question concerning the turnouts. I'm using Peco ElectroFrog turnouts, so I know I have to cut insulating gaps past the frogs on the turnouts, but I'm not sure where to cut gaps in this section of track. Can anyone give me a hand here?
View attachment 36608
I'm only wiring this entire layout as one block- DCC is right around the corner, and I'm not a fan of complicated wiring.