Laid the Golden Spike! er... Glue!

[gringo]

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

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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.

 

[Cannonball]

I like the track plan.
Can't wait to see it with some scenery!

 

[pgandw]

Gaps should be in the 4 inner rails between the 2 turnuouts as shown by the red lines in the picture.
View attachment 36609

The gaps don't have to be in the exact position shown, but they must be between the frogs and the points (2 rails connecting the turnouts), and between the frogs and any feeder connection (other 2 frog rails).

yours in wiring

 

[umtrr-author]

Nice. I like the isolated elevated section for the "L"...

 

[MCL_RDG]

Congrats on the glue job and...

...I like the layout of your layout.

Mark

 

[gringo]

Thanks guys!

It took only forever to finally get it to this point- amazing how crazy life can get.

Anyway, I'm hoping to have some trains running shortly- I really like my MP15 switcher (in the BRC colors, one of my favorite railroads). Amazingly sweet machine!View attachment 36638

Of course, with the upcoming sale of my hose, I'm sure this will be put on the back burner for a little while, but luckily I kept it small enough to fit in any apartment we're moving into...

I'll keep you guys posted!

 

[TrainNut]

Of course, with the upcoming sale of my hose...

I'm sure there is a joke there somewhere... typos... gotta love 'em!
I'm not sure if you are aware of this or not as it's probably a moot point but for what it's worth, they make plastic rail joiners. I've used them everywhere I need a brake in the rail and have not had to cut a single gap. Not sure but it seems, they could save you some headaches! Also, I'm using cork roadbed on top of foam with the little spikes through the track every so often and I have not glued anything. I've found that the cork offers plenty of resistance and glue is not needed. Plus, it makes it a lot easier when I decide to change that track around just a little. All I have to do is pull up the spikes, reposition, push 'em back down and I'm done.

 

[gringo]

Yeah, saw the "hose" and not "house", but you beat me to it... too late to fix now! Damn the typos, full steam ahead!!!

anyway, here's another gap question. Do I need to cut gaps anywhere along these diamonds? View attachment 36648
They're the Atlas kind, so I don't think they're power routing. At least, they didn't come with a bunch of wires dangling underneath like the Peco diamond did...

As far as the cork roadbed, I gave it lots of thought, but ultimitely I decided to go with the Woodland Scenics roadbed because I've read it dosen't dry out like cork. Also, pulling up the track once it's glued down didn't pose too much of a problem- I was able to peel off any old glue easily with tweezers. I just used too much of it the first time.

Thanks for the help!

 

[KATY]

Think you might have some troubles down the road at the top of that 90 degree crossing.

 

[jawharp1992]

What kind of roadbed and track did you use?

 

[60103]

gringo: I'm a bit late commenting here, but here goes.
The Atlas diamonds shouldn't need any extra wiring.
The crossover needs only the two gaps between the switches. The gaps in the rails leading to the spurs aren't really necessary -- they can be shifted down the rail to the end of the siding. Unless you want to run something on the siding while the switch is set against it, say, keeping a sound unit burbling. If it were pure DC wiring, I would suggest going for dead sidings, but DCC guys like to have everything live.
And I agree with Katy -- there seems to be a dogleg at the top of that crossing.

 

[gringo]

What kind of roadbed and track did you use?

I used Peco Code 55 track, except for the two diamonds, which are Atlas code 80. They mate perfectly with the Peco track, so I didn't have to modify them any.

For roadbed, I used the Woodland Scenics instant roadbed, and I think some AMI instant roadbed. Everything is held down with Woodland Scenics scenery glue- no nails on this track.

I also fixed the dogleg at the top of the 90º diamond- I had previously modified the ties underneath bu cutting out the spacers on the inside curve, much like you would find in flex track. When I had originally glued the track in place, it was too straight; yesterday I gentley pulled up the track, spread some fresh glue and pinned it in place with a gentle bend. Today the track looks much better- I'll post a pic as soon as I take one!