Benchwork to tracklaying

G

Glen Haasdyk

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Feb 2, 2004
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Kelowna, BC
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I've been telling you all in the weekend threads for the past couple weeks what I've been up to. Now I guess it's time for the 'show and tell' part of our program. First I want to apologise for the grainy nature of these pictures. Until I get a decent digital camera this is the best I can do.

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This is two day's work. The center sceniced portion was built about ten years ago when I didn't have much room. It was 8' X 2'. With the new additions the layout now is 14 1/2' X 6 1/2'.

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This is the smaller 2'X5" section in framework. It's made out of 3/4" ply (fir) with 2X2 legs It's all screwed together (no nails in any benchwork)
 
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This is looking to the larger 4 1/2' by 6 1/2' section. It will be the future ctiy of Port Teresa (named after my wife)

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Another shot of the larger expantion with the narrow joiner piece in the back so the trains will be about to run an continous circut.

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This is the smaller section with it's sub-roadbed in place. I'm leaving the open grid without totaly covering it because there will be a mountain there eventually with a narrow guage logging spur.

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Here's the Port Teresa Section with its sub-bed installed. The cut-out section on the left will be the harbour area. the sub-bed is all 5/8" ply (fir)
 
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Here the cork is being laid. I saved money big-time by going to the home-improvment store and buying cork by the foot. I then cut it into 2- 1' strips for the corners so it would flex proplerly and 2' strips for the straights

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For the city of Port Teresa, I decided to just cover the sub-rodbed completly with cork. I figured the the roadbed isn't built up all that much in cities anyway. I glued and tack-nailed the cork down.

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Here's the return track corked.

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This was the most frustrating part of the railroad so far. Looking closely at the left of the roadbed you can see some faint lines drawn. This was the original trackplan that called for 18" radius curves. I discouvered that while a train will operate on 18" raduis, it will derail over switches so I had to re-design on the fly. The double track on the curve was the hardest part on the new design but it turned out pretty good. The new curves are 22-24" radius and look much better.
 
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This shows the main loop in and tacked down.

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This is the first train over the new sections.The industrial trackacge still has to be laid in these pictures as well as the problem of the Port teresa Station only 1' away from the Blackwater station. These problems will soon be resolved.
 
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The industial trackage is in and the milage problem has been fixed with a quick installation of a backdrop/ scenery divider. The local freight is coming through, past the station pulled by my two Athearn GP-7s that I detailed, repainted, and decaled.

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Here's the overall picture of Port Teresa. The track was just painted and will soon be ballasted. To the right and out of camera range is the harbour area that folds out from under the layout since it would interfere with the walkway if it were perament.

This is as far as I've gotten on this roll of film, I'll post updates as I build more and take more photos.
 
Looking great Glen, well done. Glad to see you went to a 22 - 24 radius curves makes it look much better and I am sure will work better for you. Keep up the good work and keep the pic's comming..Ron..
 
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