We have gotten a lot done at the club recently, and the big yard is clean and operable, as is the near helix and the lower level staging yard and loop. We have cleaned the track in the tunnels.
track cleaning on the far wall on the lower level found some track defects that resisted repair. the track in that area was laid out on blue foam, which offered all of the structural support that might otherwise be found by laying track on marshmallows. I was trying to fix one kink, and consulted with Eric. We also were having discussions with Bob, who is planning a home layout, and we were advising him against his plan to lay track on blue foam. several of us took part in those discussions, including Eric, and the next thing we knew, Eric had totally removed all of the track on the lower section on the far wall. He is planning on rebuilding using Central Valley tie strips and rail, a modern alternative to traditional hand laying. Central valley sells tie strips (think flex track without the rails) the ties have indentions specifically sized for the size of the rail, so rail glued or spiked in place is held in gauge. They also sell switch kits that have incredible detail. It will be fun to get to look at this stuff in person, it should build up into very well detailed track.
Running track cleaning trains on the far helix, I had derailment problems from vertical curves that resulted from the helix having been built with sub roadbed made by sandwiching 3 sheets of thin plywood together. it has little rigidity, and not enough support, so the grade varies, and locomotive and rolling stock with . While we were discussing the prospects or rebuilding the far helix, we came up with the option of replacing it with two return loops one on each level. This would cut one of the layout's two loops into two separate lines. This is an intriguing posibility with lots of operational implications, big loops of track are not prototypical, and make realistic operations difficult or at least weird.
here is a draft of a dispatchers schematic. If the helix remains the top line and the bottom line would be hooked together, the alternate plan would have a return loop with two storage tracks added on the end of the top and bottom tracks
Bill Nelson