Layout Progress Update 09/24/07

spitfire

spitfire

Active Member
Jul 28, 2002
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Toronto, Canada
www.parkdaleyard.com
I spent the day working on the yard, soldering wired rail joiners, fitting track etc.

In the first photo we're looking east along the CN and CP mainline. CP is the inner track, but there's an interchange with CN. The yard is above.

In the second photo, we're looking west. The track at the far back is the yard lead. Beside it is the CP splits into a northbound and westbound track. In front is the CN main, which crosses over the CP track to reach Massey Ferguson.

The last photo is just a closeup of the track. I wish I had gone to the trouble of getting homasote, rather than foam. I don't like gluing track - I'd much rather spike it. For some reason the photo makes the track look bowed - it's not though! I was very careful about that!! :)

This is loosely based on the real Parkdale Yard, a very busy downtown yard serving the numerous local industries in the immediate vicinity. That area was heavily criss-crossed by competing CN and CP trackage.
 

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Nice to see that you're back at work on the layout, Val. It's really starting to take shape. I have to agree with you about spiking the track down, though: it just seems more "right" than using glue or caulking. ;)

Wayne
 
Looking good Val!:thumb::thumb::thumb: BTW, your clouds and sky look SLAP AWESOME!!!:winki::mrgreen: .
:deano: -Deano
 
hi val---for someone like myself who is still in the processing of developing my "layout",this thread is very inspirational---thanks for sharing and hope to see more as things take shape---nutbar
 
Thanks very much for all the kind words everyone, it's very inspiring!

Ralph, to answer your question about the bridge, to its left you can just see the city part of the layout. The bridge is for the main road coming out of the city and over the yard. That is, if I can manage to get the road up to the needed height without it looking ridiculously steep. I may shave down the piers a little bit as there is more clearance now then I really need. No autoracks in the 50s to worry about. :)

I'm pretty excited about the "on-the-fly" changes I made to the track layout, as seen in this drawing.

mod_track.jpg


I now have a second CP mainline branching off northbound (6) - the MacTier Sub. This is going to provide a great source of both inbound yard traffic and for passenger trains passing though.

Since the prototype Parkdale Yard had to do switching on the mainline, this additional through traffic will make sure the yard crew has to work very quickly to clear the A/D track (ie the mainline).

I also managed to work in a crossover, where CN crosses the CP main to get to its customer Massey Ferguson.

In reality, that part of town was once totally criss-crossed with competing trackage, and was Toronto's main industrial area since the early 1900s. Of course, in a limited space I can only hope to give an impression of what it was like, but for my purposes, I think it will.

Thanks again all. :D

Val
 
Very nice Val. Good work. Lots of switching potential, and all those crossovers definetly captures the competition between the biggest railroads in Canada. Well done. Hope to see many more photos of your progress.

Ed Burchell
Canadian Eastern Railway
 
Thanks Ed.

Well, I spent the day hard at work - and it really did feel like work too. 7 hours of soldering, cutting, filing, and gouging fingers with rail joiners later I have finished laying all the track in the yard.

At last, I have the yard back almost to where it was before I tore out my old layout.
 

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Great progress, Val. Keep up the good work. I am very much interested in your layout and what to see more.
 
Thank-you Gary and Josh. Josh, that's the Walther's machine shop - a nice kit IMO. The dark brick building with the clerestory window is the molding shop - where they do castings for some of the parts.

Meanwhile, it's 2 steps forward and 1 back. I discovered a huge gap between the turnout and one of the yard tracks so I've ripped it out and will be re-laying that section. A lot more trouble when you have to glue down track, as opposed to spiking. At least the latex caulk I'm using doesn't do much damage to the underlying foam - it fact, it seems to peel off quite easily.

Val
 
Great stuff Val! Thanks for giving us an update.

You might be interested to note that I spend part of Sunday on a HOTrak set-up switch job - the Massey-Harris works on club member Ben's Brantford modules. Only partly done, but lots of fun to switch.

Andrew
 
Sorry Val,

Both rechargable batteries for the camera were dead :(

I'll see if I can find some of his work soon. Maybe a track plan too - although it follows reasonably closely the plans he laid out in the two (I think) articles I sent you.

Andrew
 
WOOOW!
Been a loooooong time val. Good to see you back in the mix. Took me awhile to catch on(How come this "spitfire" handle looks familar?)
Always looks good Val!

Also missed the hell out of you.......
 
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