City Belt Line (N-scale )

[Slim Rail Mike]

Philip H, Yes protection for the modules moved to the top of the list, when I dusted off the free-mo-n sections. They got a little beat up sitting in the garage / storage unit. They will only get more fragile as they gain detail. When I was a young teen, on a weekends, I'd ride the muni (street cars) to the embarcadero. I'd wander about south of market tiring to make sense of the track work in the streets.  Then it was light industries and kind of skid-row. I do like street running, as it was part of the city when I was young.

[pdx1955]

Peter pdx1955, what did you use to secure the styrene to the ties? I've tried pva and not happy with pieces coming loose.

I used the Testor's liquid/Tenax 7R/Micromark liquid cement (the "welding" type) to put everything together originally which seem to have worked ok but then started having strips loosen up after a year or so. I used a goop type glue  like E6000 for attaching the strip supports to the plywood which held very well. I'm thinking now that this applied here and there would help prevent the strip loosening issue on the ties.

Peter

[Ed Kapuscinski]

  The street along the back is working just ok, further testing and tuning is needed. The 0-6-0 stalls in a couple of spots. The Kato F-3 with its fly wheel rolls right though. Still bits of paint on the rails, no doubt.

I learned on my old layout that one of the biggest killers is also bits of the road surface that may be level with the rail head.

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[Slim Rail Mike]

I learned on my old layout that one of the biggest killers is also bits of the road surface that may be level with the rail head.

 
   Ed, yes I'm finding that is so also. That is why balsa outsides the rail is cool, it is so easy to shave down. Between the rails, for me it's styrene. The track is code 55, with the styrene 0.040".  It seems to be able to be shaped and hold, the complex forms, such as in the switches. As a bonus it is just below the railhead. This I hope will make track cleaning easier.

[Slim Rail Mike]

   I’ve laid out the shell for the ferry module on door skin (Luan plywood).


The fascia for the ferry module, is cut from 1/8” fiber board. I’m installing the fascia now, so I don’t forget to allow for it as the shell is formed.


To hold the shell together, I’m using poor mans fiberglass. In this case it cloth and tite-bond pva is used to tape the seams.


The ferry pier needs some repair before it is safely ensconced on the now protected module. Some of the bitts and cleats have been knocked off, as well as many of the pilings.

[Slim Rail Mike]

  This was a productive weekend. The fiddle yard is finished. I reduced the number of tracks to four. This will allow more room for the 0-5-0. The staging yard will now have a 75 car capacity. (40’ cars)

    The carapace for WP milepost 0.0 is complete. While the pier still needs some TLC, it will suffer no more damage. Found an appropriate color to paint the shell in my paint stash.
 








I don't know why the photos rotated. Sorry

DOH Phone orientation

[Slim Rail Mike]

This week started the shell over the switch lead. This is another section that juts out into the bay.



    For no reason I had a mental block to completing a task. Similar to a writer or a painter before a blank page/canvas. For a long time I’d set it up to work on. Then I’d find a string of other things to do. Well the mid yard joint is that task, it’s now complete. Now the two sections can be stored with one inverted over the other, to form a box. In the same vein of safe module storage, the skyboards for the T-Trak-ish modules were cut, primed and painted. The modules will also be stored in pairs with the skyboads forming the sides of the box.







    As much as I love the deep cobalt blue of the dry western sky, The bay area air is rarely that dry. I mixed a cerulean hue to try to get the feel of sea air. From my paint stash there was a qt of pale blue that leaned the right way (more towards green than red). To it was added some phthalocyanine blue, which is a strong staining and tinting color, to get the finial color.

[Slim Rail Mike]

   Some temporary track was installed in the west end of the yard. The joints in the yard were tested with rolling stock.





The end pieces were cut for module storage. They have 1/8th” spacers so there will be no pressure on the rail-ends. 1”x2”x4” blocks were added to hold the modules apart. Yes one module is a trapezoid.





 The four Free-mo-n sections of WP 25th st yard each in their sarcophagus. The staging/fiddle yard joins in on the storage elevator.



Enough box building, I think I’ll run some trains on the T-Trak.

[Slim Rail Mike]

Another tortoise failed. I know I could repair it, however the fact that they extend below the module frame, leaves them prone the getting rapped. They all have been removed. 









Started cutting parts for toggle switch manual machines.



The simplest route would be to have the throw right by the turnout. One issue is if/when the layout gets expanded, another module will connect to the front of this one forming an el. I’m concerned about reaching the two turnouts by the crossing. The other issue is there will be the Best Foods plant between the front and rear tracks, obscuring the rear turnout.

I’d like everything lead to the 6” on the lower right.

I’m experimenting with linkages. There is a bit of rc airplane control stuff in the junk box. The tubing is slick, the music wire inside is pretty heavy and stiff. There is a coil of piano wire that may work. Tried the piano wire in a section of insulation stripped off of #18 wire. The insulation is too flexible to serve as a sleeve. I’ve several lengths of 1/8” brass tubing. Tried bending the bass while inside a spring, that worked without kinking. 

 Rod and sleeves, rods and pivots, need to puzzle this out.

[Stolen Moment]

"The insulation is too flexible to serve as a sleeve."

You can restrict its movement with tiny nails alongside it, so it can't wiggle.

[Slim Rail Mike]

Yes pinning the sleeve in place helps but the insulation stretches and the curves bulge absorbing the motion. I tried Polyethylene tubing. The PE tubing doesn't seem to stretch, but the 1/4" od stuff i have still allows to much waste of motion. I ordered some 5/32" od 3/32' in pe tubing . Hope that will work. The toggles switches will be mounted and connected to the turnouts today. The tubing arrives Wednesday, so the module may be back in operation by the weekend.

[Slim Rail Mike]

Here are mock-ups of what I'm thinking of using. Controls with pivots for greater than 90 degrees, and just tubing and music wire for less than 90 degrees.

[Stolen Moment]

I have to ask, why are you using that wheel instead of a bellcrank?  I do understand the satisfaction of quality DIY, and it looks like there are some adjustments you can make.  That wheel certainly looks good.

[Slim Rail Mike]

I wish I had a cleaver reason, it was simply what I had, a hole saw the size I wanted and some scrap vinyl flooring. Simple, cheap  and good enough. I did think of cutting away the un-needed portions There was no point to do that, so vol-la.

I started to install the toggles on the module. The music wire .032", from the toggle to the points, is too flexible to make the points seat firmly against the stock rails.  The next larger size I had on hand is .048" way too stiff. I've ordered some 1mm/.039" wire it should be here in a day or so.

Last Edit: Today at 11:30:03 AM --- Spelling/grammer yikes

[Slim Rail Mike]

These turnout controls are not very satisfying. While they work, they take to much force to move. There is no pleasant click of the toggle, instead  more of a molasses like ooze from position to position. There are other projects to do. I’ll let this one rest for a bit.