Late January Progress Update

After a relaxing and rejuvenating holiday season, life has returned to normal (aka less train time). Despite this change in schedules some progress has been made on the Eugene Staging. 

Early in the month I received an order from FastTracks with all the necessities to begin building turnouts and after a tool swap (customer service is fantastic) I was able to start building some turnouts. I have four built so far, and each has gotten progressively better in quality. I will admit to not being an expert and I imagine spending time later perfecting my early attempts, however the jig and tools allow for quality pieces of trackwork to be produced in a short amount of time. Below is an example of a right handed #6 sitting on the new cork in Eugene.

Yes! Cork has arrived. For roadbed I found myself in a toss up between cork and Homabed. Cork eventually won out because I have used it before and my local shop offers a constant supply. I have found that clear caulk is the best adhesive, as the cork is easy to pry up in the case of realignment.

One box of Midwest Products Cork when a fairly long way completing about 70% of the roadbed in Eugene.

Here is the beginning of the west ladder in Eugene.

Tracks 1, 2, and half of 3 at the east ladder.

Looking west at tracks 1, 2, and 3

This curve needed to be realigned, a simple project to fix a simple mistake.

Quick spacing test with some rolling stock. The MEC boxcar is a current weathering project. Stay tuned for more about that.

Two inch track centers leave just the right amount of room.

East yard ladder early on.

The finished east ladder.

West end receiving some realignment.

West ladder.

I have three goals for the upcoming month: The first is to finish building turnouts for Eugene. I have 5 more to go and can do one in just over an hour. Secondly, I hope to finish the cork work in Eugene. What's left will take an afternoon. Finally, Klammath  Falls needs to be constructed. Klammath Falls is the other staging yard railroad west of Eugene (south) however it hangs at 77 inches off the floor. It is a mirror image of Eugene and shouldn't be too complicated to construct. 

Eugene Staging Begins

Merry Christmas! After a busy fall significant progress on the railroad could actually begin. Because of the design of the railroad, the staging yards will be built completely (benchwork, track, wiring, etc.) before connecting them with the other decks.

Earlier in the summer I built the freestanding wall and put in it place where it has "stood" since. Visitors weren't quite sure what to make of the "weird thing in the corner," adding motivation to get some progress made.

The goal of the benchwork design is for the railroad to appear as if it is floating, minimizing leg supports and opening up the aisle ways. I ran across "the plywood benchwork" method (http://www.kingstonsub.com/mr-construction-benchwork.html) and immediatly knew the sleek design and minimal depth was what I was looking for.

Since the walls of the layout room are covered in drywall and not plywood, I mounted 4" strips of 1/2" plywood ripped on my table saw to the studs with 1 5/8" decking screws (have 2 boxes laying around from previous project).

Next, I completed the supports on the freestanding wall section for the subroadbed. These are 3" strips of 1/2" plywood. Two screws into the 2x4 hold these up very well.

I then moved on to the supports for the back of the reversing loop that would run against the wall. I mounted square piece of plywood to the wall strip using small steel angles. For lightweight, simplified construction, steel angles are the way to go.

Unfortunately I neglected to take pictures of the benchwork in progress for the main body of the staging yard but the following pictures should show the process we used. Again we mounted our strip of 1/2" plywood on the wall, this time using a 4" strip instead of the 3". Then, every foot we mounted supports made from a 4" strip of 3/4" plywood with larger steel brackets. Each support has 2 brackets, creating a very sturdy support. 

In the picture below, we used the strip of mdf board we had to find the curve for the subroadbed.  This created a very smooth curve that fit exactly where we needed it to be.  

Below is the first piece of plywood subroadbed we cut and installed.

A good plan makes work easy. Here is the plan for the lower layout which we used as a guide for our subroadbed.

After we finished installing the subroadbed, I added the risers to create the grade that starts in staging. Though slight, the grade is fairly continuous throughout the entire length of the mainline, making for a truly realistic mountain railroad. The blue tape marks on the wall mark the studs behind the drywall. Also, the two large outlet panels are where the DCC control station will plug in and where the layout lights will plug in. Each outlet on the panels is controlled by a separate  wall switch on the outside of the room.

Here's a good view of the construction method. We stopped progress where we did opting to wait to bridge the gap across the doorway until a later date, preferring the 4' opening we have now to the 24" swing bridge.

A look at the plywood subroadbed as it curves around the corner. Both curves were made with the mdf sitting below the layout.

Here is the reversing loop. Again the mdf created a seamless and smooth transition. 

This final photo is of the only section where we had to use legs, the window. Unfortunately we couldn't avoid a window in the room and though this created a need for a little creativity, the small "table" built to support this section of staging turned out nicely. In hindsight, I should have used the legs to support the middle deck (Oakridge) at this point, but will cross that bridge when we get to in in the future. 

Overall I am very pleased with the progress made in a period of about 4 days. Next up as far as progress is building the nine turnouts using Fastracks products, laying cork roadbed, and then track. That work will probably take me up to late winter or early spring when I will start with the electronics. My goal is for the yards to be fully automated with sensors and turnout controls allowing operators to run trains effectively blind. Hopefully sometime in the summer we will start work on the upper staging yard, Klammath Falls, and then begin to connect the two with the main layout, the run up to Cascade Summit from Oakridge.  

Also stay tuned for some detailing and weathering projects that are currently in progress.