Track Gangs hard at it

Willsboro track work complete

I finally managed to get out into the shed again this weekend. The first task was to pre-weather the turnout and diamond cross over that I had made. Once the pre-weathering was completed and paint was let to dry, it was onto one of the most enjoyable parts of building a railroad, the track work.

After a few hours of planning and modifications to the track layout, the town is now built.

Willsboro is a paper mill town and the primary reason for the railroad in this area is paper. The town boats a 2 track pulp wood unloading area, 2 tracks for tack cars for plant, 2 tracks for finished product such as cardboard boxes, then another track for news print rolls. As the paper mill is large it also has its own power station. As such, a power station needs loads of coal, so 2 tracks for coal. Then on the other side of the main line is storage tracks to store box cars for the paper mill.

See the following pics.

Track power and turnout machines are yet to be installed. That's a job for next weekend.

Stay tuned for the next update.

Diamond build

Hand Laid Diamond

As the town of Fairhaven has a large glass manufacturing facility, the town needs a diamond cross over to enable additional locations to set our cars. As I'm using hand laid FastTracks #6 turnouts, none of the Atlas code 55 diamonds match the geometry of the FastTracks #6's. Therefore I needed to make my own. I had built a diamond 12 months ago using the paper template and used the slotted rail technique . This worked fairly well until I dropped the diamond into my lap and bent it and effectively destroyed 4 hours of work. This time I used the normal method to build the diamond by bending the 2 outside rails and building from there. Attached are the pictures of the diamond and it turned out nicely. The paper template has extra check rails draw on it, however, I dont think they are needed so did not install them. I used an Atlas Code55 diamond as a guide.

Here are the pictures of the completed product.

I have also added the wooden ties to the last set of 18 turnouts that I built. Here are a few examples.

Now to weather them and get back to track laying.

Milestone 100

The end of the turnout build

Today marked the completion of the turnout build.
Today I made turnout 100, 101 and 102. (This include the 37 hand laid turnouts on my last layout).

Now to cut the frog gaps, install the wood ties, pre weather and then install.

The layout will have 87 turnouts on it. 65 of those 87 are hand laid. Only the staging has Atlas Code 55 #5s installed.

I have 1 diamond to make then the track laying can start.

Stay tuned for the install.

More Turnouts

Soldering Iron in hand.

Today was a productive day at the work bench where 6 more turnouts were built for Willsboro.

Only 12 more to go..

Turn out time

It's been a while.

Time to get on and make the last 18 turnouts.
Work bench is ready

Now let's get started.. (stop procrastinating).

Port Henry Track Work Complete

Track gang arrives in Pt Henry

Over the last week or so I managed to get back into the shed to complete some more track work. This time Port Henry was the focus.

Port Henry now boasts 7 industrial spurs and will be a busy town to switch once operating sessions come to the D&H.

All track work, track power and turnout machines have been installed in Port Henry.

The keen eye will notice the addition of a few buildings in town. These are not the final buildings for the locations. These are being used to get a feel for what the town may look like.

Port Henry will have the following industries:

• Small rural Coal dealership
• Pt Henry doors - 2 spurs
• Lay-z-boy chairs
• General foods crop
• Scrap glass loading 
• Scrap steel merchant

Now to make another 9 turnouts for Willsboro. Then the track gang can progress to Willsboro to start work.

Stay tuned.

Whitehall Yard complete

Whitehall Engine Facility

Over the Christmas break I managed to get into the shed and complete some more trackwork.
This time I installed 3 more turnouts in Whitehall.

Im happy to say that the loco facility and an extra industrial track in Whitehall are now complete and ready to go.

See the attached pictures.

Due to the heat of the Melbourne summer this year, some of the main line track work developed some kinks due to the heat. This track work has now been fixed and all is up and running again.

Stay tuned for the next update.