Lower staging expansion

 Need more staging.

After completing the track work and the track power wiring, I set up a few trains and loaded the 5 tracks in lower staging.

As I realaistically have only list 1 town and I had a total of 10 staging tracks, I am / was concerned that I will need more than 5 staging tracks.

Looking at space and as the town of Plattsburgh sits at the highest point on the railroad with 200mm clearance between the lower staging and the deck of Plattsburgh, I looked at the timber work and space and figure I can realativly easily install more staging, all be it dead end tracks. I am looking at keeping it at 5 tracks so this will give me a total of 10 tracks.

Here is a picture of the staging as it stands (all be it with the additional turnout drawn).

Here is the additional staging v2.0

It will go under Plattsburgh here.

Construction pics to follow.

769 days is all it took

 The D&H is back in business.

After 769 days since the layout was started to be disassembled, it is now up and running again!

The fascia is not back on yet nor are the signals. There is JMRI work to be done to update the panel so not back to 100% where it was, but at least I can now run a train around the layout.

After a finding my mojo again and few nights and a busy weekend, I ran a train around the layout.

Here are a few quick pics to mark the occasion.

This is the new transition from Fairhaven, up and over staging to Plattsburgh.

Train arriving in the paper town of Plattsburgh.

Train exiting the North Creek branch (that connects to Fairhaven to enable a loop around the room and not go via Pt Henry and Plattsburgh. Will be mainly used to stage a train for an ops session.

More turnout maintenace and some wiring bugs to fix.

Plus need to add the fascias and update the town control panels. Plus a whole lot of track cleaning.

Stay tuned.

New track work complete

 New shed, slightly new design, track work done.

With all the timber work complete. I then set out to reconnect all the main bus wires and DC power feeds. Job done.!

Next step was get the track gang out and install he new cork road bed and track. This task is all complete.

The drop down bridge at the door way now has through tracks and extensions to the main yard. Time will tell if I keep the extensions or just remove them later.

Old view

New view

The new return loop and set of turnouts was installed.

Old view.

New view

Then I installed the new track work from Plattsburgh to Fairhaven.

This is where the old layout when up the spiral.

Old view.

New view

Old view

New view.

The new section also includes a shorter around the room continuous run. The old layout did go through the backdrop at this point but was a dead end branch. Now it continues on.

Old View

New View

Now to get stuck into the hidden stuff.. The wiring!.

Timber work complete

 Timber work including back boards complete

Over the last few days I have managed to cut the ply for the 2 new sections of the layout and paint them before they were installed. This included setting the grade for the new return section above staging from the peninsula to the side wall.

I then completed installing the final few back boards in the centre section. A few of the back board joins need to be glued to keep them together but they fit fairly snugly. The backboards are attached to the layout and not the shed walls. The layout is not fixed to the walls. Only a few select legs are screwed to the floor.

Here are a few pics of the final install

The last remaining task from a timber point of view is to open up the portal on 2 tunels that run through the back board and to build the drop bridge across the doorway.

There are 2 more sections of the old layout being the old helix and upper staging that need to be diassembled and the track recovered from.

Legs and back boards

 Now back in the shape it should be.

After a few days work over the Christmas break, the layout is now back on its legs in the new shed. I have added the new backboards as I go as I did not want to paint the steel walls.

I have added the sub frame for staging and installed staging on it. I have also installed the new sub frame for the right hand side just inside the door.

I ran out of the 6mm MDF for the center dividing piece.

Off to bunnings to get another sheet then paint it before I install it.

New shed build

 Let there be light

Well its has been a while. Certainly not my usual pace for building stuff.

Other things such as Lilys soccer and the Mustang have taken my focus for the last 18 months.

Over the last week I finally got back into the new shed to finish the install of the ceiling and then install the lights.

I still have 1 more row to go at the far end and need to replace a few blown or nearly gone fluro's.

The layout is still in bits.

I removed the old steel internal ceiling so I could add more insulation and MDF ceiling so I could install lights.

Next step to make the new legs for the layout.

Here is the revised design of the layout.

Lower stanging will stay where it always was with 5 tracks.

Im looking at how I can add more staging under the paper mill.

 Stay tuned for more..

Layout relocation

 All good things come to an end or is it just a change of location!

As per my last post. As per my usual process. I got up to the doing the scenery and stopped / stalled.

Then Michelle got a new car and was getting sick of getting wet or getting into a hot car. 

So the RR needed to move as the Mustang needs to stay in the garage. So the only thing to do was to move the layout.

Here are the progress pictures of the layout being disassembled and then moved into the new shed. Then the dismantle of the room within the garage.

First to go was the skirting, fascia and ceiling valance.

Then the centre wall.

Then the top level was removed

Then the helix

Then the town of Fairhaven

Then lower staging

Then the wall cladding, both internal and external.

Then the centre island and the main yard of Whtehall.

Layout completely removed.

Then the false ceiling and walls.

The layout is now is pieces in the new shed.

I now need to build shelves in the garage and then start work on rebuilding the layout..

The layout build will take a while I expect. I still need to add lighting and power to the shed.

Well that's the end of the B&H Version 4.0.

The new location will host the D&H V 4.1. I will reuse the full lower section with some minor changes.

The main yard will be single ended due to the door location. The layout will be single level with a lower staging.

Stay tuned.