Very nice, Rick. Great craftsmanship as always. The new switch look to be straight through the frog. What make is it? What is the equivalent radius of the curve between switch and bridge? For that matter, what minimum radius do you use on the SP?
Sorry to swamp you with so many pesky questions, but it’s very interesting to see how you handle this.
Steve
Thanks for the interest guys.
Steve,
The switch is a Peco #6.
The standard minimum radius on the SP is 10 foot.
What the radius on this particular switch is I am not sure.
as you can see in the picture it starts easy then tweeks in a little then
straightens. It is what it has to be to meet the angle of the bridge approach
to the stone wall on the other side.
The reason for that particular boxcar in the picture is because it is the most
fumble footed car on the system and it is making the curve with out any problems
so I am satisfied that the install will work well and holdup.
Thanks for asking
Rick
Hi all,
Time for another progress report. A turntable for the mining district. A friend gave me the table and I have done some alteration on it to make it work in it’s new setting. The table is made from Pine wood so can’t be left outside in the weather full time. First I reinforced the uprights by screwing them together in place of the nails that were used. I replaced the rails with code .250 Aluminum and gave all the wood a good coat of oil.
I used a piece of Hardie Backer Board for the base and cut Redwood 2X4 for the pit ring. The swivel base is a cabinet “Lazy Susan” attached to the bottom of the TT. The center pivot is a 2" PVC end cap turned down in the lathe, it fits into the center hole of the Lazy Susan. Not shown in these pictures is the small blocks attached to the bottom half of the LS that keep it in balance and force the “turning” to the LS bearings and not on the PVC sleeve.
Here the TT is installed in the Mining District trackage. You can just see the blocks underneath that force the turning into the Lazy Susan bearings. The feed track to the TT is installed and ballasted the other track is just laying loose waiting attention.
The track locking gizmo. Made from two rail joiners and a couple pieces of brass bar stock. That’s the nice thing about battery power, no worry about track electrical shorts. The brass sliding against the aluminum is a little sticky so has to be jiggeled a little to move it. That movement should improve with grit accumulation.
Thanks for following along.
Rick
A neat installation, Rick. How long is that table?
Steve
Nice Rick 
Steve,
The turntable bridge is only 16 inches long, just barely room for the short loco’s and trail car.
A little track work progress to show. The first switch to go into the yard area after coming down off the switchback from the lift out bridge. I decided to use Aristo short switches in the yard area to conserve space and take advantage of their sharp radius. Although the code 332 to code 250 conversions became a bit of work. As you can see the switch is mounted to a sheet of Acrylic that is spiked to the ground with a couple of 16d nails. This picture was taken before I painted the Acrylic sheet flat brown the same as the rails and ties.
This shows a little more progress with the track to the turntable installed and ballasted. The main line continues on to the Mill area and the switch to the abandoned mine spur.
This shows a closeup of the switch at the mill trestle (not built yet) and the spur up to the abandoned mine. In this picture you get a good view of my “bright idea” to adapt the code 332 to the 250. I used an Aristo joiner then cut a short piece of code 332 aluminum rail to slide into the joiner. The base of the 332 aluminum was cut off so the code 250 would slid up to it in the rail clamp. It seems to hold very well, we will know the truth after a “season in the sun” as they say. The Redwood retaining wall is where the trestle behind the mill will start.
This view shows the track work to date. The spur to the left going uphill to the abandoned mine and the spur to the car shop in the middle distance. The unattached switch in the center will go to feed runaround trackage and the spur to the shaft house in the background.
After installing this little bit of track on my hands and knees i remember very clearly why I made the decision to raise my railroad up on table tops. I have always claimed it was to defeat the burrowing mammals but it was really to save my poor old aching joints.
Thanks for taking a look.
Rick
That mine area is looking good! I hear you about the elevated railroad. Only a very small section of my layout will be elevated. The remainder is on the ground. Either this railroad finally gets done OR I die tryin’!
Rick Marty said:The Delores end of my RR is a hodge podge of Aristo and LGB brass and ME 332 aluminum rail left over from the previous layout tied into Accucraft 250 rail. Eventually it may get changed to all 250, but it works just fine for now.
I decided to use Aristo short switches in the yard area to conserve space and take advantage of their sharp radius. Although the code 332 to code 250 conversions became a bit of work.
Quote:I haven't regretted laying mine on the ground.............YET. But, then again, I also enjoy the gardening aspect of it too.
After installing this little bit of track on my hands and knees i remember very clearly why I made the decision to raise my railroad up on table tops. I have always claimed it was to defeat the burrowing mammals but it was really to save my poor old aching joints. Rick
Rick Marty said:Amen!
After installing this little bit of track on my hands and knees i remember very clearly why I made the decision to raise my railroad up on table tops.
Steve
Really nice work as always Rick. I must agree too that “elevated” is the only way to go for excessively old folks such as you.
BTW: what are you using for ballast in the photos? Good looking stuff. Doesn’t look like simply “fines”.
Looks great Rick. Nice to see those switches being put to good use. They look really good painted up.
Nice progress Rick. Looking sharp.
Hi all,
Back with a few more pictures of my progress. Starting to work with a few of the buildings now and am encountering a few problems. The buildings are mostly 1:24’ish and I am trying to get them to work with the 1:20 trains without too much alteration. Here is the shop building, it is too small to work as a Loco shop so I decided it will become a car shop and it is just barely large enough to pass as that. The only location I could come up with was a spot where the track had to cross over the dry tailings pond.
The “bridge” timbering in place and the shop set on the “Hardie Plank” base.
An interior view of the shop, is that cool or what? The only thing I added was the track.
Easing an ore car back into the shop for repair. You can easily see why this structure wouldn’t work as a loco shop. This is also a pretty good view of the abandoned tipple in the background, more on that later.
Richard,
To answer your question. The base “soil” seen in this area is “crusher fines”. The ballast is a Limestone product called 1/4 minus. It is a little over scale for ballast but like all things in our hobby it is a compromise. It is a little large but it stays put in the rain and doesn’t jump up all over everything like crusher fines do.
Thanks all for taking a look.
Rick
Thanks for the answer Rick. The ballast looks good and I didn’t think it was simply 1/4 minus.
A couple tricks I use for too small structures is:
You’ve probably already thought of these things as you’ve got a good eye for scale and composition but, just in case…
Thanks Richard,
All good ideas and I will probably use more than one of them
before I am finished with this little project.
For strictly sentimental reasons I don’t want to alter the
buildings themselves so these other methods become
necessary.
A few more pictures of the progress. The derelict spur into the abandoned mine building.
(
The track plan/laying is complete, thank goodness, my knees don’t want anymore. The switch in the lower left will lead out onto the stamp mill dump trestle, the dead end spur in the center is for the car shop, and of course the turntable on the right. The 3/4 PVC stub-ups that you see will become distribution points for the 1/4 inch mini sprinkler lines to be added soon, and covered somehow.
Another view of the completed track plan. it really shows the switch-back layout of the mainline.
Thanks for taking a look.
Rick
Looks nice Rick.
The mine area looks great… nice work, Rick
Great stuff! I’m looking forward to seeing that “working stamp mill” in place.
Steve
