Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Upper Level work continues

Fairly significant progress has been made on the upper level of the railroad since the previous update.

Benchwork and subroadbed is complete from the helix through the opposite corner. The benchwork is homasote over 3/4" plywood that rest on 1x3 stringers supported by shelf hangers.

I decided to go with homasote for the top deck everywhere for a couple of reasons; I was so happy with the performance on the main level in Acca yard that I wanted that same experience on the upper level. If I was going to rebuild the railroad, I would put homasote everywhere and not fool around with the woodland scenics foam roadbed.

The homasote gives a few advantages over straight plywood; it is easy to elevate the main over passing tracks and spurs with cork roadbed. The cork can be sanded down to give a nice ramp to the flat(ish) homasote. It takes spikes wonderfully, which means it is faster to lay track than gluing with caulk and if you find a mistake, it is easy to correct after the fact.

Bus wires were run before the benchwork was laid down and fastened; much easier than trying to fish solid core 12AWG wire through the tiny space that would remain.

A couple of pictures to illustrate the updates follow.

At about mid point in the yard, we look right down the line of supports and bus wires.

Plywood down and test fitting in progress

This give a good visual of the area available for bus wires, switch machines, etc.

Homasote down

Lots of wire... Have to have it for block detection.





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