Yikes! The last update was more than a month ago - an eternity in internet land!

I've been working on the layout fairly regularly (about an hour or two a night). After one evening it doesn't look like any progress has been made, but by the end of the week I can see some definite changes.

The mainline is almost completed around the upper deck, although the Palmer yard will take a while to finalize and get in place. I've also been working on the New London yard - the area around the piers shown in a previous posting.

Well, all for now.

Marty

Tracklaying, and, to a lesser extent wiring, are two of those things where practice makes perfect. Or at least where "getting into a groove" makes things go easier. I'm well into the tracklaying phase on the Southern New England, and the wiring gang isn't far behind.

Some thoughts on making this phase of layout construction as efficient as possible:

1. Have the tools and materials organized, available, and on hand. There's nothing worse than wasting time looking for your favorite spiking pliers. I put all my tracklaying tools (rail nippers, files, pliers, gauges in small plastic tote. That way I can find the fool things.

2. Lay the flextrack in place, then bend to fit (I'm using Micro-Engineering code 70, with some code 55 in certain sidings). Mark and cut the flextrack several sections at a time - then apply the adhesive latex caulk and press the track into place. I find I can get three or four sections of track down between the time I walk the dogs and when it's time for supper. Doesn't sound like much, but that's 20 sections a week!

3. Follow the track gang with the wiring gang as soon as possible - it's not only a great way to test the track, it's also motivational to see a train run over the freshly laid rails.

Two other tips:

I've decided to forego the switch motors in most places for now. I'll put some in once Matt gets home for the holidays (ssshhh. . .. don't tell him!) but otherwise I'm going to use the "finger flicks" on the ME turnouts, and only add turnout motors to the handlaid switches. I figure that will save me several weeks of evenings. I am adding the slots for the turnout motors to the subroadbed and roadbed. Once the layout is "operating" I can always go back and add switch motors.

Bridges - there are a number of bridge scenes for this layout. After spending almost a week of evenings building one of the two long trestles I decided to cut a piece of subroadbed the length of the bridge, add a temporary piece of track to span the crossing, and press forward.

The goals is to get the mainline in and functioning by the end of the year  . . . it's going to be close, but I think I can make it.

When I first laid out the benchwork at East New London I placed the two piers - one railroad pier known simply as the “Long Pier” and the other the Connecticut State pier - in their correct prototype positions.  Although track laying had progressed on the rest of the railroad, this area was not developing any momentum at all – a sure sign something is wrong.

The problem was the position of the two piers – note the relative position of the Long Pier (the wider one, in this case) to the wall. I decided to try moving the pier closer to the wall, figuring that increasing the separation between the two would make it easier to add the warehouse to the State Pier (to the left in this picture):

and still leave enough room between the two to look like a ship might be able to fit between them.

Moving the pier was easy – although a little dusty. I simply set the blade depth on the circular saw to where it wouldn’t cut into the Masonite “water” surface, fired up the skill (circular) saw, and ran it through the homasote and plywood. Then I loosened the screws holding the pier in place from below and slid it closer to the rear wall:

You can (barely) see the cut line at the foot of the wider pier. It's better, but as I started laying out the yard ladder, I noticed the track would “flow” better if the ladder went towards the front, and not the rear.  This would also make it a lot easier to reach the yard tracks for coupling and uncoupling cars.  It was also becoming obvious that the State Pier would be better if placed to the rear – putting its two-story warehouse along the back wall.  So, I decided to take the “historical fiction” approach and switch the relative location of the two piers.  To move the State Pier I again fired up the saw, ran it across the neck of the pier, and loosened the screws. Moving it into position I think the result is a much more workable solution (my able assistant, Molly the Basset, is just visible to the extreme left of the picture):

Ironically, the first track plans Frank Hodina and I drew for the yard had this arrangement. I should have stuck with the plan in the first place, but now I know for sure. I did change a few things about Frank's plan, like notching the benchwork (it's the reason the pier in the foreground ends before the one in the back) - creating a small alcove just big enough to let the yard operator reach the rear tracks.

Just to see what the viewpoint would be from the aisle, I took this (poorly lit) photo from the floor - I think this has the potential to develop into a very neat scene, with the track still easily accessible.