Seaboard Central 2.0

[sizemore]

Dave Imma need about 30 or so of those Code 40 beasties. Kthxbye.


The S.

[davefoxx]

No problem, S.  Oh, wait . . . one problem, I average one turnout per week, so I'll see you in late 2014 with your order. 

[Rich_S]

No problem, S.  Oh, wait . . . one problem, I average one turnout per week, so I'll see you in late 2014 with your order. 

Dave, Of all of the things I've attempted in modeling railroading, I've never tried hand laying track. Very nice job on the turnout 

[davefoxx]

Dave, Of all of the things I've attempted in modeling railroading, I've never tried hand laying track. Very nice job on the turnout 

Rich,

Thanks!  If you're like me and willing to shell out a couple of hundred dollars for the tools, templates, and materials from Fast Tracks, you can easily build a turnout, especially if you watch the how-to videos on the Fast Tracks website that you can follow along with while you build the turnout and develop the skills.

DFF

[MichaelT]

Dave,

Didn't you say you used white glue for your roadbed and track? I tried it this time around for the roadbed, but wanted to ask about the track. Did you brush the glue on the roadbed and lay the track down and stick pin it to dry?

[davefoxx]

Dave,

Didn't you say you used white glue for your roadbed and track? I tried it this time around for the roadbed, but wanted to ask about the track. Did you brush the glue on the roadbed and lay the track down and stick pin it to dry?

Michael,

I used yellow carpenter's glue.  My theory is that the yellow glue won't soften like white glue might when flooding the layout with wet water and adhesive while ballasting.  The nice thing, as you can see in the previous pictures in this thread, it holds the track to the cork and the cork to the foam well, but it is forgiving, i.e., it will release with minimal to no damage to the foam or the track.  I don't try to save the cork, which is fairly inexpensive.

I apply a bead of glue along the cork or track area and spread it with my finger, getting it thin enough that it does not smear out under the cork or, more importantly, through the track.  It really doesn't take much and the less there is the faster it tacks up.  But, there is plenty of time to make small adjustments, as necessary, to align the right of way.  I use push pins to hold both the cork and the track in place until the glue sets.  I probably only wait ten or fifteen minutes and then pull the push pins from the cork, so I can lay the track.

Hope this helps,
DFF

[davefoxx]

I didn't get much done in the train room today, but I did get a slide switch installed to control the points on the new turnout.  As you can see, it holds the points nicely against the stock rails when thrown in either direction:



The frog is already wired to a Hex Frog Juicer, so this turnout is essentially finished, except for final painting, ballasting and weathering.   It's functioning well with my four-axle and six-axle locomotive fleet (it's the lead into the locomotive facility).  There's nary a wheel click through the switch point and frog areas.  I can't wait for my Fast Tracks order to get here, so I can attempt to handlay the two sidings into the locomotive facility.

DFF

[conrailthomas519]

nice

[MichaelT]

Michael,

I used yellow carpenter's glue.  My theory is that the yellow glue won't soften like white glue might when flooding the layout with wet water and adhesive while ballasting.  The nice thing, as you can see in the previous pictures in this thread, it holds the track to the cork and the cork to the foam well, but it is forgiving, i.e., it will release with minimal to no damage to the foam or the track.  I don't try to save the cork, which is fairly inexpensive.

I apply a bead of glue along the cork or track area and spread it with my finger, getting it thin enough that it does not smear out under the cork or, more importantly, through the track.  It really doesn't take much and the less there is the faster it tacks up.  But, there is plenty of time to make small adjustments, as necessary, to align the right of way.  I use push pins to hold both the cork and the track in place until the glue sets.  I probably only wait ten or fifteen minutes and then pull the push pins from the cork, so I can lay the track.

Hope this helps,
DFF

Thanks Dave,

It helps indeed.

michael

[milw12]

Dave, I may be late to this party, but I want to comment on your outstanding work.

I've been following your work since the original Carolina Central thread on the A-Board. You've never been anything short of an inspiration to my own modelling attempts, even though in comparison I'm like a child with some clay 

I've been in and out of the hobby more times than I can count due a myriad of reasons, but your logs are among the few I always come back to and catch up on.

I have accepted that I do not have the time, money or even desire to develop my railroad modeling skills to this level, and content myself with my simple and conservative endeavors. This does not keep me from appreciating the craftsmanship you display, and I look forward to watching your continued progress!

[davefoxx]

Thanks, Lucas.  That really means a lot to me.  Thanks for stopping by from time to time and following along for the last several years.  I guess it's been seven or eight years since we started that Carolina Central thread.  That was a good one.  I really enjoyed all of the people displaying their work in that thread.

DFF

[davefoxx]

Well, not much has gone on lately on the Seaboard Central.  I'm still waiting for the Fast Tracks delivery of ties to handlay the engine facility tracks.  It takes a while to get the shipment from Canada.

Right now, as I sit here and type this, I'm really fighting the urge to buy an N scale BLI E7A in the purple and silver Atlantic Coast Line scheme tonight.  I've always loved the ACL and have come darn close to selling everything and modeling it several times in the past twenty years.  I've always come back to the ACL successors, though, because I really like railroading in the 1980s when I was growing up.

However, the funny thing is that BLI is offering ACL No. 524.  I suppose they picked that number, because it was the class unit.  The series was numbered 524 through 543.  Get this, though.  That particular E7A was wrecked and retired in September 1962, approximately ten years before the majority of the entire E unit fleet (E6s, E7s, and E8s) was retired.  Major fail on the part of BLI, in my opinion.

That said, if I bought the BLI E7, none of that would matter anyway, because none of the E units were on the Seaboard System roster in the 1980s, and the purple and silver scheme was replaced with the black and yellow scheme in or around 1958 anyway.  So, it would be a complete foob for me on my layout.  But, I still love that scheme, and I'm tempted to buy one for a "heritage unit," like I did with the three IM FP7s decorated in SCL that I own (that were off the SCL roster by 1972).     For that matter, I'm even thinking of quenching my thirst for the ACL by building a small 1950s era passenger train.  Wheels of Time, for example, has those really nice baggage cars in purple!  My wife is going to kill me.

DFF

EDIT: It just occurred to me that to accuse BLI of a major fail is unfair.  Since the ACL repainted most of their E units black and yellow by the time No. 524 was wrecked in 1962, it wouldn't matter to anyone who wanted to faithfully model the purple and silver era on the ACL.

[seusscaboose]

I thought the ACL WOT cars were green

Did they do 2 runs of ACL?

EP

[davefoxx]

I thought the ACL WOT cars were green

Did they do 2 runs of ACL?

EP

Yes, sir.

[seusscaboose]

Very nice
Buy em and bring em over next time you're around

We are running mail service now and have lots of through head end cars


EP