Splines: An Update

[kelticsylk]

Rather than starting from the west end of Llyswen Yards like I had planned, I'm starting from the east end at the bottom of the helix. I'm in the process of building the Harrowgate area. The Allegheny Eastern mainlines are split here, having passed thru the tunnels under Short Mountain. The eastbound mains cross the Juniata River twice over stone arch bridges. The westbound tracks run along the opposite bank of the river. Track 3 follows the river and merges with the westbound main, and all three tracks run together a short distance before Tracks 2 and 3 curve off to the right to pass under Track 4. Track 4 begins its climb to the flyover at EF tower...

The first spline is finished and in place. Once the glue in the lamination has set, the entire 15 feet of spline can be picked up as one piece. Can't tell you what it weighs, but it is incredibly light. Feels like I'm holding one of those giant foam airplanes...

With the first spline in place, I started a mockup of the other tracks. I use the hardstrip to form the general layout I'm looking for and "clamp" things in place with some 3" drywall screws...

There is a slight issue with the shell delaminating if you try to flex the spline. This turns out to be a good thing. I can still make minor adjustments. While the tacky glue is great for the foam I'm going to switch to another glue for the shell. I'm also going to make laminating the hard strips the last step in the process. This way I can adjust the soft strips as desired. Once I get things the way I want them, I'll apply the hard strips, freezing the spline into its final shape.

The entire layout will now be 2 inches higher than previous. This is due to the height of the foam slab at Llyswen. The splines are the same height. I had to raise the helix to match. Another case of serendipity...I had not fastened the helix permanently to the bench work yet and only 2 levels are in place. I had to move the entire thing out of the way so I could install foam and plywood to bring it up 2".

[kelticsylk]

This afternoon I laid out the entire 15 foot east end of the layout. Learned a few more things about assembling splines. The more I work with these things the more I like it. These photos show how I used the soft strips to mockup the track layout. Some adjustment is necessary, but what you see here is pretty much what will be assembled tomorrow.  Not much commentary this time, just pictures with captions...

Area under construction

Harrowgate looking west. Tracks 1 and 2, eastbound, are to the left.
Tracks 3 and 4, westbound, to the right. Track 4 is beginning its rise to the flyover at EF.
BQ tower will sit about where the orange clamps are now.

Looking west toward BQ. Track 3 westbound is merging with eastbound tracks from right.
Track 4 snakes over the passenger mains (Tracks 2 and 3) which split off to the right at BQ

Track level view from BQ. Track 1, the eastbound freight main, comes straight out of East Keystone and DI tower.
Tracks 2 and 3, the east and west bound passenger mains curve right and under Track 4, the westbound freight main, at EF tower.

Aerial view of same area

Aerial view, looking west, of the west side of the flyover at EF tower.

DI tower looking east towards BQ. Track 4 approaches from the left.

Looking west towards Llyswen Yards Tracks 1 and 4, the freight mains, head into East Keystone at left.
Tracks 2 and 3, passenger mains, curve right to bypass the yards.

Overall view of "eastern" side of the layout.

Mockup of curved stone arch bridge over Juniata just east of BQ.

Mockup of straight stone arch bridge just west of Short Mountain Tunnel

Eastbound spline will be modified to match Atlas bridge sides.

The flyover will be handled in a similar manner as the bridges.

Radius Gage made from plywood center portion of a helix level.
Radius of cut is 16.5 inches. Radius of track curve 18.5.

Delaminator! A fishing knife in previous existence, Delaminator now serves by splitting strips from spline.
Here it is removing hard strip.

Delaminator once again, this time splitting a two track spline into a pair of single tracks.

I screwed up and double tracked the entire eastbound spline between East Keystone and Harrowgate. It was easy enough to change though, as you can see from the photos.