Silcon Valley Free-MoN: A new yard has begun

[Mark W]

Excellent work!

Now you just need some 3D Printed leg pockets to get them all free-standing!     



Oh shoot...  I was supposed to mail something today...   

[PiperguyUMD]

Nice work! Being a noobie to free-MoN, I love seeing different construction methods for modules. I really dig the flowing curves that your approach allows. Maybe we need our own thread in the Layout update section to share methods.

[RBrodzinsky]

Things got very busy since the last post with doctor appointments, DMV visits, Yom Kippur, etc, so didn’t make quite as much progress as I hoped. Plus, got very hot and smokey again (we don’t have AC, living close to SF Bay). But some progress has been made.

Started to put the bus wires in (just got the two curved sections so far)

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On the cross piece you can see that I am using Wago connectors for breakout from the bus.

I also received leg pockets from @Mark W and was able to get them installed today. Instead of the heavy wooden legs, these legs are 1/2 inch conduit

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With the locator pins and the wider stance of these legs, the sections are almost as if they’re clamped already.

Next up is to put the cab bus connectors into fascia and add the rest of the bus wiring (plus PSX and 12VDC rectifier)

[RBrodzinsky]

Yesterday and today were wiring days, adding the main bus wires and cab bus to all six sections

This section will be relatively simple, 10 straight tracks, and a crossover set up on one set of the mains. So nothing special for the bus.

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This shows the PSX installed in one of the end sections, along with a 12V rectifier/regulator. The unattached connector from the PSX can be used if one wants to bypass that board. (The eagle-eyed will note a white wire between the Wago on the right and the green PowerPole connector; I ended up being 4 inches short of black 14AWG wire!)

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Wider view

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With the extra bus wires, have added this little sign in each section to help in the future

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[RBrodzinsky]

Today was start of roadbed and track placement. First up was verifying that all the sections still went together and matched their track-centerline marks. CHECK!

I then put the smallest configuration together, a 12 foot arraignment of the two end sections and the “interior” ladder. In this config, it is really more a switching module, as the 8 yard tracks have minimal capacity.

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The blank area on center left is due to my not being able to find those printed sheets from AnyRail, and really don’t need them, anyway. My task for the day was to mark where the roadbed needs to be on these three sections, and also mark specifically where each switch is located.

To transfer roadbed path to the foam surface, I used the old “stick a pin it” method.

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The “blank” area has the two alternative mainline tracks, which also require roadbed, so I pinned down some flex track so that I could mark the roadbed. You can see the custom track spacing guides I created earlier this year being used to align the track.

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Finally, broke open the box of roadbed and just laid some out for photo. Will start cutting and gluing tomorrow.

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[RBrodzinsky]

Continue to make progress on the roadbed. The fun part is finding enough “weights” to put on them.

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Did some “surveying” to lay out the curved tracks. Got out my transit and surveyor’s chain (ok, tripod and kite string) to mark the radii

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And here is roadbed on curves, with some track laid on for photos

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