test of first electrified part

 Have been quite busy with the layout the last couple of weeks and part of the rail support is inplace. I also added the rails, which are part set track and part flex track, and soldered everything together.

Some blocks are isolated from each other to allow for block detection later, but for now I wired everything together and hooked it up to my old analog power supply to let a small train run on the new tracks. It runs fine, but by the sound of it I might need to check on some solder joints to see if there is some dirt left on the joints.

Nothing to bad though an I can even run the train at very slow speeds on all parts of the track.

Transfer the track plan to the baseboard

I decided to transfer the track plan to the baseboard without actually printing it in full size. AnyRail is perfectly capable of doing that, but even if I leave out any empty pages it is still quite a stack of paper which will only be used once.

So I go the old fashioned way and replicate the the grid on the baseboard.

Then it is al about marking intersections of the track with the grid. I also made a simple tool to draw the centerline and side of the 422mm radius curved sections.

After drawing a few sections I will obviously have to check with real track before i start cutting the cork roadbed.

I also added aluminium u-profiles to the sides of the baseboard to make sure adjacent plywood sections are perfectly aligned. This is necessary because the overhang is up to 40cm and this will cause the plywood to bend slightly if weight is put on it.

These profiles are thin so they won't block the cabinet doors when they open. You can get these profiles from stores that sell parts to create flightcases.

Trackplan tweaks

 Now the baseboard is finalized, the track plan can be tweaked.

The yellow track is a passenger track that will operate on a shuttle schedule, leaving from the small station (nothing more than a rural stop really) an then going to the top right into a tunnel before it returns.

The orange track will be a programming track and the grey track the main goods track.

Everything is laid out on three levels. The uppermost level is the passenger track, the mid level is the switching yard for the goods track and the lower level is a small shadow track with a short parallel section so I can have trains running contineously in both directions.

On the right a part of the goods track branches off and goes up to a twin track that will be inside a removable diorama of a mine.

Some tweaks were necessary to make sure that the section with the double slip switch has enough clearance below the roof support that juts out upward through the baseboard (the white gap in the middle)

Next steps are to transfer the track plan to the baseboard and constructing the supports for the switching yard. The aim is to fully contruct the goods track before adding the passenger track. I am already looking at digital solutions, but for track testing purposes I can temporarily run an analog train.