Another mistake, or when not to use PVA

All the books, all of them, say to use PVA to stick down your track, if you're not using track pins (which IMHO) look ugly. So board one track was laid, wired and tested. Trains ran! To compete a circuit I temporarily pinned some rack to the rear of the board.

Then I noticed that when the loco ran over the temporary track it was nice and quiet, but the stuck down track was noticeably loud. Of course this is actually a well-known issue with PVA, as it sets solid and transmits sound. What to do? Start again by lifting the track, or soldier on?

In the end I decided that, at this relatively early stage, it's best to do it properly, so I've lifted all laid track (sob!) and am now sticking it down with Copydex, a Latex based flexible glue. Hopefully that will work more quietly.

Major blunder leads to further hiatus

So, Duncan, why no progress for six months? Partly it’s due to having a rush on at work, partly it’s distraction by a major room refurbishment (“Hey, let’s decorate the study!”), but mainly it’s through lack of motivation brought on by a major error in the baseboard construction.

The basic premise was (is) to built a plywood base framed by 2x1 inch softwood, for rigidity, and then to nail Sundeala board over the top, for sound deadening, ease of scenic sculpting, etc. See this post for more details/rationale.

Turns out that the differences in measurements – metric versus imperial – mean that the Sundeala tops are too short for the plywood base, meaning that there is a 3-4 mid-market gap where the baseboards join. Here’s a photo that explains this better.

And a close up…

What to do? I can’t bring myself to dismantle the boards and start again. I could fill the gap with filler, but this would affect the ability to separate the boards neatly if I need to move the layout. My solution is to simply tape over the gap with masking tape. If/when I do separate the boards I can then fill in the gap at each board edge.

Meanwhile the track that runs over the board joins will be soldered to screws either side of the join, which should mean that the track won’t be compromised by any of this.

Time only will tell whether this is a decent workaround or just daft.

Hiatus

Not for the last time (I think), not much has happened in the last month. I've dismantled the boards to fit the cross-braces to the legs, and in the process discovered that taking the layout apart at the baseboard joins is difficult. This is partly to do with the tightness of the bolts (M10 size) in the (10mm) holes, and partly the length of the bolts (a tad too short). So I'll take the opportunity to widen the holes slightly, use washers glued to the board ends to ensure alignment and have bought some longer bolts. Track alignment will be maintained by the brass cabinet makers dowels already fitted.

Also taking the opp to reconsider the track plan (oh no!). Currently most of the viewable track is on the straight with a curve at the ends to get it back into the fiddle yard. But now I'm thinking it might be better if the whole length is on a gradual, large radius curve.

Trains are running

I couldn't resist a 'Can't wait' moment, so I've laid some temporary track around the boards and wired up an old Gaugemaster controller. To hand was my trusty Union Mills 3F, my two new Stove 'R's and a couple of GF Stanier coaches. On simple DC, in case anyone asks...

All recorded for posterity...







What this shows up is the lack of good lighting in the loft, which I haven't even thought about. It's not a priority - loft insulation is - but it will need careful thinking...

Conditioning Sundeala

As per the instructions, I've conditioned the Sundeala which will top my baseboards. Instructions come with the boards, which I got from Alton Model Centre, or are available on the web site.

First slosh a good half a litre on each board, on the reverse (which I've assumed to be the side with the Sundeala logo on).

 

Then stack them on top of each other, wet side to wet side, thus:

Finally, drop a couple of baseboards on top to keep everything flat and in place.

And wait 48 - 72 hours...

Baseboard construction completed - again

Following on from the previous post on baseboard completion (!), this time it really is done. Cross braces are fitted and drilled to allow wiring to pass through. Here's proof:

Also, here's a close-up of a leg 'pocket' - the design is a fixed leg design with the leg being held in place with a bolt (not shown). I thought this was ingenious design on my part, but found out later that it's common practice. It even featured in this month's BRM layout construction article.

Also, here's a close-up of a board end, showing the bolt hole and alignment dowel fitted.

Next step is to condition the Sundeala boards before fitting, as per the instructions...

Baseboard construction completed

After some serious joinery work over the Christmas period the baseboards are finished. Well almost - the cross-bearers are not installed yet as I don't want to have them under the boards where point motors are to be installed. So I need to complete the track plan, which needed to be modified because of the space available (see here for details) and because of my misunderstanding of Peco track geometery (see here for more details but basically Peco SetTrack radius 3 is too large to fit on a 600mm board).

I've also bought four sheets of Sundeala board from Alton Model Centre to top the plywood boards - I'll pin these down shortly. Anyway, here's a photo of the four boards joined up:

I thought the bullet-style cabinet makers dowels would be tricky to fit, but in fact they went in very easily (with a tap from a hammer) and work really well. Purchased from Station Road Baseboards, which so far has provided a good service (I also got my adjustable feet there).

Next step: transcribe the track plan from XtrkCad to a large roll of wallpaper on the baseboard to make sure everything will fit - I'll use point temptates downloaded from this useful site - inexplicably they are not available from the Peco web site.

Loft flooring hiatus

I'm flooring the loft, hence little progress on the baseboards. They're cut to size and I've also cut the framing to brace the boards - just all needs gluing and screwing together.

Anyway, the loft is floored and wired for electric sockets - just needs to be connected to the mains. Lighting is temporary but sufficient for now.

A quick tidy up of loft junk and the boards can be transferred from the garage to the loft and then (hopefully quickly) completed.

Maybe some track will be positioned by the end of the year...

Slight design flaw

Measure twice, cut once, as the saying goes.

Baseboard construction is under way but flooring the attic has taken precedence as, well, no floor, no layout. So I thought I'd just measure out the attic space to see how the layout will fit.

It doesn't. I'd previous measured the floor area, but (of course) much of the floor goes under the eves of the house and isn't really usable as floor space. I have about 1 metre less in three directions, so the layout as planned won't fit.

As it happens, I've only started on the four main boards, which will fit, so these will the the total extent of the layout. It's back to XtrkCAD to jiggle the plan while losing 600mm at either end.

If I'm making such a stupid error now, Lord knows what other daft mistakes will be made along the way.

Watch this space...

And so it begins...

After several years (not kidding) of planning and prep, not to mention the numerous distrations and diversions. The layout is officially underway. Whoo hoo.

Let's not get carried away - what this means is that I've cut an 8' x 4' plywood sheet into four 1200mm x 600mm sheets. But hey, it's a start.

Some pictures to mark the momentous occasion:

From

To

Four neat matching boards. The job was made easier by getting a decent handsaw - I picked a cheap one up from Screwfix that cuts both ways. Less effort and less of a ragged edge to the uncut side.

Next up - bracing to support the plywood.

Timber arrives, but...

... it's in 4.8m lengths, not precut to 1.2m lengths as ordered. Two choices - send it back or cut it myself. I have room to store it in the garage (just) so I'll cut it myself. I bought a very cheap circular saw to build a deck a couple of years ago, so it shouldn't be too onerous.

Baseboard redesign issues

As I noted in this post, I'm planning to have a cantilevered board at either end, to allow the trains to turn 180 degrees and trundle into the fiddle yard. These boards are designed to be 600mm wide (roughly 2 feet) - same width as the main boards.

I also want to use as large a radius of curve as possible to minimise loco running problems. And eventually I'd like to run my locos with the scale-size leading bogie wheel that GF and others now provide (although the smaller size wheel still look pretty good). So large radius curve will help.

The largest standard Settrack curve is Radius 3 (product number ST-17), which is 298.5mm (11 3/4in) radius. This 'should' fit my baseboard. But it doesn't, according to XTrkCad. I checked with the N Gauge Yahoo group, which confirmed this - radius measurements are to the centre of the track, not the outside. Why does no-one tell you this?!

Anyway, the simplest solution is to make the cantilever boards 50mm wider at the back (hidden side) of the layout. Minimum of difference in construction, and little (if any) additional cost.

Baseboard design

The basic design for the layout is four 4’x2’ boards, or rather 1200mm x 600mm. It’s a sad fact that most layout sizes are governed by multiples of available plywood, MDF, Sundeala or whatever. Typically, Sundeal comes in metric sizes, whereas plywood is imperial (1220mm x 606mm).

Each board will be build from 3”x1” softwood, with 2”x1” softwood bracing. Tops will be 6mm plywood topped with 9mm Sundeala. Why? Sundeala is an easier surface to model on, can be sculpted, and has good noise deadening qualities. The 6mm ply is for structural support (Sundeala is known to sag) and to have a strong base to screw point motors to. This structure was recommended by Alton Model Centre, and the bloke there even showed me a board he’d constructed himself. It may seem like overkill, but I’m only going to do this once (hopefully) so better get it right.

I pondered long and hard about legs (as one does!) and decided on a slotted-in structure. Basically you create a hole for the legs and they just slot in, bolted firmly. Easier to set up than trestle-type legs and no bracing required (I hope!). Easier to construct too.

Leg length is 1200mm, a good height for both modelling (you can crawl under the boards if required) and viewing. I’ll fit adjustable feet for levelling purposes.

Main board 1 will have legs at either end. Boards 2-4 will have just one set and be supported by the preceding board.

In planning the layout I decided to add a 2’x2’ board at either end to allow the trains to run behind the scenic area into the fiddle yard. These will join on to the end boards by being bolted on, but I’ve also designed a cantilever support for additional strength. Sounds fancy but it’s basically a brace from the end-most leg to the underside of the 2’x2’ board.

 

And that's it. I have little carpentry skills but I do like planning so the wood will be delivered in handy 1200mm lengths, which should be easy to cut to size. The challenges will be cutting an 8' x 4' sheet of plywood (the merchant can't cut a single sheet...) and constructing the butt joints (half lap joints are beyond me and I'd have to do 12 joints per board - life's too short).

Beattock track plan

I've found no definitive plan of Beattock station as it was for most of its operational lifetime. The key sources are Alan Kirk's article on Beattock Station Modellers' Backtrack Jun-Jul 1993, Branches & Byways: Southwest Scotland and the Border Counties by Robotham, and LMS Engine Sheds Vol 5 by Hawkins & Reeve. All of these place the turntable close to the engine shed, but Hawkins & Reeve state that the turntable was moved to "the southern end of the down platform" in 1899.

A visit to the British Library showed that the turntable was indeed near the engine shed in the 1870s, according to a six-inches-to-the-mile map (which I forgot to record and will have to revisit to record the source and date).

I assume, therefore, that the three sources all use this old map as the original.

I have, however, a video of Beattock station in the 1950s & 60s (Great Steam Routes: The West Coast Main Line), which shows (fleetingly) the position of the turntable. Another video (North from Carlisle) has better footage of the turntable itself but the location is less discernable. 

So it's possible to guesstimate where the turntable was.

I've used XtrkCAD to plot the track plan, allowing for some simplification and compression (otherwise it's just too big and unwieldy) - operationally it should be fine.

The overall track plan (omitting some sidings and structures) looks like this:

 

The baseboard will be made up of four 4 x2 boards, with two 2x2 boards at either end as turning circles. I had hoped to squeeze it all on to four boards, but the boards then become too wide, or too short to create the visual effect I'm after.

It's basically a glorified dumbell layout - allowing long trains to run through uninterupted if desired, but goods shunting, banking and a branch line to maintain interest.

The station throat, goods yard and engine shed complex in detail looks like this:

There are plenty of points to install, and I'll need to check whether these coincide with baseboard joins or bracing.