Thursday Day Off and Beyond

I did my Lotto duties (which resulted in my not being able to retire), and then hit the hobby shops.  Firstly to Hobby One.  They did not have the brick sheets I had ordered – still on backorder.  I went to Modeller’s Warehouse and bought a set of second hand Peco medium points.  I then went to Aurora Trains and they did not have the paint that I wanted.  But I gave George a hand pulling his layout apart before it was shipped out down south.  Note to George: ‘Best to remove the zip ties that were between the layout modules holding them together before you try and pull the modules apart’.  They come apart better that way!

When I got home I went down to the shed and spliced in the second hand point (it was actually brand-new) and then spliced in my scratch built dual gauge point next to this point and made a cross over from the dual gauge main in Acacia Ridge Yard to Standard Gauge Track 1.  I then readjusted the track gauge (3^rd railed laid outside a length of 12mm track) on the entry to Acacia Ridge Yard and connected it up to the previously installed dual gauge point – now known as Arthur’s point.  I can now run standard gauge trains into Acacia Ridge Yard from the north again.  I then soldered up all the jumpers that I had to remove to splice in the two dual gauge points.  Trains were tested through this area and they work.  However the running of trains, may have revealed that I forgot to add an electrical jumper between where I dual gauge point was added and its cuts around the frog, and the rest of the track in that siding.  So Maybe that track is now dead until that jumper is added.  Maybe one night this week.

Later in the arvo I painted the rail on the dual gauge track (Arthur’s point) that I installed last weekend.  I then painted the copper clad sleepers a dark wood colour.  The new sleepers that I made and stained last weekend have been slide in between the copper clad sleepers on this point.  Ballast will follow in the future and then I can get Arthur back for round 2.

I resumed my track building position on the kitchen table, and made another dual gauge point while watching some Winter Olympic racing.  Actually I used the grinding wheel in the shed as well to shave the point blades, and to notch the stock rails.  This will be the first point I will add to Fisherman Islands Yard to create another 12mm siding.

I have also decided that there are potentially two more points that need to be replaced with some of my mark-2 scratch built dual gauge points and hopefully this will provide better operations on the layout.

On Saturday I went to the Club for our monthly meeting.  I picked up some more code 83 and code 70 rails and some Copper clad PC board sleepers from PK.  While at the Club waiting for meeting time, I started cutting up PC board sleepers for my next layout dual gauge point, and then also started cutting up rail lengths.  When I got home I ran the rail through my grinding wheel to trim the flanges etc. and created all the joins for the various V’s in the point.  These got soldered together later that night while watching some more Winter Olympics on TV.

While at the Club, Greg brought along some 3D printed stuff for a couple of members, including some 12mm height gauges and some 12mm re-railers.  He also had his RM 55 railmotor in G gauge – all 3D printed.  It looks very nice.  It is big and it is getting close to having its run.  Next meeting it should be running around the outdoor track.

Today I got down to the shed and spliced in the last two sets of points I created to go into Fisherman Islands Yard.  I have pushed both standard gauge and narrow gauge rolling stock through the turnouts and they run adequately.  I also installed a homemade over centre spring in one of the points here.  It seems to lock into place.  I also added 2 more over centre springs to the new set of dual gauge points in Acacia Ridge Yard from the dual gauge to standard gauge track 1.  They seem to allow the point to stay locked in either position as well.  I will create a few more of these over centre springs for the other point at Fisherman Islands later tonight.  I will then create a few more to have up my sleeve for other points around the layout.  These were created out of 0.020” Phosphor bronze wire bent into the same shape as a Peco over centre switch spring - just bigger.  I still need to check that I gapped all the PC board sleepers correctly in those two new Fisherman Islands Yard points and then connect the track jumpers back up, and run powered locos and trains through the points.  More jobs for during the week.