These past month or so I have been planning and laying track on the industry spur on the top deck with a mix of finished buildings and mock ones, I worked out where the track would go and how many wagons the sidings will need to hold. I didn't feel the need to make it over complicated with run around tracks and the like and I also made a few business like decisions about the length of the line serving industries.
Like getting the railroad to store my wagons in their yard rather than building a long section of track to hold them myself, as long as I turn them around quick I will save a heap of money. I also decided to put in a R.I.P track at the east end of the yard to add a little bit of operating variety for the yard switcher and road crews.
It is good to see some real progress and I seem to be able to find an hour or two every couple of days to lay the cork for the yard and then some track and soldering feeders. It is tedious work but it will pay off in the end with smooth running and few power issues for locos in the yard. I have previous experience from a club n scale layout with sharp curves and tight points and don't want to experience that again.
I have also been laying the track in the top lift bridge and I can honestly say don't ever make a joint on a curve in N scale if you can possibly help it.
The siding above will be used for a sand trans loading facility and will hold eight wagons at a time for unloading. In the right hand corner near the gondola is the switch leading to the flour mill or beer plant, I haven't decided which yet.
Not pretty but it does the job
Like getting the railroad to store my wagons in their yard rather than building a long section of track to hold them myself, as long as I turn them around quick I will save a heap of money. I also decided to put in a R.I.P track at the east end of the yard to add a little bit of operating variety for the yard switcher and road crews.
It is good to see some real progress and I seem to be able to find an hour or two every couple of days to lay the cork for the yard and then some track and soldering feeders. It is tedious work but it will pay off in the end with smooth running and few power issues for locos in the yard. I have previous experience from a club n scale layout with sharp curves and tight points and don't want to experience that again.
I have also been laying the track in the top lift bridge and I can honestly say don't ever make a joint on a curve in N scale if you can possibly help it.
From front to back we have the yard, main line, branch line and the flour / beer siding which can hold twelve wagons for grain unloading.
East end of the yard and over to the left you can see the branch running along the main, this will serve a large cold storage center and another warehouse down the west end of the yard. I also decided to add a dead end track to the yard off the no 4 yard track in the middle of the photo and the line from the bottom of the photo is the RIP track. When the track is completed I will do another track plan and post it to give people an idea of how the layout will work.
To provide a solid base for the joints on the lift bridge I used flat aluminium bar 3mm thick that is the same height as the underlay. I then used epoxy to glue the track and the trimmed P.C board to it and let it dry over night. To maintain the rail alignment I connected the track with joiners while I tack soldered it then pushed them clear of the joint and soldered over them.
