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kb1857
Switcher
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 Posted - March 14 2017 : 11:43:00 PM
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Okay gents here is what Ive been able to accomplish in the past 10 days with my tear down and redoing of my layout including breathing old plaster dust sawdust and frustration with paint smell waiting for a flat board i spray painted outside to dry before i could mount it on to the front table anchor it and begin drilling holes to start laying track.the first picture is of the table top cleared of thing but the mountain tunnel at the rear of the layout Viola the mountain and tunnel is no more   I Just couldnt justify it on the layout anymore,I have a coal minning kit i built three years ago that i had no where to put on the existing setup,I didn't build the dang thing inside with clearances high enough to run a consist through without hitting sides and could never get power to the dang old tracks because Lol I neglected to drill to holes or run decent feeders into that area of the layout which was alotta fun reaching into the tunnel to pluck stalled engines out of.SO after a day of busting it up with a hammer and wearing a body shop paint mask and another day until the air cleared in the basement lol,Was able to add 3 or 4 inched to back of the table  My 22 radius curves arrived and its gonna make difference down the road to smooth out future operations.back and front tables are anchored and more level as as level as I was able to get it a carpenters level has become my best pal Now please if somebody anybody can ansewer this question because I ran into a bit of problem at the front of the layout when drilling holes for feeder wires to the track.traditional thinking and model railroading 101 feeder wires to the outside of the rail but the problem that i ve run into is ive got thick 4 by six studs at certain places wheres it virtually impossiable to drill holes down through to run feeders though.I got a mess of press soldered rail joiners from a guy on ebay at a cheap price because I hate soldering    The pictures aren't the greatest but you can see what Iam trying to do is put the joiner and attached feeder to the inside of the track. I haven't glued this down yet or got the joiners tight or smooth but iam concerned about a short down the road or a current conflict with other portions of other track.anybody see a problem or any suggestions thanks in advance As to what I am changing is two tracks running around the entire layout at 22 inch curves a coaling operation at the rear where the tunnel used to be,a couple sidings with better #six switches on the main line a shorter but more workable hump yard in the middle by changing stuff out like as smaller round house (5 stalls down to three) a smaller or slimmer grain mill off the main.
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Country:  USA ~
Posts: 78 ~
Member Since: January 30 2007 ~
Last Visit: July 10 2024
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Posted - March 15 2017 : 07:52:23 AM
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Nothing like starting over! Yes, putting things in hard to reach places is the number one No No of
model railroading. Anyways, here are 3 mint state Tyco coal hoppers for the coal yard. $35 and
I'll pay the shipping.
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Country: USA ~
Posts: 11647 ~
Member Since: December 09 2013 ~
Last Visit: March 13 2026
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kb1857
Switcher
Status:
offline
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Posted - March 06 2018 : 6:27:49 PM
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| Okay I am back and guess what? FINALLY!!! My layout is up and running.One year and one month since I started this thread And this was my 2nd layout after ten years of tinkering in this hobby my layout is running and i got past reverse loop hell.Over the holidays I kinda stepped away from the layout to get a fresh prospective,invested in a couple ho train electrical books used off Amazon.One was by a guy named Linn Wescott who to me was the John Allen of ho train wiring specifically old dc analog.Very simple particular dealing with reverse loops how to trouble shoot,read a power meter,how to wire up a double pole switch the correct way of which there almost nothing about out on the net.Its almost all dcc so this book was a life saver to say the least.And this is for my buddy chops it IS a lot of wiring boy you werent kidding.but I have it right now and finally I am having some fun which for awhile it was not lol.Also picked up Andy Sperado's book which covers a lot dc before everything got dcc and you had ta have a degree in electrical engineering lol.Also spent time over christmas and into january building a few kits to put on my layout,including a kresseges 5 & ten and a krogers store.Also Iam working on a wood kit car dealers thats gonna sell studebakers and packard cars.HOPE to have that one built by easter.As soon as I can capture some video of my layout running then I will post it into this thread.Also gonna redo a small portion of my yard but Iam able to do some switching in the yard now that ive isolated the power into the yard off a seperate power pack and another double pole double throw switch for it and a 205 atlas controller.I appreciate every body that helped me with this layout paticulaly chops,maybe some day I can return the favor so somebody else can have the fun too.
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Country: USA ~
Posts: 78 ~
Member Since: January 30 2007 ~
Last Visit: July 10 2024
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Posted - March 06 2018 : 7:03:49 PM
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congrats, dude
hey Chops I think those Tyco unloading cars would go great with the Life-Like build a scene coal yard
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Country: USA ~
Posts: 15008 ~
Member Since: February 23 2009 ~
Last Visit: March 16 2026
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Posted - March 07 2018 : 11:36:07 AM
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Totally, Busss.
Great to see you back and working hard at it, KB. Sounds like
you have developed a good alternative. I was having
issues with the yard in my British layout, what with a
rather choked series of switchbacks, trying to cram
in more than would reasonably fit. I ended up just knocking
it back to a double ended spur.
While small, it visually works
better. But I have to store extra wagons off the layout.
Compromises, compromises.
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Country: USA ~
Posts: 11647 ~
Member Since: December 09 2013 ~
Last Visit: March 13 2026
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