SP RR

[Erieman]

Steve,

You are moving right along. It all looks great. Thanks for all the photosl.

I've used the water level method several times. Mostly on setting footers when I built the train room. Of course a clear hose is necessary but really comes in handy when the ground ins't level. It is also very helpful when you want a level over 8 feet long.

Tom

Tom,

I think you have a serious beverage challenger here. Look at all the Coke that Steve has in his room. Hmmm. Just saying,

Steve,

Great photos. Looks like you are making a lot of wonderful progress. Keep up the great work.

Frank / Erieman

[S&S RR]

Steve


You are really moving along - looks great!

[sdrees]

Tom, Frank and John thanks for stopping by.  When you live in the desert, you have to stay hydrated.  Tucson water tastes lousy, so you have to drink something.  If it was scotch or beer, I would not be making the progress I am.

I did some test fitting of the remainder of the helix today.  It came together like the plan said it would.  Now is time to lay some track on the first layer of the Helix.  I will have to lay it directly on the plywood or else there will be clearance problems.

[ak-milw]

Really making some progress.

[sdrees]

Well I jumped to trying to build some spline roadbed while waiting for some turnouts and Sweep Sticks from Fast Track.

My minimum radius is 24" on the mainline.  I went to a wood store and bought a piece of 6' long 1x6 Poplar for this trial.  I cut it into 1/4" wide strips on a table saw. This afternoon I installed the risers for a 24" radius turn with easements.  I then drove a finish nail in the center of each riser.  Then I placed several strips of the Poplar against the nails and held them in place with spring clamps.  The clamps I bought at Harbor Freight for a $1.50.  It worked out great.  Did not have any problem with the Poplar breaking and I did not need to soak it in water first.

What was really nice is that the easements just naturally formed and I didn't have to figure out the mathematics for them.  My main line has a lot of sweeping turns, so this method will work out very nicely.

I will add the additional strips and glue them to each other.  For the mainline, I plan to make the roadbed 8 strips or 2" wide to allow for the use of cork road bed on top. 

I will now go to the wood workers store and purchase additional lumber and have them cut the 1/4" wide strips.

[jerryrbeach]

Steve,
I have read a bit about splined roadbed, I'll be interested to see how it works out for you.  Everything sure looks good so far!

[ak-milw]

A few years ago I helped a friend put up a spline roadbed, seemed like a BIG waste of time to me. I could never see what was so great about it except it is a lot more work.

[sdrees]

First of all, thanks for stopping by Jerry and Andy.  Appreciate your comments.

Attached are photo's of the results of my first try at installing spline roadbed.  I was quite happy with the way it turned out.  I did not have any problem with bending the Poplar 1/4" wide strips on a 24" radius.  I did not need to soak them with water nor did any of them break.  For me I think that the key is to have a very good scaled drawing of your track work.  My plan had the location of the curve radius points and the start and finish points of the curve, straight sections and the easements.  I installed risers at all these points and others as needed  My mainline has a lot of curves and easements.  Like I said before, the easements are formed naturally with this method.

[Twopoint2]

Bench work looks great, spline roadbed will make nice easements and add to your solid bench work Steve. Thought I read some where the spline roadbed will reduce train noise. I will be following along.

[sdrees]

This past week I laid my first track on the helix.  I used DAP clear Kitchen and Bath Adhesive Sealant to glue the track down.  To apply it, I used a small trowel with grooves for placing grout for tile that I had for spreading the sealant.  I got a nice even amount on the sub roadbed. I used Fastracks Fast Sticks to maintain the proper radius white the sealant set. 

Where the helix is in two layers, the proper vertical clearance is very tight so I laid the track directly on the sub roadbed.  Where the track daylights, I started the use of cork roadbed and had to create a transition buy sanding the cork roadbed.  You will notice there are two layers of cork.  The first layer will be only used for yards and sidings and the logging railroad.  The second layer is added to the mainline only.     

[sdrees]

Jim,

Thanks for stopping by.  The easements turned out very nice on this section.  I do plan to place cork roadbed on top of the spline sub roadbed.

[Twist67]

Hi,
gresat work on the benchwork and the spline roadbed looks fantastic.

Regards,Chris

[ACL1504]

Steve,

Bench work looks fantastic. Howard Zane swears by the spline roadbed. I've never tried it so I can't comment. That said, I've heard it both ways. Yours and what I saw of Howard's was really fantastic on the natural easements.

Tom

[sdrees]

Tom,

Thanks for your comments.  Also thanks for the info on posting pictures and text.

[sdrees]

I finished laying track on the helix yesterday, and I completed the wiring for it today. You can see in the picture that I used suitcase connectors to fasten the feeder wires to the bus wires.  I was able to run a train today to test out the helix and everything went very well.

Next, I will work some more on the spline roadbed for the mainline track.