The Atlantic and Southern Build Thread Continued, Part 3

[GPdemayo]

That Ovalix is the 9th Wonder of the World Tom!  Hard to believe it's been 2 years since you've worked on the top section.  Great track work and tutorial as usual.

It kills switchers I tell ya!  Just kidding.  A couple years ago I purchased a new BLI Reading SW1500 and took it down to Tom's for it's inaugural run.  It got just about to the top of the Ovalix when stopped dead in its tracks and there was a faint odor of fried electronics.  The decoder burned out.  Lucky for me BLI headquarters is only about 45 minutes away so a few us made a road trip over there a couple of weeks later and they fixed it right up while we browsed in their store.  Greg had to restrain himself from running Greg speed while running trains on their layout.   

Hey Bob.....I try not to be rude and do that on other layouts, but it's really hard to rein it in sometimes. 

[Bruce Oberleitner]

It's very cool to see you getting back to work on the layout again Uncle Tommie.  I think I have to agree with that helix being "The 9th wonder of the world".  Truely an amazing engineering achievement.

[ACL1504]

That Ovalix is the 9th Wonder of the World Tom!  Hard to believe it's been 2 years since you've worked on the top section.  Great track work and tutorial as usual.

Mark,

Thank you, much appreciate your comments.

I'm very happy to be back working on the layout doing track work. Yep, the two years sure went by fast.

Tom

[ACL1504]

That Ovalix is the 9th Wonder of the World Tom!  Hard to believe it's been 2 years since you've worked on the top section.  Great track work and tutorial as usual.

It kills switchers I tell ya!  Just kidding.  A couple years ago I purchased a new BLI Reading SW1500 and took it down to Tom's for it's inaugural run.  It got just about to the top of the Ovalix when stopped dead in its tracks and there was a faint odor of fried electronics.  The decoder burned out.  Lucky for me BLI headquarters is only about 45 minutes away so a few us made a road trip over there a couple of weeks later and they fixed it right up while we browsed in their store.  Greg had to restrain himself from running Greg speed while running trains on their layout.   

Bob,

I do remember that day. I felt bad the the Reading switcher made it up but not down. I'm very familiar with the electrical burn smell.

At least they fixed it for free. Which by the way is Greg's price.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Hey Bob.....I try not to be rude and do that on other layouts, but it's really hard to rein it in sometimes. 

Yea, right, if you say so.

[ACL1504]

I'd like to add to the last few posts regarding the Ovalix and trackwork.

The area of the Ovalix is 10 feet long and 8.25 feet wide.

The actual Ovalix outside diameter is 8.5 feet long and 6.25 feet wide.

By definition it is a Helix but I call mine an Ovalix as it is oval in shape and not circular.

On each end of the Ovalix the track is set at a 36 inch radius.



On the long sides, there is a section of track that is 30 inches in length. This makes it easier for long trains, especially passenger trains, to climb the 3.25 inches in 26 feet. As mentioned, this makes it a 1 degree incline. Certainly much better than the average of 3 degrees incline on most model railroads.

[ACL1504]

More in a few.

[ACL1504]

When I discussed the straight track being soldered to the 36 radius curved section, I didn't mean to indicate it stayed straight. The straight piece, after being soldered, was then bent/curved to the 36 inch radius curve to finish the south end.

In the photo below, you'll notice the solder tube. This is where I made the soldered joint from the 36" radius to the section of straight track.



You can see the straight piece on the left is now at the required 36" radius to match the right section of 36" radius.



I had two emails asking for further details on the track in the Ovalix.

Hope this makes it more understandable. If not, let me know and I'll try something else.

[deemery]

Your trackwork looks great!  Mine sucks.  I found several kinks apparently due to heating/contracting of the splines underneath.  I'm soldering feeders, another part of trackwork I dislike.

dave

[ACL1504]

It's very cool to see you getting back to work on the layout again Uncle Tommie.  I think I have to agree with that helix being "The 9th wonder of the world".  Truely an amazing engineering achievement.

Cousin Bruce,

Thank you kind sir. I can only take credit for the build. If Greg DeMayo hadn't done this in CAD, printed it for me, there is no telling what it may look like now.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Your trackwork looks great!  Mine sucks.  I found several kinks apparently due to heating/contracting of the splines underneath.  I'm soldering feeders, another part of trackwork I dislike.

dave

Dave,

Thank you for the nice compliment. Howard Zane suggested I try spline roadbed but I passed on the idea. I'm a Florida Cracker and just got used to plywood and Homosote. This layout is all on plywood with mostly cork roadbed.

There is some expansion in the plywood here but not enough to have ever affected my track.

I dislike soldering feeders as well but it is a necessary evil.

Tom

[ACL1504]

I promise this is the last time I'll go over this part of the build.

I've come up on another curve that needs to be installed on an existing 36" radius curve.

The offending rail on this curve is on the bottom right.

The left track is the straight one.

The green track gauge is 14" long and a 36" radius. I've never found it necessary to use the sectional radius gauges from Fast Tracks. I guess I've been doing this to long.



I just eyeballed how much to cut off the bottom rail.




I almost got it the first time. I then aligned the two track rails and used a Sharpie to mark the amount needed to be removed.

More in a few.

[ACL1504]

I nipped off the blackened part of the rail, used the Dremel disc to square the ends.

Now I have a nice tight alignment.



Atlas Code 80 rail joiners were place on the rails. Notice the bottom rails where the joiner is not in the center of the two rails?

Take a small flat head and slide it in place.



Solder the two rail joints.

Continued -

[ACL1504]

Believe it or not, the rails are now soldered.



I thought I didn't solder them so this afternoon I went back and soldered them again.

If I had taken a closer look, the second soldering wasn't necessary.

Continued -

[ACL1504]

When the second soldering occured, I got some solder on the inside and top of the bottom rail.

I used a needle file to remove the solder on the inside of the rail. Over looking this can be very frustrating down the road. I was running the three passenger cars over the joint and the three wheel heavyweight caught the solder and made a "bump".



Oddly enough, the solder on top of the rail made no difference. However, I knew it was there and filed it smooth.



Continued -