The Atlantic and Southern Build Thread Continued, Part 3

[GPdemayo]

Hey Tom.....I thought I'd share a bit of happiness with you.


Our nephew and his family are in town from Dallas and came by for a visit and dinner on Sunday. After a bit the grand nephew asked to see the trains so in we went to the layout.


I had a NYC Dryfuss Hudson J3a on the track and started it up.....got it slowly going down the track and you'll never guess what the first thing out of his mouth was....."FASTER" Unc. What a little guy. 


Can't wait to get him up in a plane.....his dad loved it when he was younger and when we used to fly someplace to get breakfast or lunch. 

[ACL1504]

Greg,

Congratulations, I guess that "Greg Speed" thing is in the family DNA.

My grandson always wanted the trains to go faster when he was little. Now, he doesn't even care about trains or even seeing the layout.

Tom

[NKP768]

As we say in drag racing - 1 gear - 1 speed

[Janbouli]

Thanks Tom and Greg, love this place, especially the people that meet here.

[ACL1504]

As we say in drag racing - 1 gear - 1 speed

Doug,

That's Greg, 1 gear - 1 speed!

Tom

[ACL1504]

Thanks Tom and Greg, love this place, especially the people that meet here.

Jan,

You are very welcome. I agree, this place is wonderful.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Prior to laying cork for the track, I draw in the radius and straight section lines. I'll either use a pencil or black ink felt tip.

I then lay each side of the cork on either side of the line, tack it in place and see how it looks. I'll do this over a large area of the layout.

The reason I do it this way is learning from past experiences.

I'd rather find a problem with the track fitting now than later after the cork is glued in place. If the cork fits, then I'm 99.9% certain the track will fit on the cork. I'm giving that .1% to Mr. Murphy should he show his ugly self.

You can see I've already done the inside curve. This is the curve coming off the top of the Ovalix.



Looking south over the north wye.



More in a few.

[ACL1504]

Same as above from different angle.



Looking south towards the Ovalix.



Continued -

[ACL1504]

Extra photos.







Continued -

[ACL1504]

Here I'm making sure the angle of the cork matches the #8 turnouts.





Back in a few, going to grab some H2O.

[ACL1504]

Once satisfied with the cork and placement, I'll remove the piece of cork closest to me and redraw the line as shown below.





Continued -

[ACL1504]

I'll then use a 1/2 wide old brush and brush on some Elmer's glue. The brush spreads the glue flat so there are no humps when the cork is added.



After the outside piece of cork is added, it is tacked in place and the glue is allowed to dry. When dry, the inside piece is glued in place. The outside piece, now dry, is used as a backstop for pushing the inside piece up tight for a better subroadbed.

All this prepping and extra work goes for smooth and very reliable track.

Done for the day. I've put in my 8 hours of work.

Back for more tomorrow afternoon.

[JusticeCity]

Tom,


I can hardly wait to see the layout. There is so much more than when we were there in Sep 2017.

[S&S RR]

Tom


Thanks for the tutorial on laying cork. I always learn something when I stop in to visit this thread. I don't care how long you have been in the hobby you can always learn and improve. Thanks again for taking the time to make this forum a great place.

[Blazeman]

Tom:  Can you document how you fill in the switch gap on your next post?  I've had mixed results doing it different ways. Being in N, critical to get a smooth fit.  I've resorted to cutting out roadbed for the entire switch from a cork or foam sheet to meet the need.