Superior & Seattle Railroad Build

[S&S RR]

One more project to report on tonight.  I finished cutting the boards for the hidden yard that will be under the mountain in this area.


I will be adding the track and turnouts on top of the bench and then installing it in two pieces under the layout.  Much easier than doing all the work under the layout.

[S&S RR]

The hidden yard will be about 12 feet long and have at least 5 tracks.  It is possible to add more tracks but I'm starting with 5.

[EricQuebec]

Just awesome. ALways a great pleasure to follow this thread
Eric Québec city

[S&S RR]

Just awesome. ALways a great pleasure to follow this thread
Eric Québec city

Eric


Thanks for following the thread and for the kind words.

[S&S RR]

I got started on the hidden yard today. I'm trying to use components I already have and maximize the storage space.  I didn't have much layout time between mowing the lawn and working for EXPO dollars, but I got started.

[S&S RR]

I continued the construction of my hidden yard, today.  I will be installing all the track and wiring, including the snap controllers for the turnouts while it is on my workbench.  In the second picture, you can see how I had to clear out for the screws so I can take it apart and get it under the layout for final construction and installation.

[S&S RR]

Here is the picture of the screws.  The hammer in this picture is one of my Dad's tools - it has been around longer than I have - and it works great for detecting and setting the nails from the air nailer that didn't get set deep enough in to the cork roadbed. My Dad owned a body shop a few years before I was born and this metal finishing hammer was used to bump out sheet metal with and anvil behind the panel.

[S&S RR]

Today, I finished the cork roadbed and track work for the hidden yard. Tomorrow I will finish the wiring and add the turnout controls before tearing it down and installing it under the mountain.








In it's present configuration the yard will hold 5 full trains.  There is enough room under there to add on in the future if I decide I need more storage.

[S&S RR]

I finished what I could do on the top of the bench on the hidden yard today. Added the drop wires and wired and installed the Peco Snap controllers for the turnouts.  I'm only using the snap controllers where things are not going to be seen. I also used up a lot of miss matched flex track I had from my previous layout on this hidden yard build. It is amazing how many different sizes of ties you can find on flex track.

[S&S RR]

After I completed adding the drop wires - it was time to break the yard into two pieces so I could fit it under the layout and make it easier to flip upside down to install the turnout controllers.

[S&S RR]

Once I had the screws out I just slipped the two sections apart.

[S&S RR]

I flipped the section with the turnouts upside down to install the snap controllers.

[S&S RR]

All of the wiring for the turnouts is wired into a terminal block so I can connect the wires from the control panel and we will be good to go.

[S&S RR]

Final step for today was to fit the sections down through the hatch so they are ready for installation, tomorrow.

[Powersteamguy1790]

Looking good John. Have fun with it.

Stay cool and run steam......