PRR Bellevue Sub Build

[jbvb]

There are a few straight track segments on my layout where I accidentally left some waviness; they're hard for visitors to notice but they do show up in photos.

[PRR Modeler]

Good Afternoon,

James-thanks for following. I think after the backdrop is in and the track being ballasted a lot of the waviness will visually lessen.

Today was a busy and productive day. I started hot gluing some smaller rubber rocks I had on hand below the level of the track. (It's hard to see the details in the photos.)

After that I laid out Atlas Code 83 flex track from the bottom of the incline around the RH/TT/ESF until I joined up with the ME #6 TO that starts the track into the ESF. After that I soldered the rail joiners and 5 sets of feeder wires to the track I laid but did not connect them to the main buss.

[postalkarl]

Hey Curt:

The turntable and roundhouse look just great. Can't wait to see it with some scenery added.

Karl

[Jerry]

Shaping up very nicely.  Looking forward to the next  steps.


Jerry

[GPdemayo]

Hey Curt.....things are really shaping up.....you do know that it is especially tough high balling it on wavy track. 

[PRR Modeler]

Good Afternoon All,

Thank you Karl, Jerry, and Greg for following along and your kind words.

Greg- Since this a coal industry based RR there will be no highballing to worry about

Today I put in the cut down rubber rocks on a cardboard lattice then plastered above the rock faces. Tomorrow I'll paint the plaster cloth brown.

The rock faces (2) came 32" x 7" each which I cut in half lengthwise turning them into 4 pieces 32" x 3.5" (about). In the mounted photos there are 3 rock faces. In hindsight I probably should of cut the backdrop boards shorter in this section.

[GPdemayo]

Darn.....

[PRR Modeler]

Afternoon All,

Greg- Sorry .

Over the last several days I put in the plaster above the rock faces and painted it. Today I put in 4 tracks in the engine servicing area. After fitting I glued them in place with Elmers. When dry it has a good grip and after ballasting it will give additional hold. If you look at he tracks from the TT area the furthest left track is #1 and so on to #4.

#1 track- Hoppers will use it to pick up ash from the ash tower. Since I'm not sure yet if this track will go to the TT, I only glued to where the marker is. Further down the track you come to the first right hand (RH) T/O. This will lead to the Coaling Tower, Water Tower and Sand House. This track may go to the TT also. All the way back is another RH T/O which will go to the coal dump for the Coaling Tower.

#2 track- Track for the ash pit dump. This track may be extended to the TT. It's only glued to where the marker is.

#3 track- Track to Diesel Servicing platform.

#4 track- Second track to Diesel Servicing platform.

Tomorrow I plan on connecting power to the track and if I have time to start testing it.

[PRR Modeler]

Afternoon All,

The last couple of days I put in all the ESF tracks (except to the TT). Everything is powered and tested. Part of what I did today was a "dress rehearsal" by putting the facilities in place. I had to take out 2 PECO T/O's (used on last layout) that I discovered the track ends had cone loose. I don't know if I just did it or if it happened during layout teardown. It might be the cost of recycling T/O's. I've tried gluing them with CA in the past without much luck.

[ACL1504]

Curt,

Coming together nicely and looking very good.

Tom

[jbvb]

If you need to salvage the Peco turnouts with loose rails, you could hold them in place with spikes long enough to reach through the cork roadbed.

[PRR Modeler]

Afternoon All,

Thank you Tom and James for following.

James- Thanks for the idea for the PECO T/O's. I will definitely give it a try.

Today I finished testing the engine service area links to the TT and the new storage tracks. I tested with a Genesis F3 first then a Heritage Steam  2-8-8-2.

I did find something strange or maybe it's supposed to be like this. In the picture you will notice that 3 tracks are on the right. In between those tracks and the rest of the tracks is the dead zone on either side of the TT. To get the 3 right sided to work I had to switch the feeders from the normal buss wire to the opposite wire (blue to green and green to blue). I don't remember having to do this before?

Anyway as long as it works I'm happy. I have one more small detail to add then the ESF/RH/TT are done for now (scenery later). and it's time to move on to the next section.

[ACL1504]

Curt,

If I remember correctly I had the same issue. I did the same for one of the tracks and it worked. I don't question + or -, if it works, that's all I need to know.

Tom

[jbvb]

The way that works implies that, somewhere inside the turntable, there is a 'split ring rail' setup providing power to the bridge.  The split is long enough that the power pickups don't short across the two sides, which causes the dead zone.  In many ways it would have been simpler to just provide separate terminals for the bridge rails and require the customer to power them via an auto-reverse.  Is this TT supposed to work on both DC and DCC?

[nycjeff]

Hello Curt, you're making some amazing progress on your empire. You tackled the hardest part first- meaning the engine servicing area with turntable and roundhouse. If you got all that working correctly, the rest should be a piece of cake. Good luck, can't wait to see the rest of your layout.   Jeff