Ogden & Cache Valley, Part II

[Onewolf]

And then I caulked and painted the homesote.

What did you use caulk for with the homasote?  Filling in joints? 

dave

Yes, I caulked the joints between pieces of Homasote.

[Onewolf]

Nice update.  Don't forget the cat's up there!! 

Jerry

I debated whether to let her get down on her own or to stage a rescue intervention.  I opted for rescue intervention.

[ACL1504]

Doug,

Great to see you still working. It is fantastic and will be fun to watch the track installed.

Tom

[Onewolf]

I am working on laying the lower level return loop/staging tracks. There will be 8 loops with the outside loop representing the UP mainline east of Ogden. Each loop will have a rerailer on each end. All of this track will eventually be hidden (either under the city of Ogden or behind the Ogden city backdrop.

The 7 staging tracks range from 250" to 296" in length.

I started working on the eastbound side and installed 3 turnouts but then I decided that I should focus first on the westbound side because I need all 7 of those turnouts in order to complete the outside (mainline) loop.

The 2nd photo is a closeup of the track gapping for the turnout ladders. Per this DCCWiki https://dccwiki.com/PECO_Insulfrog Peco insulfrog turnouts should have both point rails gapped to prevent shorts on the frog. On my previous layout I did not know this and I experienced intermittent shorts for this exact reason.

The point rails gapped at #2. The rerailers are double gapped (#1) on the right side to create an isolated occupancy zone (the whole loop). Repeat 14 times for each of the turnouts.

The Norfolk Western 50ft boxcar has been designated the sacrificial lamb for initial track testing.
 

[Jerry]

Doug this is sure to be a beautiful layout when your done.

Jerry

[Onewolf]

I finished installing the track for the lower return loop and I installed the track power bus 12ga wires for the 8 track loops and 2 turnout ladders. I installed the 22ga track feeder wires for the outside/mainline loop and the turnout ladders. I hooked up the track power bus to the power district circuit breaker. And I was able to run a locomotive the whole way around the outside loop. Still working on filling in the ties removed while installing/soldering the flex track pieces.



A coil for each track power bus for occupancy detection (current going through a coil produces current which is detected by the occupancy detector boards.



One track power bus for each loop (occupancy zone)



Getting ready to solder track feeders along the turnout ladder.

[Jerry]

Looks great!  And so neat!

Jerry

[PRR Modeler]

Extremely neat wiring .

[Rick]

That's going to be an impressive yard.
Nice neat wiring too.

[ACL1504]

An 8 track reverse loop, love it Doug.

Tom

[Onewolf]

An 8 track reverse loop, love it Doug.

Tom

Previous layout had 6 track return loops, but since I have the space why not go larger?    Upper return loop will probably have 7 loops.

[Onewolf]

I have been working on extending the lower return loop double track sub roadbed (3/4" plywood) over to the area where the 1/2" rigid foam starts (main classification yard).

And I got some LED track lights to test whether the 10W or 20W fixtures will be better for the layout lighting in areas where there is no benchwork above to mount LED strips lights. Keep in mind that room lighting and layout lighting are different. Room lighting is meant to be very bright to support task/work lighting around the entire layout/room. Layout lighting is for use when operating the layout.

This is where the roadbed will transition from the flat 1/2" homasote to 1/4" raised foam roadbed and then exit the tunnel to be visible track.



This track is climbing at 1.4% grade to go from the 36" elevation of the lower return loop up to the standard 40" elevation of the lower level.



You can see where the 1/2" rigid foam starts on the far right.



There will be a turnout here on the left for a branch line that climbs at 1.4% to get up to 43" elevation where the city of Ogden will be above (and hiding) the lower return loop.

[Onewolf]

20w (2000 lumen 36 deg) track light fixture on left. 10w (800 lumen. 24 deg) fixture on the right. I am going to use the 20w fixtures mostly.



I need to take down this piece of benchwork and rebuild it so it has a 45 degree angle across this corner. It is currently a real head clonker (3 times so far) on the sharp and painful corner.

[friscomike]

Howdy Doug, that's some beautiful benchwork. The 20W LED track lights look perfect, too.  Have fun, mike

[deemery]

Glue a piece of styrofoam on the bottom of the wood in that corner.  I've done that on a couple parts of my layout where I've tended to leave pieces of scalp, it's made a big difference!

dave