After a long time a month or so of not longer, I been into the loft in the aim to get the track clean and get trains running smoothly so they will run without derailing well the chance of them doing that very slim.
I have cleaned the track which has improved the operation cutting down on the stop start motion However after much thought of watching the train go around I have decided some major changes are required.
Starting with this section, Currently the outer line has radius 1 or 2 curves I am not too sure, either way the track current isn’t the best and it is slowing the trains down to a crawl. The inner rail is a different story that is hand made and even tighter to where the train struggles and it isn’t the best. To the left of the picture is the fiddle yard which I am going to move back about a foot which will give more than enough room to put some proper curve on the line. Then Below we move to the other side of the turn and it really isn’t much better with some dodgy curves etc and I thought it be goo enough and granted it is better then the above but not by much.
This all above then is going to be changed to improve the running and situation. May have to put my hand in my pocket and get a bit of wood to help support the frame and make it more level.
Above is the other side of the fiddle yard which to a slight advantage comes off on a slight angle. As you can see the wood colour board to the top right of the picture is going to be cut down to allow the fiddle yard boards to move that foot I mentioned before.
This curve works well but really isn’t the best layout along with the boards really arn’t the best as you can see I have reused wood from other stuff to make it all work which is not a problem but it isn’t very level either. So some time spent to level out the full frame will help alot.
Above is the last part of that turn before it heads into the station you can see how unlevel it is which as I say is not a problem if it is done correctly. Which I will aim to do.
This is the first of the Station board or you could call it Station approach. All these points needs motors to be added but it is and will be fully working once the wires have been connected as the layout changes to DCC but I do not want to put the money into going DCC until the layout works perfectly on DC so you could say I am using it as DC to test the layout both of the running lines are wired in DCC so that is why I am only able to run one train at a time currently.
This is the main station area which will have the platforms added soon. I am very happy with this layout it is just the details that need to be added.
There is plenty for me to be getting on with as a side project but it is something I can loose myself in at home. Hopefully because this is more permanent but being built in a way that I can move it or put it into storage if need be I am more likely to complete parts of it.
Other things I should add is the fiddle yard and the top curve will be hidden under a village/city so it won’t be visible. This will enable me to put the transport bus flip on it.