05-08-2009, 07:47 AM
I can't believe it has been two weeks since an update :oops: Actually, a lot has been going on with the layout. One step forward and ten steps back 
I laid all the turnouts with a thin layer of latex caulking, and most of them popped loose
I am using Atlas c100 flex track and stripping the ties off to build my turnouts. Well, when you strip the ties, the track piece curves upward which I did not see before. So, most of my turnouts are bowed. I ended up straightening them in a vice between two pieces of wood. 
Only one frog came loose
Then, I gaped the frog to close together causing a short when a loco goes through. I figured a smaller gap, no need to power frog, right :?: Wrong :!: Stuff like this is what happens when I have to much time to think. So, now I am rebuilding the turnouts as I go along
And then, the turnout controllers I had planned on making did not work out the way I had hoped. I was going to use the Gary S. type but with dpdt slide switches to power the frog. After a day of fiddling I managed to get two working They do not seem to have enough throw set up that way.
Now, I am the type that will get a brilliant idea, go buy all the stuff I need, and then it don't work
Which means I end up with all this stuff I will never use. So, this time I was determined to use what I all ready had. I ended up mounting the slide switch on the fascia board, ran a piece of spring steel wire under the table top to the turnout, and it works great 
Some day I might even pretty them up. Here's a pic.
Well, that's it for now, more when ever I can take another step forward.
Loren
I laid all the turnouts with a thin layer of latex caulking, and most of them popped loose
I am using Atlas c100 flex track and stripping the ties off to build my turnouts. Well, when you strip the ties, the track piece curves upward which I did not see before. So, most of my turnouts are bowed. I ended up straightening them in a vice between two pieces of wood. Only one frog came loose Then, I gaped the frog to close together causing a short when a loco goes through. I figured a smaller gap, no need to power frog, right :?: Wrong :!: Stuff like this is what happens when I have to much time to think. So, now I am rebuilding the turnouts as I go along
And then, the turnout controllers I had planned on making did not work out the way I had hoped. I was going to use the Gary S. type but with dpdt slide switches to power the frog. After a day of fiddling I managed to get two working
They do not seem to have enough throw set up that way. Now, I am the type that will get a brilliant idea, go buy all the stuff I need, and then it don't work
Which means I end up with all this stuff I will never use. So, this time I was determined to use what I all ready had. I ended up mounting the slide switch on the fascia board, ran a piece of spring steel wire under the table top to the turnout, and it works great Some day I might even pretty them up. Here's a pic.Well, that's it for now, more when ever I can take another step forward.
Loren
I got my first train when I was three,
put a hundred thousand miles on my knees.
put a hundred thousand miles on my knees.