La Mirada, CA Industrial Switching Layout Progress

[Trucklover]

Ive got my feeder wires soldered on for Module #5. One major dis-advantage of using Micro Engineering Weathered Rail is that it is nearly impossible to solder to without cleaning first. It is also the reason i will not be using pre-weathered rail anymore... I will be painting the ties anyways, so ill use regular rail, solder, and then weather the ties and rails... I was feeling lazy, so I ended up soldering most of the feeders to the ends of the turnouts on the left end of the module. They should provide plenty of power for the module so im not worried about the right end. Most of the right end will not have engines on it anyways since there is nothing that goes past the end of the tracks on the right module and will be full of cars most of the time. All the turnouts are only spiked in place, not glued. I also used 18 gauge wire for the feeders, all of them are just dangling down on the underside of the module until I can get some connectors and get them hooked up to the 12 gauge bus line

I also got my large ballast order in from Arizona Rock & Mineral yesterday. I have to say, that was some extremely fast service and I am very happy with the order. Everything arrived in great condition and un-damaged. i would highly recommend buying from them, there prices are a little high but Phil is a very nice guy and has a very quick turnaround after the order has been placed. His products are also made from REAL crushed rock, so you actually have a piece of the real thing on your layout. Here is what I ordered:

(4 bags) 1052 - Penn Fine
(4 bags) 1053 - Penn Mainline
(6 bags) 1172W - ATSF Fine
(3 bags) 1173 - ASTF Mainline
(3 bags) 1381 - CSX/SP Fine
(3 bags) 1382 - CSX/SP Medium