All the way round

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As I mentioned I've got all the way round. The hatch may end up as a duck under though, as there is only a very small length of rail between the edge and the turnout. I have a bit of an issue with the right hand turnouts only in Brockville even though they are the same throughout the layout.The leading drivers on 66 & 67 strike the frog and jump. 64 & 65 pass through just fine though. So as Foley's mountain is going to seperate Brockville from Westport I got a peco long radius turnout with an under mount switch motor.



The long view.



I've also been working up from Lyn and have the fill completed.



This is a house that Steve brought over and it never seemed to fit anywhere, until we cut it in half and it's the front of King st.



This I scored at work. It was hanging up during operation and so was unreliable. Boss says throw it out I says Yes Boss. i did have it polished up it's a little tarnished right now, and I will have to make a mount for it as there is a stub of pipe protruding from the back.



I hope to finish the rock cut this week.

Progress of a sort.

The bridging section across the door is built. I've put in a hook and eye to hold it vertically in the open position, and now I'm going to remove the light switches and move them to the other side of the wall as they're inconveniently positioned. This will have Foley's Mountain in Westport, behind which will be the last turnout for the wye at Brockville. this is going to have to be a large radius as I don't want any trouble here.

The corner where Lyn is has been coming along. The business in the back is Lyn Valley Mining Co (a failed business). The track has been torn out leaving only the ties, the abandoned 0-4-0 loco will be heavily weathered, and the gates have yet to be built. Lyn Falls has had the third pour. I recently bought 100 trees from Hong Kong, and my friend found another 60 -70 in a yard sale. They disappeared rapidly. In the third pic you can just make out the wife putting the laundry out on the line behind the house.

 

 

This is an AHM fire station kit for Brockville.

 

 

Thats all for now.

A few more pics

Progress seems to have slowed down somewhat, but it is still there.  The Snoopy shaped spot is where Lyn Falls will be going, the "dog tag" is a rock in mid stream. Where the Tardis is is where I live just through the S bend on the Red Rd.

I've been doing some ballasting in Brockville

The DC track is wired now, and I've built a tray for the power pack and odd tools. The trestle is just temporary untill I get the final one built, but for now I can get all the way round.

Roll call. From left to right 65, 67, 64, and 66

This is the latest, 64

These next two are just a photo op. I'm glad to see the farmers put his shirt on.

This last one is Steve's 4-8-2 mountaineer on the test track.

It's exciting stuff

We've managed to get all the way round from Westport to Brockville, yay.
I also just over the weekend received the last lokie from a very pleasant Ebay seller Boston4eyi. It's another Baldwin like 65 and runs like a top. This one will be numbered 64.
Curiously the first two engines (the richmonds 66 & 67) once round to Brockville derail at the right hand turnouts even though I've checked them six ways from Sunday for level. The problem seems to be that the front pilots have two pivot points and as such do nothing to assist rounding a corner. The drivers are located about halfway down the length and the weight of the tender (and eventually a train) hold it back, so it wants to go straight and the lead drivers strike the frog and pop off. I think I can fix this by removing the rear pivot point.

Once I've bought my daughter a new SD card for her camera I'll have some more pics and maybe even a movie.

Cheers

Odds and Ends

With the Brockville section coming along I thought I'd let you know a bit more about it. This section took three years to build. The original plan was to utilize the Grand Trunk line as there was already a spur line running up to Lyn pit. GTR said no so the building of two trestles, bridge etc. Ironically when the line opened in 1885, as all this work wasn't complete, they began by using this same line. Three years later the line was fully open. I hope it doesn't take me as long as we are hoping to host an open house in Sept.

I read recently (although the author had service beginning in 1888) that ten years later the Company was in such dire financial straits that passengers were being carried in box cars with a bench running the length of the car. The passenger cars having been sold off. I hope they put a stove in.

By our era there must have been an infusion of cash as they bought two brand new loco's as well running passenger cars again.

I've begun working on the Brockville station building and will have some pics soon. Under the bridge, where the GTR lines are, one will be a programming track and the other will be wired for DC as a test track. Then a friend suggested making the whole layout DC capable. So here is a wiring diagram to do that. The wye will need to be isolated to protect the reversing module (and the wye in Westport will need to be retrofit).

Even though the plan says DPST I will use all DPDT's as I have them plus they will look neater if they are all the same. As well they will give an added layer of off to prevent accidentally switching on.

I met Railway Bob this summer at the Ottawa Model Rail Expo, and got to thank him for doing a lot of my research for me. I went to a few other shows as well, the largest in Syracuse NY at the NY state fairgrounds and will post some pics from them soon.

Cheers for now.

You don't know what you don't know

We have a student at work putting in his steam time, and I was showing him the blog pics and realised how much is missing.

Ploughing the field in Westport. The plough and man still need painting. Woodland Scenics kit. I was at a show in Massena NY the other week and I saw one field that was corrugated card with dirt cover. Our earth is previously enjoyed tea bags (the bag itself makes great tarpaulins).

You have probably noticed there is a dearth of signage. Very white I know, nor is it actually glued on yet as I'm still undecided on whether I like this or no. The flat is left over parts from the Delta mill kit. with some Tichy windows.

A couple of shots of Forfar Dairies. I have signs made up for this too. The work printer is black and white and my printer doesn't speak Linux, hence the current lack. the windmill is another WS kit, and I made the saw from brass wire and card and sawbuck behind the boiler room. The log is Christmas tree.

It's hard to see in the pic but Luigi's restaurant has a veggie garden by the kitchen door, picket fence around the Doctors house with his car in the road. In the center pic is Steve's sense of humour. The sign by the hitching rail says 'Parking limit one hour'

Delta has come along too, with roads and telephone poles.

Here is the beginning of a snow shed around where Soperton will be with bark rocks.

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And finally, Athens as it stands now.

Cheers

A New Loco

I just received a new lokie, which has been given #65. I need one more to complete the roster. Like the others it's a Spectrum. The big difference from the other two is the shape of the steam dome. This model comes with two different domes, so the first job will be to disassemble it and install the right one. It does run very smoothly, and those finicky front pilots stay on the tracks, Yay.

Here it is crossing the bridge into Athens by Lake Eloida.

This is as far as we have power, to the edge of the fill. The bridge is going to be painted and weathered before it gets finally placed.

This ones a better pic of the fill than the loco.  The fill has a foam core and the stone is added in layers to make sure it all glues down. the stone is from the 30kg bag of limestone screenings ($7.00) that I've not even used half of for the ballast. This is what remains after the ballast is sieved out.

This is the fill in 1951 covered in grass now, these days you could easily miss it for the trees, although the dog knows the way.

That pic is from Canada Science & Technology Museum. http://www.images.technomuses.ca/  Endless hours of pics.