[sjm9911]

Lol ,closer then. I just looked up millstone. You may be a little north or south.

 

[Millstonemike]

Lol ,closer then. I just looked up millstone. You may be a little north or south.

Moved from Millstone many years ago. In Tom's River now West of the bay.

 

[sjm9911]

Oh, lol. So your like 30 mins south of me.

 

[sjm9911]

Ok, so not much in progress, soon. Thinking about my impending forced retirement. So, after thats all figured out, will start something this weekend.

 

[Madman]

Ok, so not much in progress, soon. Thinking about my impending forced retirement. So, after thats all figured out, will start something this weekend.

Accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative.

 

[sjm9911]

Lol, all negative, nothing good will come of this. But , its ok. I am prepared. I think.

 

[Bryan Moran]

I was able to get my extension built on one end of my horseshoe to allow an O72 ++ turn on that end. Next step in laying down - not fastening down - my Atlas and Gargraves track and bridges to get close to what will work.

 

[sjm9911]

Nice. It takes time. But it is qorth it in the end!

 

[sjm9911]

Ok, so not much done. Spackled out the transition peices for the outside rail. No plaster, or it would have been dry allready. I'll shoot some paint on them after they dry. Its just so the grades look better.

I fixed the second bakery. Well, fixed it enough. It will be far in the backround, so good enough.

I made some sidewalks out of cut plywood and tryed to match the color to the lionel buildings. Later, I'll pencil mark the joints.

And I cut up some of my quick road bed. Good , enough. Like I said , I am shooting for an ok, toy layout. To me its getting there.

I have also been pondering the block signals, semaphores and insulated tracks on the one side. Need to plan out what will go where and what will be the activation switches. Still not compleatly shure. Still waiting on the brick stick on paper stuff to come in from China, lol. Delays, delays , delays......

 

[sjm9911]

Ok , so this is my fast road bed. Same as I did last time. Good enough for me. Self adheasive roofing starter strip, c

ut to fit.

 

[sjm9911]

Sidewalk and the ice cream store came out great. Well the ice cream store did. Sidewalk is good enough for somethibg that is basicly not sceen unless you walk around from the veiwing area. A few dollor store stickers and a flag made a ton of diffrence.

 

[sjm9911]

Ok , so about to lay track. Some 9f the old stuff has a glue on it from the PO. I cant belive its still sticky. So, this may be a problem. I cleaned up a bunch of the 0 72 curves, but some still have residue on the sides of the rails. I may try them out. But , I may just buy some menards track. I don't know If I want to chance the stickness transfering to the wheels of the trains. So, decisions, decisions..........

 

[sjm9911]

And the track in question, lol. You can see the tops are shiny. But if I run may finger down the sides of some , the glue stops it. Not smooth. Is it under the part of the rail that the wheels don't hit is the question. And some of the rails are worn through. I can cut off those peices and make a few good tracks with them. So, 4 tracks will make 3 good

 

[Bryan Moran]

Interesting. You probably know this but the only place of contact is on the inside. I would just remove the glue using steel wool. If the glue is on the outside, I don't think it would matter.

 

[sjm9911]

Made some insulated track sections, so ready to lay the track soon. So with tublar 0 track they are simple to make. Small flad head screwdriver, hammer, needlenose pliers and some cut tar paper as I dont have fish paper on hand. Flip the o track over so the bottom is facing up. Take the small screwdriver and position it over the open spot where the tab is on the other side. Hit screwdriver with the hammer to open the tab. Repeat on one rail. Bend the cut tar paper around the rail. Place the tar paper in the open slot. Put rail over the shapped paper. Bend tabs together with the needle nose pliers. Take screwdriver and place it in the factory press grove. Bang it with the hammer to tighten it up. Done. Easy, and takes only a few minutes per peice. I had a thread on it years ago, with pictures. But its easy to do, and works. I will teim up mu tar paper with a razor knife on install. I find its easier for me to cut it afterwords then line it up perfectly at the beginning. Thats only because I didnt have on my readers.

 

[sjm9911]

Ok, so just an heads up. The curved sections that I made the insulated track did not work. So, eaither I hit them too hard with the hammer, or they have sharper tie holders then the stright track. When making a layout, always, always, test stuff before putting it in permanently. Lucky, I am testing all peices before installing for continuity with a cheapo harbor freight multi meter. And I am not geat with multi meters, its easy to do. So, check your ceter rail vs the outside rails with the multi meter and you should get a 1. That means they are not conected. If you get a 0 they are conected and voltage will flow through them. My insulated rails, were reading 0 when trst vs each other. This meant there was a conection from the rail to the metal. So, its fixed now. But test all your track before laying it down. That will prevent problems later.

 

[T-Man]

I have used elecrical tape with two layers. You are correct about using the meter. A simple bulb circuit works too.

 

[Millstonemike]

I have used elecrical tape with two layers. You are correct about using the meter. A simple bulb circuit works too.

My first insulated rails used vinyl tape. They failed shortly after reassembly. Switched to card stock and never had a problem since. Sometimes simple is best.

 

[sjm9911]

After looking it over again, the older 072 tracks have some beefy tie downs. No where near as thin as the newer track. And they are crimped well. So, probably a combo of too much force and the stuff it was made out of that nessassitated more force to be used.

Almost ready to lay the outer track. Still deciding on what will go ware. Probably have it done tomorrow. At lest in a mock up.

 

[sjm9911]

Ok this is where i am at. The strights off the 072s need to be cleaned and tested. But the other track is kinda down, I'll tack it tomorrow. Everything will get tested before final glue down. I couldn't fit a second conection under the town. Even with cutting an 022 switch to a snub nose switch. So we have a siding. Good enough. I have a block section under the town. Hopefully i can get it controlled corectly. I cant find my 154 c connector, but i may have a work around. Worst case, is it just gets a power feed and I cant do the dule trains. Speaking of duel trains. The block should work, and I will install a by pass, thats where the spur will come in, to park one of the two trains on the outer loop, if I feel like running one there. So, not bad. I did find a jar of track pins and some old envelopes of insulating pins, sad to open them but in a storm any port will do. There are also my insulated track sections to controll crossings, a block signal, a gate and maybe a semaphore. So I know if my block section has been breached. Lots of wiring. The 072 straight track look great, who said 3 rail tinplate can't look good. Lol. For me its perfect. Both outer rails will get the older track, and the inside loops will get the newer stuff, as it mates better and will look fine. Tomorrow, I hope to get a test run in. Then , I'll finish the town and start the next loop. Oh, i need a small peice of foam board to build up under the town, forgot about that. Too much of a slope for no reason.