Track Laying

Instalment two of the model railway.

I started in earnest on the fiddle yard. Below is the baseboard showing the frame used to raise the track level to match the corner unit.



Installing the track for the fiddle yard was relatively easy since all the runs come off points and there are no cross-overs. Work began from the throat end and the points were joined one after another, then the runs were simply joined off that.

The electrical plan had been designed in advance, so it was simply a metter of drilling some small holes to pass the feed wires and some 8mm holes to allow for the point changing motors to be installed beneath the board later. The electrically conducting joints were all soldered, and the insulated sections had feed wires added so that certain areas can be isolated using SPST switches.

Both the image above and the one below show that the upper and lower runs have wide aluminium plates used instead of sleeper beds. This is to allow for quick and easy railing of rolling stock to assemble / dis-assemble trains. Far cheaper, easier and quicker than using a shop bought re-railer.

The aluminium strips were left over from a job, and would have gone for scrap.

At the joints between the sleeper built track and the aluminium strips, the rails are soldered to paxolin / copper coated circuitboard strips, these allow easy solder connections for the feed wires and ensure that the rails don't move out of running alignment.

All the runs were glued down using contact adhesive, slightly nerve racking, but better than using 'track pins' which are terrible to use and look unsightly on a scenic section.

Apart from final finishing off of the sleeper sections and wiring up, the fiddle yard only needs to have some dressing strip added to hide the frame, and a cover made up to keep dust off the rolling stock.

Next - the station section....