Wiring the Staging Yard

Andrew came over last Wednesday, and glued down most of the rest of the rail in the staging yard. I followed him with the soldering iron and wire strippers and added feeders to all the rails. Some of the wiring trenches got pretty crowded, but I only had to carve one a little wider to […]

Points First?

In Model Railway Journal 234, Howard Bolton has a super article about building complex trackwork. It would have been great to understand more about what he does, but even in this relatively short article, I picked up a nugget, which I’m going to capture here so I remember it the next time I go to […]

Slave Driver

Andrew and I made great progress on the staging yard on Wednesday evening. This was at least partly due to me mixing up the times, and thinking the clock downstairs hadn’t been changed yet. So, we got an extra hour of time in before quitting for the evening. Andrew, you have permission to tease me […]

Sorted: Engine House Switch

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, there are a number of things that need to be resolved before I’ll be anywhere near satisfied with operations on Pembroke. I find it rewarding to share progress, and every little bit of motivation helps when you’ve got a job you’d rather not do. So, I’ll apologize […]

Trains 2014, Burnaby November 7-9

I just uploaded my slides to slideshare for my clinic at this weekend’s train show. It is a progress report on the layout, and so, I’m going to share it here as well. I’m presenting on Sunday at 11:30, opposite Mark Dance, who is certainly going to be more interesting and probably more entertaining. I’d […]

Staging Yard Glued Down and Connected

Gotta love those Kiwis and their invention of Daylight Savings Time. Name one other thing that was invented in New Zealand. I know I can’t. Anyway, thanks to them, we have one night a year when we get an extra hour of train time! This year, I used the time to glue down most of […]

Staging Yard Installation

Tonight, Andrew and I installed the staging yard. That is, we screwed down the plywood onto the window sill, and almost go to the point of fixing the track in place. It’s coming along nicely, and already looks more like a window sill than a staging yard. The most excitement was when we decided to […]

Feeding the turntable

To feed power to the staging turntable, as well as to fix its location, I’m planning to use some telescoping brass rod and tube. I want these controls around the front of the layout so operators don’t have to reach across the track to make the connection. The plan is to mount pairs of tubes […]

Staging turntable progress

Today, I shaped the hole in the staging yard that will take the turntable. This turned out to be harder than expected as I had somehow managed to cut it undersized with the jig saw. It wasn’t undersized enough to widen it with the jigsaw, and so, I had to sand it out to shape. […]

Recessed Ties

Yesterday, I finally mustered up the courage to pry the staging yard trackage up from the piece of plywood that will cover the window sill and form its home. Far from the mangled mess I feared, the track actually came off without much fuss, and even slid temporarily onto the windowsill so I could work […]