Ballast Frustration

Ballasting track is a well-known method for stopping it from working any longer. Most of the track on Pembroke was ballasted before any rail went down. The exception was the parts that are most likely to fail after ballasting – turnouts, specifically the switch. Knowing the risks I faced, I took it slow and only […]

The Spike Extruder

Even a small layout like Pembroke has surprising number of ties, and each of those ties takes one to four spikes. That leads to an alarming number of spikes. Allow me to demonstrate with a little mental arithmetic. Pembroke is about 16 feet long, but most of it is two tracks wide. So it’s really […]

Frog Jewelry

When I first laid the track for Pembroke, I left the detail off until it was running the way I wanted. That day is getting near. There are a few persistent derailments, but I’m getting better and better at fixing them. So, the southern-most two turnouts are starting to get dolled up. In my previous […]

Spike Options

The photo of the wire fencing last week demonstrated to me that there is no avoiding the need for spikes holding the rail to the ties. Without them, and with no tie plates (as is appropriate for 1905), the rails look nude. I’ve made spikes two ways in the years I’ve been at this. Back […]

Turnout Details

Who even remembers what I was thinking back in the day when I laid these turnouts? I unfortunately wrote little on the plans for detailing the turnouts back when I was designing and installing them in 2013. There is one note on tie placement, and that’s about all I could find, other than a ridiculous […]