The Battle of Pembroke Hill

Well, I won’t say it was easy, but I believe I’ve managed to get the roadbed pretty flat through the north end of Pembroke. As I mentioned, the roadbed was glued and screwed (from above) onto the benchwork, and the screws particularly made the work tough. I also found that the contortions I had to […]

Flattening out Pembroke

After all that work on #10, she can now stomp out of town with her passengers in tow. Unfortunately, when she gets back in to the station, the physics of backing back out of the station are too much for her, and she slips her drivers. The real yard at Pembroke was on a gentle […]

Engine House Grounds

One of the challenges with building Pembroke in a house that is still under renovation is that some of my research material is buried. While the basement has been largely finished since before Christmas — don’t ask me about baseboards and that closet door — there are still shelves and various cabinets to construct. So, […]

Suspending Disbelief

Andrew and I met in the garage again last night. The garage has been pretty full of layout for the past week, and soon the layout is going to be the sort of thing that I don’t want to find bikes leaning against. Time to get it out of the way! So, up it went, […]

Finishing the Roadbed on the North Section

Tonight was a Posse night for Pembroke. We managed to finish the roadbed on the north section of the layout before running out of glue. Nearing the end of heavy construction, it was hard to contain my excitement. So I got out a couple of test cars and posed them on some flex track.

Benchwork Nearing Completion

Originally published on Model Railroad Hobbyist, April 21 Julian and Andrew (The Proto:87 Posse) were by again this week. Almost the first thing on the agenda was to test-fit the sections in place in the basement. Sadly, all hands were busy holding sections of layout, and so I have no photos to share; below is […]

Completing the Long Section

Originally published on Model Railroad Hobbyist, April 4 Julian and Andrew came over again last night, and we had a most productive evening. We had a good job list, and so, there were very few times when one of us was standing around with our hands in our pockets. Poor Julian only managed to have […]

The First Section Goes Together

Originally published on Model Railroad Hobbyist, March 21 Andrew came by last night and we made a start on assembling the benchwork for Pembroke. I’m planning to do as much assembly as possible out in the garage to keep the mess out of our newly finished basement. So, while it’s not a modular layout, it […]

First Work Session

Originally published on Model Railroad Hobbyist, March 17 Pembroke II officially got under way with a visit from the local Proto:87 Posse this week. Here are stalwarts, Julian (of http://vrdays.blogspot.ca) and Andrew cutting some of the roadbed. Pembroke is going to be pretty much flat, and I have some 1/2 inch plywood left […]