Staging Yard Operational

We got home from our impromptu trip last night, and tonight I finally hooked up the staging yard bus wires. I also installed the hex frog juicer, which is pure magic. The daily mixed was sitting on one of the tracks waiting to come in and turn around. So, I uncoupled the engine and ran […]

Bonus Tracks! and Turntable Progress too.

Thanks to Andrew, the bonus tracks got glued down this evening. These are two extra staging tracks that may never be required, but I have room, and so I figured we may as well put them in. Perhaps it will be useful to store a few cars there. Andrew glued down the tangent sections, and […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

I’d Like to Call a Friend

Work on the staging yard stalled for a couple of weeks. I got all the points installed almost two weeks ago, and then crickets. Well, it wasn’t actually stalled so much as waiting. In this case, I was waiting because I wanted Andrew to come and install all the guard rails. Of course, I could […]

Staging point throw bars

Tonight, I finished all the staging point throw bars. This followed the same springing scheme I explored with a proof of concept a couple of weeks ago. As I was finishing the last one, I thought to myself that not only was I in danger of almost knowing what I was doing, but that perhaps […]

Staging Yard Closure Rails

Last night we completed the closure rails in the staging yard. Also, Andrew prepared all the springs and throw bars for the switches. Tonight, I prepared the remaining points, ready for soldering up tomorrow or on the weekend. It was a good point to clean up and take a quick photo.

Staging Frogs and Stocks

I just finished soldering down the frogs and stock rails for the staging yard. So now it is a little more apparent what it looks like. I had hoped to be finished last night, but some misalignment in the mid-way crossover required a night’s sleep. Well, it’s done now, and I think it looks good […]