The Basket Case of Pembroke Hill

Of course the vertical transition curve at the top of the hill in Pembroke had to include a turnout. So I wasn’t surprised when the dust settled after the Battle of Pembroke Hill to find that removing this transition had transformed the turnout into a bit of a basket case. I was, however, surprised by […]

Finishing up the turntable tracks

Vancouver Train Expo is just a few days away, and as I’m speaking about turntables on Sunday, I’d better finish this one! Last night, I put the final touches on the tracks. I painted the PC board ties with acrylic paint. I really struggled to match the colour of the nearby ties. In the end, […]

On Using Scale Spikes

By the time I had finished spiking the ties to the turntable, I had learned a few more things about spiking. So, I thought I would write them down in my book for future reference. These are, of course, the excellent scale spikes available from the Proto:87 Stores. It sounds ridiculous to use scale spikes, […]

Turntable passes the truck test

Just a quick post tonight, as it’s past pumpkin time. The remaining rails all went on without issues. Aligning the turntable by eye, I can send a truck through any of the three routes without issue. Reversing the turntable has the same outcome. Pleasantly surprised for once.

Roundhouse rails proceeding according to plan

The cunning plan appears to be working, although like everything else on my model bench, slower than hoped! Still, I’m happy with the first stall, and the first rail on the second stall looks nicely lined up with both ends of the turntable. I’m now positioning the second set of Vs, and you can see […]

Suspect identified in turntable alignment mystery

Last night, I dropped tools when I realized that I didn’t understand why my turntable was not properly aligned with the first rail of the roundhouse tracks in one orientation. Thanks to both Neil and Mark who wrote in with some suggestions. Neil’s suggestion that my turntable rails were off center was true – by […]

Turntable misalignment poses mystery

There are times when you should just put down the soldering iron for the night and take a breather. One of them is when you completely wreck something – clearly you’re not at your best, and it’s a good idea to quit before your frustration gets the better of you. Another good time is when […]

First rail is critical for Pembroke turntable

Tonight I finally started laying rail for the turntable. As with the staging yard turntable before it, the sequence of rails is carefully planned. Unlike last time, it’s only in my head — something I may regret. Tonight I glued down one end of the turntable rails themselves, as well as the near rail of […]

Cinders not quite right on Pembroke roundhouse tracks

Last night I glued down ballast for the tracks around the turntable. Now engine service areas are often ballasted with cinders from the engines, but I assume that it takes a little while for these to accumulate. After six years, would they have had enough to cover the area? I didn’t know, so I mixed […]

Joint bars at the limit of 3D printing

VanRail 2015 took up the whole weekend, and so, nothing much happened with Pembroke. I received a some test joint bars from Shapeways on the Friday. This made for some fun times as I handed them to people and made them guess what they were looking at. Packed together to minimize material usage, they look […]