The missing loft space

Having not done this for a while its not easy to know where to start. So far very little has happened regarding the layout, but progress has been made. Unfortunately, so far, it's all in my head.

This is only a quick post, whilst I have 5 minutes, and I have the thoughts fresh in my head.

I've spent Christmas imaging what will go where, what it will look like and trying to formulate a track plan. I'll post more on this later.

So far I've worked out that the first job, is to purchase some shelving/racking for the garage. This will allow me to clear the majority of 'stuff' from the loft and out of the way. Leaving it perfectly hollow from which progress can be made. Since the move, things have gradually started to creep up there, consuming my lovely space and generally getting in the way.

I'll post more when I have something to show, or hopefully not show.

Well the layout is no more. It's been Sold.

Didn't take long mind. Put it up on RMWeb for Sale on Sunday evening, and Monday evening a Gentleman came along and took it away.

I was sad to see it go, having been working on it for a good few years, but the promise of a larger permanent layout in the loft is certainly a big plus.

Next stop is B&Q for some 2x2 and plywood to make a start on the loft. Looks like it's going to be a busy a Christmas.

The Railways in pieces

Well it's been a long time since the last post, and that is because a lot has changed.

The main thing is a house move, which put everything on hold. The bad news from this is that now the railway is in 2 pieces at the moment with nowhere for it to go.

The good news is that I have inherited a large loft (20ft long) that is already fully boarded out with lighting.

Hoorah!!!

More to follow when time allows.

Finishing Off Flexi-track Joins

When laying track, especially flexi-track you often get gaps where the fish plates sit. On set-track from Hornby or Peco there is space built in to the track piece which the fish plate sits in to. On flexi-track this can not be done.

The picture below shows a piece of my finished track with some sleepers missing. These were removed to allow for the fishplates.



To remedy this problem. Take some old flexi-track and cut off a couple of sleepers. This can be done by cutting through the webbing beneath the rail and sliding the sleepers off the rail.

Then cut off the molded chairs on the sleeper as these sit too prod and ill not allow the fishplate to sit on the sleeper. The picture below shows the chairs cut off the sleeper on the side view.


Now just slide the sleepers under the track, and position in the correct place. The thickness of the fishplate on the track will make a nice tight fit and the sleeper will remain in the correct position. Also, once ballasted the sleeper will be fixed permanently.

How To Lay Track Over a Baseboard Joint

Having looked back through my posts I realised I'd missed an important part out of the layout construction. The laying of the track over a baseboard joint.

This was something I had never done before and didn't how to do. As per my usual way, I started by asking questions on the forums, on what I needed and how to do it.

What I learned was that I needed to remove the plastic sleepers from underneath the track (a couple of sleepers each side of the baseboard join), and replace them with copper clad sleepers.

What did surprise me is that I couldn't just buy copper clad sleepers.

An appeal for help on RMWeb, did not go unanswered and Junko Zane made me some copper clad strips (see picture below) from which the copper clad sleepers could be made.

These are basically strips of PCB board with copper fixed to the top and bottom. They are made to the correct height for sleepers, and can be easily cut. An important point to remember is to cut a strip of copper out of the middle of the sleeper. This is to separate the electric current from the 2 rails. Without it, the track will short as the electricity can pass from the rail, through the cooper and on to the opposite rail.

I cut my strips to the correct length using my Dremmel, and slid them under the rails. Next I drilled some small holes in each end of the sleepers, using a pin vice, to allow me to pin them in place on the board. Once in place it was time to solder them to the rails to make sure they weren't going anywhere.

This was a fiddly process, which through practice I did get better at. It's very important to make sure that the rails are soldered securely to the sleepers as you don't want the track to become mis-aligned.

The picture left shows the completed section.

Once everything was finished, and I was happy that the soldering was going to hold, the final task was to cut through the rails. This was easily done with the Dremmel, and now everything lines up perfectly.