Progress report 2 - Track laying 2

A couple of half days without rain have enabled me to install some wiring and to lay a little more track. Nearly half the track is now down and a test train has been run successfully.


To fix the track in place, holes were drilled in the concrete 'breeze' blocks and rawlplugs inserted. Brass or zinc plated screws have been used to secure the track. This gives me the option to remove or re-site track if the need arises. Ultimately, the track will be ballasted - but not until it has been thoroughly tested.

The stream needs to be cleared of dead leaves as does the 'sump' into which it flows (see How I constructed the stream). For now, track-laying takes precedence.

As can be seen, I laid the cross-over which will form the link for the reverse loop. The wiring for the loop has been installed. As I will want trains to run in both directions around the loop, trains to be reversed will have to stop at the through station (as yet unnamed) while the polarity of the loop is reversed.

The track for the through station has yet to be laid, but the track-bed is in place. The wiring will be buried, once it has been soldered to the track and tested.


The terminus (again unnamed as yet) is nearly complete. The sidings need to be added - but for now I have run out of track. A trip to Bay Models (Carnforth) is scheduled for next weekend. My wife is researching her family history and is keen to visit Grange-over-Sands to see if the house in which one of her ancestors lived is still standing. Not sure yet how I will manage to fit twenty 3m lengths of rail in the car - let's hope the weather will be warm enough for the sun roof to be open!!

The link between the terminus station and the the storage area has now also been completed, together with the combined train/cat flap - a hinge needs to be added to the top of the train-flap, however! The cat-flap mechanism has been butchered from a redundant cat-flap and has been duly inspected and tested by the animal in question. This is the prototype - I will probably make a more elegant version when time permits!

While the rain fell, I completed the baseboard for storage tracks in the lean-to. I'm on more familiar ground here - 2"x1" framing with 1/2" chipboard. All I need now are some tracks - and a few more locos - and more stock.............

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