Lewis Lake - St. Leonard's Yard Track complete

More Track laying last night, I managed to finish off the Yard Track,  Hopefully you can see from the picture to the side i have marked up each track.

Working from Left to right
First track is the Caboose Track, I still have a line to take down towards bottom and add in 2 more points will will take you to the Switcher Sidings and Fueling Stage.
The Next 3 are Storage Sidings for Rolling Stock.
When you come of the Helix and the Train is ready to be broken down they will the come into the Drop Off/ Set Down Sidings to be sort and either put away or moved on to there destination.  This will also be where new Trains are formed ready to be taken away.
The Last line shown is the Main Line, which runs straight through the yard.

To the left of the main line there will be 2 lines installed, these will be Holding lines, once the departing train has been formed up, it will be moved to these lines, ready to be collected by the main loco and taken off for Delivery to which ever Industry they are being sent to.  I have now ran out of Ground Throws and also need a few more points to be able to finish off the bottom level, but its not far away.

Lewis Lakes - St. Leonard's Yard

I Managed to get a lot done over the weekend, all the point work for the yard has now been installed and wired up.  I have also fitted the ground throws.  The First 2 yard tracks have been fitted.  I now need to buy 2 RH points and 1 LH point to complete the yard.  And i need to pick up more Ground throws for Caboose Industries.

I also do a lot of model painting, so i have managed to add a shelve to store tools and paints   

For some reason it has taken me ages to workout how to do the ramp down onto the Roundhouse,  But i seem to have it worked out, and the lift out section only has to drop about and inch and a half.

The first lift out section has been complete only 4 more to design, very please with the progress.

Lewis Lake - Update to the Track Laying

Update on the Progress made so far.

Helix is now complete track wise, i just need to sort the wiring out 

The low level run around now has been fully laid, with the 2 sidings in place,  

Just need to tidy up the wiring

I finally have a clear work space, i plan to put a few shelves between the the 2 levels of base board, to hold paints and tools.

I managed to make a start on the point work that runs across the with as you come out of the yard

All the point work is now installed across the window on the bottom level, the box of drawers will move, and the siding the comes off here will run down to the turntable and roundhouse

I also made a start on the ladder track for the yard.  The Peco code 83 points have two long ties which would foul the track com off onto the yard, to i had to cut them back and swap them to the other side, so i could sit the Ground Throws in place.

Walthers 130' Turntable with DCC

Its been a busy few weeks,  I have been off to see Gun's N Roses in London and trying to clean the Layout room, so i can get the yard track down.

I have bought myself this Turntable for the Roundhouse, Since i now know i can run Challengers around the layout, this will let me turn them. 

I got it at an Amazing Price,  I bought the Walthers Book, which had a 20% off any single Cornerstone product, which made a nice dent in the price of this.

I just need to start picking up the Roundhouse stalls, so i can set everything out

St. Leonard Yard Track

I wanted to check my Track Spacing and the way i have designed my points to work, so i laid it all out last night to see how it fitted.   

Everything seems to be fitting in OK and i should be able to close the track spacing a bit to allow more space at the front and the back of the yard.

I will have to amended the ladder yard points, I have to cut back the long ties and reattach them to the other side so they don't foul the track.

Lewis Lake - Track Layout 1st Level

I managed to get some time to myself on Sunday night to get more track down (Left hand sidings on the plan above),  The first level off the Helix is only 200mm (8inchs) below the the level above, so before i fix the Base boards on the level above down i got the track down.

I made the mistake of working from one end with all the Straight track, which left me have to fix cut track down on the curve,  Next time i will put a length of flexi-track on each point and fill in the straight middle.

I was thinking of adding a siding to the line along the front of the window,  But i have decided this will be Tunnel/Canyon along this level

The White Box is the Shed WIFI, I have a Splitter/Booster Box for Ethernet cables which can be plugged in here,  The timber you can see is the Support for the level above.

View up the complete length of the two sidings, with the main running through the middle.  There is enough room to hold a Challenger and 25 Boxcars in each siding.  Thou i plan the longest train to only pull 20.

This View shows at the bottom, my workbench, where the soldiering Iron is sitting will be my ECOS Controller Command Stations home will be. The next level up will be the End of St. Leonard's Yard, passing the window to the Programming Tack and then on to the Helix.  The next level is where i have just laid the track.  I have made a Start on the Support Timber for the  Second Level.  I need work out the Depth required across the front of the window for the next level.

Leaving the first level Track and Sidings you are heading back onto the Helix to take you up to the next level.

I planning to lay the Track on the St Leonard's yard next, which will be a massive job for me.  One thing is for sure i am not looking forward to ballasting.  But lets get the track down first.

Lewis Lake Railroad - Southern 5101 Loco, Testing the 1st Level

A Tracking laying weekend, I have managed to lay the track on the first level off the Helix,  Here is a short Test Video with my boy at the controls.

Lewis Lake Railroad - UP #3958 Challenger on the Helix

Amazing News,

After the disappointment of the Cab forward not being able to take the Helix curves, John Bowman brought his UP Challenger over to see if this would work, and here is the result.

Time to update the shopping list ;-)





I will need to get myself a better Camera and a steadier hand.  Still i am very please with the results.

Caboose Industries Ground Throws

Now i have manged to build three levels of Base boards structure, i need to start laying track in the hard to reach area's before i board over the top.

I have been watching loads of Youtube Videos on Operating Layouts and noticed Caboose Industries Ground Throw switches are used alot.  I like the idea of have to move the switch yourself and not just press a bottom, i feel it will add to the operation.  So i bought a few to see how well they work and i am very impressed.

The Peco Code 83 track has small holes in the tie bar of the point, these are just to small to take the pin from the Ground Throw, so i use a small circular file to very carefully widen the hole to take the pin.  I then glue the Switch to the extended tie sleepers on the point.