2005-03-31 The Storage Yard located near the South end of the layout. The Storage Yard is 2 feet wide and 16 feet long. The track to the left will eventually be connected to a helix which will carry trains up to a Mainline Yard located above the Storage Yard. In the bookcases in the background can be seen part of my collection of railroad modeling magazines. |
2005-03-31 Control Panel for the Storage Yard. Turnouts are Shinohara code 70 components driven by Tortoise switch machines controlled by DPDT switches. Both turnouts of a crossing are controlled by one switch. LEDs are wired in series with the Tortoise motors to indicate turnout positions. One LED per turnout is used, with a shunting diode to carry the current when the LED is unlit. |
2005-03-31 The Storage Yard is just a large stub-end yard with few embellishments. The leftmost tracks are connected by a double crossover to allow engines to be removed/added to trains which arrive/depart from those two tracks. On the right, the two tracks parallel to the ladder will be used for passenger car storage. A double crossover is provided to allow either of the two rightmost tracks to be used as switching leads for these two long tracks, and a single crossover acts as an escape mechanism for any engines that pull passenger cars into these tracks. |
2005-03-31 The Storage Yard has a fair amount of capacity. The cut of 14 tank cars doesn't quite fill the third storage track! In the background of this photo can be seen the two desks at which I build kits and service engines. Just out of sight to the far right is the painting and decaling desk with lots of light available from the window behind it. |
2008-12-04 The benchwork is now in place to support the track from the Storage Yard to the Helix, and to support the Helix itself. The benchwork was erected with the aid of the other members of the "Tuesday Night Group" round-robin group of modelers, and with the help of my friend Wayne LaForge. |
2008-12-11 Work is progressing on the Helix. The subroadbed for the track leading from the Storage Yard to the Helix has been installed. The first turn of the helix has been constructed and is ready to be raised up on risers to begin its climb to the Mainline Yard. |
2008-12-19 The first turn of the helix is in place, with all but the last section (3 segments) fastened in place. Track laying is proceeding right behind the construction work. The last section will be left clamped in place until the first section of the next turn has been fabricated and positioned. This will allow some minor adjustment to the end of the first turn if it is needed. |
2008-12-28 The half-way point in the helix has been reached. Construction is now mid-way through the second turn. A little more than an additional turn remains for the spiraling path. Then the subroadbed, roadbed, and track that connects the spiral to the Mainline Yard will follow. |
2009-01-20 The helix keeps climbing! One more turn will raise the track high enough to be connected to the Mainline Yard. |
2009-01-24 The first train detector has been installed on the approach to the helix. The red LED indicates that the beam between the two detectors (seen at the edges of the photo) is unbroken. The green LED indicates when the beam is broken. When the Helix Status Panel is constructed and installed the red LED will be removed and the green LED will be moved to the status panel. The status panel will be mounted somewhere between the Mainline Yard panel and the Storage Yard panel on the southern edge of the layout. |
2009-01-29 Train detectors have now been installed on the two turns of the helix that have been built. One more turn has to be built and one more detector has to be installed on it. One additional detector will be installed on the track that connects the helix to the Mainline Yard. |
2009-01-29 This is a closeup of the mounting bracket I fabricated for each detector sensor and emitter. It is made of a couple of pieces of 1/4" plastic square tubing and a piece of 3/16" round tubing. The round tubing is glued to the bottom of the smaller square tube, then forced into the larger square tube. The assembly is glued to the edge of the subroadbed, then reinforced with a 6x1/2" sheet metal screw. The heads can be rotated to align the emitter and the sensor. |
2009-01-29 The Helix Status Panel has been constructed and installed. At this time the first three detectors have been wired to it and tested successfully. |
2009-02-10 The helix construction has been completed. The last section attached to the helix is the first section of the trackage that will connect the helix to the Mainline Yard. |
2009-02-15 The helix is now connected at both ends, to the Storage Yard at the lower level and to the Springfield Ridgely Yard at the upper end. The train shown is the first train to depart from the Mainline Yard and traverse all of the trackage to the Storage Yard. |
