Sugarwood Blog

Welcome to the warm days of summer. The month of July saw significant progress.

First, I built the 5-foot module I teased last month. Then, I moved the on module I had here to its proper location.
Next, I retrieved the other two modules that I had stored and hung them, and voila.

Here is a closer look from left to right.

The last photo shows where the final module will go. I have the parts, but I still need to build and mount it.

I haven’t seen it done before, so I guess it is unusual. As I had entered my track plan in AnyRail, I printed it at 1-1 scale and pasted it down with Mod
Podge. That accounts for the colours.

I completed the three left-hand curved turnouts and CADed up left and right sweepsticks and had them 3D printed.
Then the right-hand curved turnout was laid for the interchange tracks.

You may have noticed the green knob in the lower right corner of the photo above. It is the control for the turnout. It is connected
to a side-mounted slide switch.

The slide switch fits into a holder I designed and had 3D printed.

After that, I laid in the three key turnouts of the bakery.

As can be seen in the photos, I have brought in some of the building flats from my old layout. Storage has bent them, but they give some
context as to size. They were made using a Cricut. I will detail that process when I start building the structures for the layout.

My next goal is to connect the interchange tracks to the bakery turnouts.

Followed by laying the rest of the bakery track, start on the central runaround track, the Ozzy’s Pets spur, and hopefully get
power to the tracks..

I am undecided about hand-laying the track or using flex-track. I used flex-track on the interchange tracks and handlaid the connecting
rails using flex-track ties. Hand-laying lets me reuse rail from the old layout. At $10 CDN a stick for flex-track, it is something to consider,
though rail is not any better at $8 CDN a rail. Using that math flex is the way to go.

Until next Month.

I have started with the interchange track because I had to wait for the lumber to build the 5-foot module. Also, it is the simplest section of the layout. I have the two tracks down and the backdrop up.

With that completed, I started making the Fast Tracks turnouts. The layout will require a total of sixteen #6 turnouts, six left, six right, three left curved, and one right curved. Another friend of mine lent me his Fast Tracks #6 jig, and I built a left and a right turnout. He did not have a jig for the curved turnouts, so I free-handed the one right curved turnout. I need to work on my soldering, but they all work.

Next, I started pricing the Fast Tracks Quick Sticks for turnout ties, at $10 US, I thought it might be worth it to see if I could 3D print some. I used Onshape to design the prints and exported them to STL files and printed the ties for a right and a left turnout. They came out pretty good, I think.

And finally, my friend got me the lumber, and I have built and installed the 5-foot module.

For next month, I’ll tie the Interchange shelf into the main layout and start laying track in the bakery. I’ll have to build the three left curved turnouts before that happens, and I’ll have to decide if I am going to handlay the rest of the track.

Until next month.

It has taken a couple of weeks but I now have the east end of the Sugarwood Siding connected.

That in itself does not allow me to preform run a around because, the west turnout of Sugarwood Siding is at the end of the curve coming from the west. So that curve had to be laid and is complete now.

Spline roadbed laid and laying the ties.

Rails down.

With the exception of the spurs for McFoods and Olie’s Cold Storage the Sugarwood Yard section is complete.

As can be seen in the pictures above I have started working on McFoods and I have mocked up the wall panels.

I don’t think I will be installing the McFood and Olie’s Cold Storage spurs until I have the structures figured out. For now, the next step is run trains and push/pulls cars and get the track reliable. My Genset and MP15AC (B type trucks - 2 axles) have no issues with any portion of the track work so far but my SD40-2 (C type trucks - 3 axles) has an issue with the diverging route of the turnout at the east end of Surgarwood Siding.

I also want to get the other three modules of the layout built and install before the end of September.

Until next time.

For information about me check out the About page on this blog.

Over the past week and holiday, I was able to complete laying the track for the Sugarwood Yard and I started laying the sub-roadbed to complete the east end of Sugarwood Siding.

There is not a whole lot to be said about laying the track in the yard it is pretty straight forward. Thought I did want the yard to look like it has been around for a while so I did not use a straight edge to lay the yard perfectly straight, as can be seen in the two photos below.

To connect the east end of Sugarwood Siding I decided to go with the spline roadbed approach and I find it easier and faster than I thought. I am using 1/8” x 1/8” basswood glued to the foam. I have been surprised that how fast the glue dries, about thirty minutes after laying a spline I can remove the pins and lay another spline. Towards the upper center of the top photo and left center of the bottom photo, the east end of Sugarwood siding can be seen.

Until next week.

For information about me check out the About page on this blog.

Work on the layout proceeded a bit slower this week.

I having been working on Sugarwood Siding and had to build the two industry turnouts for McFoods and Olie’s Cold Storage. These two turnouts are now installed and connected to the west end of Sugarwood Siding.

I am stilling deciding on just how to connect the east end of the siding and the industry tracks.

My current thinking is to use 1/8-inch x 1/8-inch strips and take the spline roadbed approach. Another approach I am considering is to create a template and cut it out of a plank of basswood.

The benefit of the plank and template is that most of the work could be done at my workbench, the reason I am using 1/8-inch basswood/plywood for my roadbed, but I think there would be a lot of waste using the plank and template. I will have to think a bit more.

In the meantime, maybe I will work on the yard tracks.

Until next week.

For information about me check out the About page on this blog.