New Winter Project - Final Update 7-5-22

Making progress .... got the entrance/exit holes in the closets expanded to full size and got the long boar stained and ready for poly. I also cut some leveling blocks that I'll stain and attach to the outside of the closet walls to level the board and track both to the existing main line and to itself. The blocks will also hide any irregularity in the bottom cut of the holes. 

While waiting for the stain and poly to dry on the long board running through the closets, I was able to start on removing the existing curved lift-out and replacing it with a straight-track lift-out. The original curved lift-out was made out of plywood with a foam topper and had an O-36 switch mounted on it so that trains would go out through the closets to the reversing curve on the thru route and then come back on the divergent route. The switch was operated by an IR relay with an adjustable delay timer mounted under the layout so that 15 seconds after the last car passed, the switch would throw to the divergent route. Now that I will have two separate lines - one out to the reversing curve and one back to the main layout, I don't need the switch or the relay. I may need all or a portion of the curved lift-out, so I've saved that. I'll have to find another place on the layout to use the relay.

The first few pics show the existing layout with the curved lift-out and then the new straight lift-out. You can see the wire connectors hanging down. Also a few close-ups of the top and underneath of the existing lift-out to show how it's wired. You can see both the power and the relay wires.

I made the new straight through lift-out from a piece of 1 X 4 oak board and glued some foam roadbed to it for the Fastrack to sit on and screwed it down to the board. I cannabalized the Anderson Power Pole connectors and wiring from the old lift-out and used it to mount to the new lift-out and carry power to the track on the other side of the closets. I will use T-tap connectors to tap into the wires and provide power to the lift-out itself. The last pic shows wires soldered to the underside of the FT. I then drilled a hole through the oak board for the wires to feed through and connect to the T-taps.     

Slow going in the spring - too much yard work, etc. After installing the new straight-thru back lift-out, the series of switches to my yard (see photo) started giving my issues with trains shorting out while going through all the switches. I had never screwed the switches or yard track down into the layout. There was one particular switch that seemed to be the problem area, so I swapped it out with a spare and re-positioned all the switches and track and screwed them down and that seemed to solve the problem and everything is back to running like it should. Now back to the project.

The board for the new main line running through the closets is 12' long, so I'll have three track feeds, each about 4' apart. In order to hide the main power wire and have a flat bottom surface, I cut a groove on the underside of the board with my table saw. I don't have a dado blade, so I just lowered my blade to about 1/4" high and made a series of passes, moving the fence 1/16" each time until the groove was wide enough to fit the wire pair inside.   

I also glued down the foam roadbed to the top side of the board (no pic). I'll drill three holes down into the board from the topside into the groove to run feeders from the main power wire to the underside of the Fastrack and solder all the connections.

I could use a T-tap or other connector to connect the feeders to the power wires, but I want these connections to be bullet-proof. The last thing I want to do is have to chase a connectivity issue inside a closet. To solder the feeder wire to the power wire, you simply cut off a small square of the wire insulation with an exacto knife and that becomes your connection point. Just tin both wires and then solder. I then cover the connection with some liquid electrical tape and let dry.

I'll also solder all the 30" Fastrack straights together to also insure no conductivity issues.     

Finally had time to get some work done.

I got the new board and track finished and loosely leveled and laid into the closets, so Phase 1 is basically completed. Next phase is to connect the reversing curve trackage across the workbench to the new main line and Phase 3 will be to eventually build the liftout and connect it to the new board and the main layout.

For the new main line board, I used four of the 30" long Fastrack straight pieces and wired/soldered them altogether, so no continuity issues, and then glued the foam roadbed to the topside of the board. I had already cut a groove in the middle of the back of the board to hide the power wires. Where the power wire stops near the end of the board on the workbench side, I taped the wires closed and covered the end with liquid electrical tape - on the other (liftout) end, I cut the wire so there's about 12" hanging out to eventually connect to the Power Pole connectors on the lift-out.

I already have plenty of power around the reversing curve, so I don't need to extend the new power and feeders any longer than the board itself on that end - the new trackage across the workbench (Phase 2) will connect to the end of the board and will have plenty of power from the reversing curve power drops. I then drilled 1/2" holes through the foam and board into the groove on the underside of the board to run feeders up to the underside of the Fastrack to solder. Then cut small squares in the insulation of the new red/black power wire with a sharp Exacto blade and soldered 18 ga. feeder wires to the square cut-outs and up through the holes to the Fastrack. I covered those connections with liquid tape, also, and let dry before pushing the feeders up through the holes.

Once everything was soldered and in place, I taped over the groove on the back side with duct tape to seal the power wires in place and then stapled a few pieces of plumber's tape across the groove to keep the power wires from potentially falling out of the groove if the duct tape fails.  I then screwed the track to the board at several locations. Before putting the board/track into the closets, I connected the excess wire on the liftout end to my workbench ZW transformer and tested the voltage all along the track and it worked great.

Next on to Phase 2 !

Richie, I just found this thread the other day, and now realized I didn't comment.  It looks like you have a well thought out and executed plan.

You said in the first post you used a jig saw and sawzall.  I do not recognize this tool.  What is it?

@Richie C. posted:

Making progress .... got the entrance/exit holes in the closets expanded to full size and got the long boar stained and ready for poly. I also cut some leveling blocks that I'll stain and attach to the outside of the closet walls to level the board and track both to the existing main line and to itself. The blocks will also hide any irregularity in the bottom cut of the holes.

Hi Mark,

I used the jigsaw and sawzall to cut out the holes in the closets for the new track line to pass through. The picture you referenced is a chop saw I use to create the levelling blocks. The blocks sort of make the chop saw underneath difficult to make out.

Thanks for commenting - update below.

Phase 2 (eliminating the reversing curve; converting the outgoing line to a separate line; and connecting with the new line coming out of the left side closet) is 99% complete. Hard to make out from the pics, but the countersunk screws holes for the trestle support are filled with wood putty so I have to sand and re-stain those areas as well as a few of the vertical trestle tops.

Other than that, it's done.

After disconnecting the reversing curve switch at the far left side of the workbench, I just added a curved piece to the incoming line and left the outgoing line alone to plan on how to connect to the new track line. The span across the workbench from the new line coming out of the closet and connecting to that existing outgoing line is comprised of three sections of FT plus an O-72 switch for the siding which stages my LC 2.0+ Big Boy. Each section is comprised of about 5-6 FT pieces. I made a girder plate for each section out of 1/8" luan plywood to just a little beyond the width of the FT (about 3.5" wide). Rather than foam, I decided to try some auto sound deadening material I had and cut that into strips as long as each section and as wide as the girder plate and stuck that to the luan. I soldered wires between the FT pieces to eliminate any future connectivity issues and then screwed each FT section to its girder plate.

We'll see how the sound deadening material stacks up against the foam roadbed for noise reducing.

The curved section from the old reversing curve outgoing line to the new track was the hardest to make the girder plate. Once I figured out what curves (O-36) and additional pieces were needed to match up to the new line, I placed the entire curved FT section (about 5-6 pieces long) on a piece of the luan wide enough to cover the curve and traced the FT section onto the plywood and cut it out with a jigsaw.         

The O-72 switch for the siding is about in the middle of the new line. In order to stiffen it up so it would not flex when a train ran over it, I cut a piece of luan about the length of the straight part of the switch and screwed the switch to it. I then connected all the track sections together and supported them with the new trestles I cut and assembled. I then cut a new luan piece about 4" longer that the switch and, from the underside, screwed that to the first luan piece under the switch and then screwed each end to the girder plates on either end of the switch so that the switch essentially is part of the girder plate structure and will not flex.

The trestle supports are made from 1" square pine stock stained to match. Each vertical piece is 8" tall and the cross pieces are 3.75" long. I used a level to level the new track to the existing main line (near the window) at each location where a trestle support was going to located and measured up to the height of the bottom of the girder plate and set the cross piece to that height minus 1/16" to allow for a strip of the sound deadening material to be inserted on top of each cross piece. Unfortunately, the workbench surface is not level, so each trestle support had to be individually measured and assembled. A 1.25" countersunk wood screw was inserted through the vertical on each side into the cross piece.

Overall, I didn't lose too much workbench space, so I'm pleased with the way it came out.

I'll start on Phase 3 (connecting the other end of the line coming out of the right hand closet to the main layout) this weekend. That will be more difficult because it needs a lift-out for the cellar door and it will probably need to be a curved lift-out.     

Richie, thank you for identifying the chop saw.  Your plan work looks really nice!  The method should be sturdy and allow for plenty of workbench space.

Thanks, Mark.

Looks great, Richie.  Thank you for the detailed description of what you did.  I was not familiar with Anderson Power Poles, but looked up their Website. 

The Anderson PP are good stuff if you're looking for a solid connection. I like the fact that they dovetail together on the sides so you get a solid pair (red/black) for connecting to another pair.

I got started with them 30 years ago in r/c racing because they are low loss connectors. They're probably overkill and too expensive for most model train uses, but for something like a one-off lift-out that will only occasionally need to be disconnected, I think  they're great. 

Link below to video ("Winter Project") of finished project showing a Lionel LC 2.0+ UP Big Boy hauling a Hood's milk car; string of BN ore cars and a BN caboose coming out of the main layout down the long straightaway and around the turntable and roundhouse and back on the new separate line.

https://www.youtube.com/channe...0gL4HfQEC4zLCK-HWokg

@Richie C. Richie, I just saw this thread and really liked all the details you have provided. The videos on your youtube channel are also great. Thanx for sharing.

That looks great! What radius are your curves? They don't look like 072....

Thanks, guys.

They're not O-72. Almost all of the layout is O-36, so I tend to run smaller steamers and diesels, which is fine with me and is like having an automatic spending limit on my engine purchases.

The curve around the roundhouse is O-48, which makes it look a little better.

The Lionel LC 2.0 + engines are actually designed to run as low as O-31 curves, which I think is great for people with smaller layouts who want to run bigger equipment and don't mind the excessive hangover.   

Richie, you did a great job.  Everything blends in so nicely with the handsome wood paneling!  I was going to ask about the curves too, but you answered Bob who beat me too it!

Thanks, Mark - been following your changes to the BWCL, too.

Thank you, Richie!  BWCL.  I never thought of an acronym before, but all railroads have an abbreviation.