As promised an update on my country road project. The picture below shows the plan, roughly 90 lane-feet of road, for 'Streets vehicles, but made from Atlas track with O-27 and wider curves rather than Super-EZ Streets D16 and 21. The track inside the dashing lines is laid and tested and the small gray area indicates the portion where the road surface is completed. At this point that small portion proves the concept works (video later). At the bottom I review several important points about scratchbuilding 'Streets road that I have learned so far.
The diagram and photo below show the idea: use adjacent Atlas track as the rails, and fill in with road surface: in this case strips of 1/8 inch thick balsa.
This photo shows the completed three feet of road surface - it is not yet painted, or the edges, etc., trimmed, but it is in place.
A wider angle view shows my downtown on the left, with the City Mainstreet, and the country road on the right of the righthand aisle through my layout. The design was to have 'Streets, city and country, bracket the sides of this aisle - which will be all about 'Streets (the other aisle is all about the trains). And yes, over to the left, in the background, on my Mainstreet, that is an RMT BANG - it runs on 'Streets D21 curves.
A short video showing my little box van I made sev eral weeks ago testing the new section of road.
What I have learned so far:
- This is a workable, very satsifactory idea overall.
- The groves for the flanges can be made much thinner than in 'Streets - in this straight section they are barely 1.5 mm wide.
- It is best to install the filler strips (balsa in this case) in very short sections - six inches at most. I had hoped to install it in long strips to avoid cracks to fill and patch, but it works best in following small undulations of the road to do short sections.
- Poster board might work better than balsa. I'm going to try matt board (as for photos and paictures that are framed, and just thick poster board for the road surface. Realize the wheels and vehciles never touch it so it needs little strength. I think it will be both easier to install and better looking.
- Note the diagram of the completed country road (top). I plan two switches, made from Atlas switches installed and filled as here. Already tested one.
