Slowly upgrading a Toy Train layout

Hi Wood,

  Very nicely done!!!!!

Thanks,

Alex

Looks very good Wood. I look forward to seeing your railroad.

Well done, Wood. I also use the 3R ties, and like them very much.

I'm starting to install my tubular track and plan on using the 3R plastic ties. Do you glue them down when installing or is there suffient pressure from their being under the rails?

thanks

Scotie

Thanks Alex, Brian and John.  Brian I will see your layout next week and we are really looking forward to meeting you and the others.  It's going to be a great day.

Scotie,  The ties fit under the track and when you screw the track down it applies enough pressure to hold them.  If you ballast and glue the ballast they will never move.  These ties are very nice with great detailing.  I use 6 ties in each section of track for the yard area and I use 8 ties on the main line.  I use rustoleum camouflage paint to weather the track and it blends with the ties perfectly. 

Frankly, I am very taken with the appearance of this track on my layout.  Due to the low profile of O27 track and considering this is three rail track, it looks very prototypical.

I have moved on to upgrading my RR yard.  My yard is the main focal point of my layout.  It is large at about 40 sq. ft.  I have 7 Rolling Stock spurs and 6 Engine tracks.  

The first step was to replace the Lionel O42 switches with Gargraves O42 switches. Because of the geometry of Gargraves I was able to add one more spur.  The second step is to place all the ties under the O27 track, next will be to weather the track and last to lay gravel and sand.  After viewing several Providence and Worcester yards in Providence and Davisville, RI I decided not to lay roadbed.  Almost all yards are flat to the ground.  Most are completely sand covered with lots of junk lying around. 

Check out the pictures.  The first is an overview of the Rolling Stock yard.

The second are the new Gargraves switches

This is a close up of the new ties.

This is a the Engine yard as originally built with no ties and Lionel switches

My next step is to weather the track and add gravel and sand.  Then I'll move on to the Engine Yard.

Great looking yard, Wood. I really like your progress. This is a substantial upgrade to this space.

Look forward to seeing you again at Captain John's.

I was supposed to stop with the trains and go meet my Daughter.  But....  I had to weather the yard.  You understand, right??? 

Weathering the rails is so important particularly with O27.  Most of this track has been on 5-6 different layouts.  Some of this track is still around from my childhood....  So it has varying degrees of discoloration.  Weathering brings it all together.  It softens the new switches and blends the track.... 

Check it out....

Off to meet my Daughter...

Brian - I will be at Capt. John's.   That will be fun, see you there....

The track looks real good.

Some update pics.  I have completed the Rolling Stock section of the yard.  I followed Brennan's instructions to the letter and used his gravel, sand and Elmer's Glue.  It took some time but I am pretty happy with the results.  Check out the pics and I am always open to suggestions.

Before:

After:

Details:

No layout is ever done: we keep working and improving it forever.  It looks like you a making some sound improvements that should result in both a better looking and better operating layout.  Good luck with it.

Finishing touches on the Rail Stock Yard.  I added another road parallel to the switch line and filled the yard with stock.  7 new switches added, graveled, sanded and roads.

Now it is on to the Engine Yard.  6 new switches and detailing....  hope to be done before Turkey Day.

Amazing transformation...thanks for the updates and pics.

Nice job Wood, very impressive.  We look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

Yeah, it looks great. I'm about to begin building my layout with the same track but I went with k-line 42 switches as I read about the lionel issues. Did you ever consider those? I read they performed better however a test run with my 18006 Reading T-1 generated a spark when the switch was thrown. Not happy and I'm concerned going forward but may have found a cheap electrical tape cure, not test though. I may go gargraves. Also (and this may be a noob q) but how did you deal with the fact the 0-27 operating track switch/wires don't come apart? For a small layout I built my nephew I cut and rewired since I had already ballasted the track.

That is an amazing transformation!  Great work!

--Greg

Jaypeakpow - Rob...

I have no experience with k-line O42 switches.

I do not really understand your question stated below.

how did you deal with the fact the 0-27 operating track switch/wires don't come apart?

If you mean the three wire harness - there is no reason to take it apart. 

If you want to hot wire the switch to an accessory power source so you don't drain track power then there are two answers.  1.  On the traditional O27 curve switch it is very hard to cut the solenoid wire for directly powering from an accessory transformer and I never did any of those.   2.  The O27 - O42 curve switch is very easy to do.  You simply open the cover on the switch and clip the solenoid wire, use a wire melt insulator to protect the interior wire and add a 12 inch 18 gauge wire directly to the solenoid and run that to your accessory power terminal block.

But I am unclear what your real question is.  Give me a diagram if I have failed to answer the question.

In regard to Gargraves switches.  Most of the individuals on this forum mate tubular track to Ross Custom Switches.  The one problem with this is they are expensive.  Approximately $80.00+ per switch.  Everyone raves about them, but..... 

I use the hobby super store and pay $54.00 for Gargraves switches.  They mate very well with tubular track and so far so good.  They operate quite well.  My equipment rolls without derailing and there is some sparking created when a wheel rubs the edge of the center rail but I do a little adjusting to the location of the center rail and have eliminated most of that.  (It is minor and doesn't even reset the e-unit on my postwar equipment.)

From what forum members say Ross is the best, but I am very happy with Gargraves and have saved roughly $30.00 per switch.  I am replacing 36 switches so that adds up quickly. 

Progress on my engine yard.  I have finished the Engine yard with weathering and graveling the track and road bed.  I am now considering my scenic options.  I would like to add a coaling station for the steamers in the green area next to the steam engines and I would like to build a sand tower for the diesels and place it between the F3's and the GP7.  Then I'll fill in all the green areas and road edgings with appropriate vegetation, sand, etc.  I would seriously like to scratch build these items.  I have some good ideas for building the sand tower but am a little sketchy on the coaling tower.  Any suggestions?  Look above for the original appearance.  New appearance pictures below -

Nicely done, Wood. If you can find a GGD Coaling Tower, this would make a nice addition to this part of the layout.

Brian, I just looked that up and wow that is impressive.  Lots of things could be done to surround the area with related scenery....  I'll call Golden Gate and inquire plus I'll post on the wanted to buy forum and start searching on the internet.   Thanks