Earlier this month I reported that I’d finished laying ties for my first layout in almost two years – a 2×8 foot endeavour representing the car barn for the Niagara St. Catharines & Toronto Railway, modelled in S scale. Oner the past few weeks I’ve made significant progress, specifically:
- I have built five Number 7 turnouts, using Fast Tracks tools and fixtures
- I have spiked down all the rail (which prompted me to buy a Kadee Spiker)
- I have built and installed Fast Tracks “Bull Frog” switch machines
- I have installed a Frog Juicer to control polarity in the frogs of the five turnouts
- I have soldered a gazillion drop feeders to the rails, then wired these to a main wiring bus
In other words, the layout is almost at the point that I can start to run trains and test my track work. I say “almost” because I’m waiting on a bit more DCC gear and some hardware for those switch machines.
The anticipation is so thick I can cut it with an X-acto.
While I wait for the Postal Gods to smile on me, I’ve been doing more work on the freight motors. I realized that I forgot to paint and install the re-railers on the three sisters – NS&T 8, 15, and 19 (seen in the lead photo). I’ve just painted those detail parts and will glue them in place once dry. At that point, my first freight motors will be finished.
What’s more, I’m in the home stretch for NS&T 20 and 21. They’ve been painted, lettered, and weathered, and are ready for DCC. After that, I’ll install a motorman in each and glaze the windows, and I’ll have five electric locomotives ready for service.
Meantime, I’ve received an order of brick sheet and an order of windows, so I can start to build the car barn structure.
All in all, I’m really pleased. I’m looking forward to a season of train-related projects this winter.
The Model Railway Show 