A year later and the station extension is finally finished. Well as finished as it is likely to get, as I doubt it will ever get scenery installed.......
I was out of things for a while late last year, but managed to order a box of track and some turnout making materials in late November. Nothing much happened until the new year, when I worked up enough energy to start building the turnouts and then painting the track while the weather was too hot to work outside.
By mid-February I had managed to finish the track and turnouts and my workspace was rapidly diminishing. The next step was erecting the steelwork and this time I had it cut to size, which was cheaper than having the full lengths delivered. The cut pieces fitted in the car boot and it also saved time and effort manipulating long bits of steel into the bandsaw.
The photo shows the bench top covered in turnouts and track, while the floor area had been further reduced by the steel stacked on sawhorses in the foreground.
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A couple of weeks later and the steelwork has been fabricated and the first supports have been installed, in between rain storms. This time around the 40mm galv RHS is bolted to the retaining wall rather than sitting on a star picket and the wider deck means the cross beam needed a support brace.
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Another week or two and the rest of the supports and the longitudinal angles have been installed.
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Fitting the decking only took a couple of days, including cutting the bits to size. The decking is the same material as the rest of the track, 10mm thick Weathertex.
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Painting was another matter, as the weather has been alternating between being so hot the paint dries on the brush, or too wet to paint. Eventually it was finished and track laying could start. This photo shows the new station extension in relationship to the wye junction on the mainline.
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Track laying went quickly this time as all the turnouts and track were ready to go. This photo shows the amount of track laid on the first day, although it was a hot day. the curves into the station are finished and the track and turnouts for No. 1 road are complete. The turnouts for Nos. 2 and 3 roads are also in place at the steaming bay end, as well as the steaming bay. The van halfway down the yard was being used to check clearances and track joints.
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The next day was going well and most of the track was in place by just after lunch. Then of course the track joiners ran out......
Luckily a quick phone call to Argyle and a packet of track joiners dropped into the letterbox just before lunch the next day. The last of the track was installed late yesterday afternoon (Wednesday), by which time it was too hot for a proper test run.
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The track plan is fairly typical of VR branchline and NG terminal stations. A main line/platform road (No.1), a run around loop road (No.2) and a goods shed road (No.3), with a spur off No.3 road leading to the loco pit. It probably looks long to most people, but Nos.1 and 2 roads have to be long enough to clear ten bogie wagons, which is the maximum train length for the line. The track in the station is 1.2m off the ground, which is a convenient working height for me. There wasn't much choice anyway, as the block is steep and a ground level track is impractical, even if I was interested.
Today dawned clear and hot, so a morning run with the Fowler Motor Mule and a small work train to test the track laying was all that was attempted. The train is shown leaving the station and heading for the mainline.
The station track work and the operation of the mainline and wye junction were tested and worked as planned. So the next step will be a steam run on the weekend when the weather has sorted itself out again.
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The final two photos. show the mainline as it is now, as I realised no photos of the mainline loop in finished condition were shown in the previous instalments of this saga.
The first is taken looking south and the junction to the station is out of shot to the right.
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The second is taken facing the north and the junction is visible in the distance just past the truss bridge on the right. The angle of the fence compared to the roof line of next door's shed shows what the ground contours are like.
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........ and I've got my bench back.
Regards,
Graeme