A handshake for jobs well done

As the last spike was driven on the interchange, Tom McGinty shook hands with “Choctaw” Jones. Both were congratulating each other and their respective Gandy Dancers for getting the tracks down in Union City. Both men are Captains to their respective crews. At this point, all track is down and passengers and freight is moving. Gravel is still being poured in the freight yard and the permanent passenger platform tiles will be down soon. McAdoo Builders, on line customer, needs a lumber shed and material bunkers. Also, the NC&StL needs an express office. Still much to do, omscaler

 

Rail traffic

Last week saw the laying of rail on the Union City main line. Since the main line is now open, regular passenger and freight traffic now have a direct route to the city of Mobile. The NC track gang was busy laying ties as well. Immediate needs are the spurs to the freight house and completion of the interchange track. This week should see progress on these and other points. Still working away, omscaler

 

 

Ties being laid

Tie laying was started last week at the North end of town. Only a small amount of progress has been made. Also, the east yard area is completely ballasted with all turnouts in place. The so called “Boys from Bruceton”, NC&StL track gang, arrived Monday to lay ballast as well. The end of this week should see all main line ties in place. We are looking forward, omscaler

 

One good turn deserves another, again

Omscaler is continuing to work on turnouts. So far, fourteen ground throws have been built. Twelve support sections are being made. Two others already having support sections. In addition to turnouts, ballast sections have been built. These feature a method using an embossed side which gives a realistic slope to the side of the ballast section. If blog readers look close enough to the older pictures of tracks, a stair step appearance can be seen. This new method eliminates the steps and looks better in omscaler’s opinion. More updates to come, omscaler

 

Still laying the groundwork

Omscaler continues building sub layer roadbed support. One thing that took place last week was redesigning the standard turnout. The old turnout length was three inches. The new turnout length is one inch. This was necessitated due to the planning of an interchange track. This track area caused the main yard area to be shifted to the North. The old turnout length was found to be problematic in not allowing enough room for usable straight track sections. In other words a cramped condition was created. Initial testing of the new turnout was done at the South end of the interchange track. Although this was successful, yard turnouts have yet to be installed and tested. The geometry in the yard area is more acute and may yet cause problems. Keeping fingers crossed, omscaler

 

Implementing new ideas

As this post is written, the building of the Union City module is well underway. Not to be trite but the method of construction of the top layer is being done in a modular way. The main drive channel sections are being built as one half or three eighths inch wide sections. The length varies according to the need. After this, main terrain sections will be installed. The number of turnouts needed for this module is a record twelve. Sounds small but, trust me, it gets bigger as you begin building. Still, the newest turnout building method will help. The a fore mentioned PS-1 boxcar project has turned out well and more car diagrams have been included in the laser project file. All in all, things have gotten very busy on The Very Small Railroad. Onward and upward. Or is it downward? Onward and littler? You pick one. Until next post, omscaler

 

Where are we headed?

Now that the Hull house is complete, the next phase of The Very Small Railroad will start. Specifically, the sub-roadbed building will start. This is on the new Union City module. An idea for an improved PS 1 boxcar has been implemented as far as the basic car diagram is concerned. This improvement will go hand in hand with the overall railcar upgrades being planned. Unfortunately, omscaler can only do one thing at a time so we will just move forward one thing at a time. This is not to say that work on one project will be halted in order to work on another. Sometimes inspiration strikes. Still inspired, omscaler