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Layout Update - Laying Ties

Written by Ian MacMillan

Saturday, 18 August 2007

Handlaid track made easy with Fast Tracks

Recently a new job change and a heavy speeder season have taken up most of my time so I have not been able to work on the layout. Now that things have settled down and the girls are in day care two days a week I have plenty of time for the layout.

While all the drywall and electrical is not finished in the basement, I do have a small 20' U shaped section to work on that I have been building for my article series on Railroad.Net, and to keep me from going crazy by atleast having something to run trains on and build scenery.

The small section contains the town of Blair and CP Swift River. Blair is the last remaining town off the main line on the once busy Wonalancet Branch which served several granite and logging industries. Now these industries have dwindled to the point that the branch east of Blair has been abandoned and all that remains is a propane dealer and tool manufacturer in downtown Blair. Served by the Conrail locals out of Mountainview the town consits of the former Wonalancet Branch main line and two spurs serving the two industries. To the west the branch reconnects with the main line and the main curves around to CP Swift River, where NH 176 and the Swift river cross the tracks.

Track Centerlines

The track is pretty simple here, consising of a total of 3 turnouts, an 8 foot 30" radius curve, and a few straight sections with a max grade of 1.5%. Using the #8 turnout kit and the "Tie Racks" from Fast Tracks made hand laying the track super easy. I had never really had the confidence to hand lay track and wanted to try on this layout and the kits made it really easy. I began by drawing out the track center lines, using a GP38-2 locomotive and 2 50' boxcars to check clearances and to make sure I had plenty of switching room. This section of the layout has no ballest profile as it will be representing the backwoods branchline trackage found in many areas on the B&M or MEC. On many of these branches the track structure was so basic that most of the time the "ballast" consisted of river run gravel or generic dirt.

Waiting for the glue to dry

Once I had all the centerlines the way I wanted them I used a Fast Tracks Branchline spacing "Tie Rack" to make strips of ties held together with a strip of masking tape. Speading a bead of wood glue on the centerline I removed the tie strips and placed them into the glue. I then used a pick to move some of the ties around so that they would all not be uniform and give the track that typical B&M/MEC deferred maintenance look. At this time also glued the laser cut turnout "quick sticks" to the centerlines. Once every thing has set up in a few hours I can go back and stain and weather the ties with washes of black, brown and grays.

Once the ties dry, then its time to start laying some rail, but thats for another day.

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