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chris
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I dinked my track when removing the lift out section. 

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No point fixing the track. Easier to replace.

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One advantage was, that although the section to the viaduct is short I had used two pieces of track. Replacing with one length means there are a couple less track bonds to fail.

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I took the opportunity to realign all four of the track ends to improve running through this notorious derailment black spot. Hopefully it will be sorted for this years running season. This afternoons and evenings sessions will be a good test.

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What do they call those sleepers you can buy....is it phosphor bronze? I have some strips somewhere that I used years ago when I built my first sectional railway. Cut one of the strips to the width of a sleeper, glue it in position in place of the last plastic sleeper and then solder the rail ends to the sleeper. It makes them much more secure and less prone to damage. You just have to remember to cut the conductive outer layer part way to prevent short circuits.

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Edited by mick
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Today I've removed the delaminated baseboard and got ready for the replacement board to go in.

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Fortunately I remembered to measure at this moment so the replacement board should be about the say. the scenery is made to measure on this section.

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As you can see it was in a bad way.

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The support structure is OK. I've cut a new piece of 18mm ply and given it a couple of coats of exterior wood plaint. Tomorrow I'll stick the felt on and put it in place. I'm then going to put another layer of felt on top so non of the felt joins are exposed.

 

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49 minutes ago, chris said:

As you can see it was in a bad way.....

You're not kidding. It doesn't stand up well at all to moisture ingress does it.

It can be a real pain having to take everything up to replace the boards beneath but in a way it's the reason we're here because it's also enjoyable. Maintenance shouldn't be a chore it should be fun, a big part of the hobby. I really do enjoy the maintenance part, in fact it's a shame when all the initial construction work comes to an end

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40 minutes ago, mick said:

You're not kidding. It doesn't stand up well at all to moisture ingress does it.

The problem was joins in the felt. This was made more of an issue by the felt joins being near board joins, so was water could get into the sides of the ply. When I put the new board section in tomorrow I'll put on two layers of felt so ensure that the there are no similar problems this time. I've got a small section of plastic baseboard next to the start of the viaduct. Again the idea is to keep water away from the end of the ply.

The felt here is over 10 years old. So while I'm working on it I've decide to lift the tracks and platforms and put a second layer of felt on. Should keep things in good order for a few more years.

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The linkage from 8th point motors to the turnouts were failing, so I'll install them in a different way.

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Track was lifted yesterday evening.

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The new section of baseboard went in. 

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I covered this board with felt before I installed it. The photo shows it with as layer of adhesive on ready for the second layer of felt.

I had some help from a friend. we managed to get a second layer of felt on the baseboard where the track had been removed before rain and lunch stopped play.

I'll try and get the track back down this evening.

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Looks like some major work going on there Chris. I assume that you are also doing at least one of the junctions at the same time as the corner board?

Save a bit of plywood for the void before something comes a cropper reversing out of Colwick 4!

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Glad the weather has been kinder to you were you are. I was thinking about knocking up a test board today, only for it to rain persistently all day. While I could have at least done some work in the garage the damp air put me off.

Obviously the felt covering method is well tested, but I can't help but think that plywood would be better left without it. I always imagine roofing felt as being a material to cover less well manufactured wood or on areas were there are a lot of joins and water integrity is a must. I imagine if you cover a plywood sheet with it once water gets in it won't get out and the rot will literally set-in. I plan just to use marine-ply and cover it with some form of liquid sealant just for a little extra protection, but hopefully still giving it a little room to breath. I would have thought spending the money on bracing it well would be better spent? I'm a complete novice here so please correct me or share your point of view as this is how I'm learning. :-)

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I'm adding a layer of felt to the long thin board. The ply under that felt is as goo as the day it went in, 12 years ago. I've found that the key is to ensure that water cannot get to the sides of the boards. As long as the felt hands how below the bottom of the board I don't have any issues. Also joins in the felt have to overlap. The only issues I've had is when I've not followed those rules.

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Personally I like the look of the felt, preferring it to wood. It has the appearance of ballast. While helping yesterday my friends decided that he liked the texture so much he will use felt in the depot of is loft layout. You can paint it with enamel if you are so inclined.

Yes to bracing. I use Aluminium T orders either from old conservatory roofing or greenhouses. Lightweight and strong.

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18 hours ago, Loco Hauled said:

Glad the weather has been kinder to you were you are. I was thinking about knocking up a test board today, only for it to rain persistently all day. While I could have at least done some work in the garage the damp air put me off.

Obviously the felt covering method is well tested, but I can't help but think that plywood would be better left without it. I always imagine roofing felt as being a material to cover less well manufactured wood or on areas were there are a lot of joins and water integrity is a must. I imagine if you cover a plywood sheet with it once water gets in it won't get out and the rot will literally set-in. I plan just to use marine-ply and cover it with some form of liquid sealant just for a little extra protection, but hopefully still giving it a little room to breath. I would have thought spending the money on bracing it well would be better spent? I'm a complete novice here so please correct me or share your point of view as this is how I'm learning. :-)

Honestly I think you are better off saving the money and getting regular ply, then seal it with a fence paint and then potentially covering with felt. One of the advantages of felt is that it is able to cover any imperfections or rough edges of the wood; and as Chris said, it looks a little like ballast without having to put in much effort. With this said no method is the be all and end all and you should feel welcome to try any new method you want.

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frustrating day soldering rails that have been outside for 11 years. I did the vast majority of it inside at my desk, but that didn't make it any easier.

By late afternoon I was ready for track relaying. 

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I persisted and got the track down the full length of the straight, soldering in the last bonds that I couldn't do inside.

There's still more to do, but we are away for the weekend, so it will have to wait. Monday's running session may be a bit different. 

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I decided to add roofing felt to the top of the viaduct. previously I was concerned that the adhesive wouldn't play nicely with the plastic. The plastic wasn't doing that well exposed to the elements so I decided to add the felt.

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Went down OK and looks much better.

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I risked gunning staples into the felt and thus the plastic. They seemed to go in OK. The edges got stapled every 10cm or so.

Yesterday, once again with the assistance of my friend, the track went down around the curve and over the viaduct.

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I'd had enough of soldering old rails. My friend gave me 4 lengths of long straight track as a like for like replacement for the tracks on the viaduct. It was a still evening so soldering wasn't too frustrating for once. The old track will be fine for indoor use.

With the tracks down and soldered I was up and running again. Only one bond was a failure and that was quickly resolved. Thinking about it now, to have a dead section, there must have been two failed bonds. The other may be in the point work. probably easier to ignore. 

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Had some friends round for drinks yesterday evening and ran trains until dark. Track performed exceptionally. Probably the best running session I've ever had. I don't think there were any incidents caused by the track and we were driving 3 trains at a time continuously looping for a couple of hours.

The trains and the drivers weren't as perfect as the track and there were a few driving incidents! A mate bought his class 20 round and it wasn't running well, making an worrying noise when driving bonnet first. When we coupled some wagons to it I noticed the buffers were missing. It appears that one of my mate grown up children has dropped it on his garage floor and failed own up to it.

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On 10/05/2022 at 20:50, mick said:

It can be a real pain having to take everything up to replace the boards beneath but in a way it's the reason we're here because it's also enjoyable. Maintenance shouldn't be a chore it should be fun, a big part of the hobby. I really do enjoy the maintenance part, in fact it's a shame when all the initial construction work comes to an end

I've been thinking about this a lot.

I guess my work is more renewal rather than maintenance. But that is me splitting hairs. For me the frustration on this job is taking two steps backwards and only one forward. Although I'm now up and running again and it should now be good for a few years, there's still a ton of work to get back to where I once was. The backscenes need replacing. The station needs to go back in. The points need remotorising. All of this will just return me to where I was.

The lesson here could be that I shouldn't let things deteriorate so much that it all has to be done at once. And when I do maintenance jobs I enhance the railway rather than just returning to as was.

One enhancement will be switching from the car door lock motors to servos for turnout throwing. It is the next job to get on with. I've got a bit of code to adapt to control them, and I need to figure out a link mechanism which will work outdoors.

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On 09/05/2022 at 12:58, mick said:

What do they call those sleepers you can buy....is it phosphor bronze? I have some strips somewhere that I used years ago when I built my first sectional railway. Cut one of the strips to the width of a sleeper, glue it in position in place of the last plastic sleeper and then solder the rail ends to the sleeper. It makes them much more secure and less prone to damage. You just have to remember to cut the conductive outer layer part way to prevent short circuits.

IMG_4389.jpg

I use them, they work well.

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After a frustrating morning failing to get an Arduino to respond to DCC commands I switched to track remodelling for the afternoon. 
Emble Junction had two turnouts removed and replaced by a single slip. Trains can no longer snake through the three turnouts on the outer line which was always lovely to see. But the track layout is far more attractive. 

 

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