I’m now making somewhat interrupted progress on the railroad. While I’d gotten module 14 up to the stage where the track is finished, I was working in late summer on module 10, a turnback loop. Module 10 got the track laid in short order, all eight plus feet of 30″ radius curve with tangents on each end. It has a raised edge on the outer radius for another of those Kansas hills. Module 12 is a straight configuration of 7 foot plus, which is becoming the east half of the Tolerville storage yard. It’s actually not quite at Tolerville, but a half mile east of the east end of 25th St. yard. BTW, the track still exists. Its purpose in life would have been to stick grain cars on while preparing for harvest, or otherwise to stick unwanted stuff on so as to not clutter up the yard tracks.

My modeling efforts are probably more aimed toward stuffing as much equipment on the railroad as possible, if I was honest, so a four-track storage yard is right up my alley. Module 13, then, will be the west half of this yard and have a slight curve to mate with Module 14 which is about a 60 degree curve. Module 11 will have a jog, and probably a grain elevator siding like the one near what is now the Bel Aire development or perhaps at Greenwich. I’d like to work in the KG&E pole yard spur also.

(Author’s note: the spur that ultimately went in on this module is oriented like the Greenwich elevator spur, facing points if coming from Wichita, but it is being scenicked as the KG&E pole yard which is trailing points if coming from Wichita. Maybe after I move in a few years I can splice in another module and correct this little misjudgment.)

Modelwise, the four tracks of the yard are CV branchline tie strip with code 55 rail. I’ve been laying this using the technique of applying Barge to the bottom of the rail, letting it dry, then wetting it with MEK and weighting it. I did some several years ago like this, and it’s still down although I tried to shove some of it sideways and it let go without any damage. If nothing else, I might be able to spike it in a few places if it looks loose. Seems to stay in gauge OK, if I put a couple of gauges on it in between the weights as it cures.

Whenever I get to the 25th St. yard itself, which may be the last section I do, I’m probably willing to do the glue thing with code 55. I don’t think I want to lay the Conway Springs line in code 55, even though that would be the most close to correct size. Lots of other stuff to do before I have to decide that.

Oh, yes, the corrosion experiment. This probably belongs on the handlaidtrack group….

I have two number 6 turnouts coming off the main, one right and one left. Ain’t no fancy three-way turnouts needed when you have all of Kansas real estate to play with. So then, each of those diverging tracks then has a number 5 turnout, with the diverging routes of these being the inside tracks on each side of the main. I took four CV turnout bases, two 6 and two 5, and lightly sprayed them with Instant Weathering (a Floquil color). Then I glued all four of them on the module, starting about four inches in from the end. Then I started laying the tie strip for the yard tracks. Uh-oh.

Turns out one of the 6 turnouts got into its correct position, the second one. The first one actually was a 5. So that 6 turnout ended up as one of the yard turnouts, and was the second one that I laid tie strip up against. No wonder it didn’t look like the first one. BTW, there are exactly two ties’ difference in length between a 6 and a 5. I had actually spiked a couple of the frogs already — now I knew why those didn’t look right either. Fortunately the Proto87 frogs have a 5 marked on their underside. But now I needed two more frogs, so I dropped a couple of them in the selenium bath aka Micro Engineering Weathering Solution. And forgot about them for two days.

One of the things I deal with in my professional life is corrosion, so sometimes I bring in examples of corroded things. Not these — these frogs were so far gone they looked like something you’d find in an ancient shipwreck. Of course, the solder fared the worst, so they went directly in the trash, wrapped in a paper towel. Didn’t even photograph these as evidence.

Fortunately, I have an inventory of turnout parts, so I did two more frogs and went on with spiking. But I hope to remember this lesson, and in future keep better track of my 6s and 5s.

And, now the points of the first yard turnout actually are about three inches shy of the end of the module. Not desirable, but I know it will still work because the end-of-module terminal strips have enough distance between them to fit the switch machine that I will someday get around to mounting.

Ron Merrick

total main track – about 55 feet
total unconnected segments – officially 3
longest connected run – about 20 feet
most cars on the new sections of layout – about 30 last month