Home Page › Forums › Modeling the Missouri Pacific, Texas & Pacific, etc › Mopac or Texas & Pacific layouts › I’ve bit the bullet, Jan. 15, 2011 › Reply To: I’ve bit the bullet, Jan. 15, 2011
Moved module 10 upstairs today. This is a turnback loop, or 180 degree curve, and I’ve added three inches of height to the outside for a hillside. The other side of the track probably will be mostly above track elevation also, since there were a few fairly good cuts along the line in some of the curviest stretches of Greenwood County.
I build these as two 90 degree curves, but with only a 12 inch width at the 90 degree point. There are two 1/4 inch bolts holding the two halves together, which allows a certain degree of pivoting to allow a grade change in the middle of the curve. The outer ends of each are 24 inch wide, since all the modules I’ve built so far hold to the 24 inch end width. This makes the module somewhat D-shaped, but it also gives me an extra six inch on each end, or a total of an extra foot, that I can allocate to the modules in between. I think I’ll be needing that.
On the first turnback loop I ran the wiring continuously between the two halves of the module, in other words without terminal strips. I’ll probably do that again, when I have the module upside down to install wiring and legs. This is so much better than the old way of crawling under the layout with soldering iron in hand, or worse yet with a screwdriver and watching the screws fall out and hit the floor when you’re trying to get one in overhead.
The modules between 6 and 10 will represent Eureka area, and there are some nasty curves I’m planning so the sideways spread of the track is of more concern right now, to be sure I can fit it into the room. Those will be the last to be built for the stretch from Durand to Wichita yard, and I may end up inserting a short stretch of backdrop.
Construction will be paused for a few weeks, due to circumstances relating to making a living.
Ron Merrick
