Tom, hand laying track goes pretty quickly once you get the hang of it. Congratulations on your first 1000 spikes.

An easy way to post your track plan is to take a picture of it and post that.

Vincent Lake Short Line Track Plan



The outer dimensions are 180" x 132".

Color scheme: Blue is the main branch line

Red is a branch line

Brown short siding to 2 businesses

Brown longer siding to brewery

The area circled by the red will be the town.

Purple is the old Peco flex track not remove as yet. The new main branch line will probably follow it.

Yellow is a rise of 6" to an area for a logging camp (track not installed). I may run a elevated line back towards the maintenance area. More thought needs to be given to this idea.

The main area the purple circle, maintenance area, will have a turntable, water tower, engine shed, etc. More track planning needs to be done here.

Thoughts, comments, direction and suggestions are welcome.

Milestone: 2000 spikes and 36 feet of track

Today I completed about 36 feet of handlaid track using 2000 spikes and 1500 or so ties.



The Climax, less its front light, has no problem going forward and reverse through the Fast-Tracks turnout.



Less it's front light!!!! Ya, Those 40" drops to the cement floor hurt. At least it still works on DCC including the sound.



While await the arrival of more spikes and ties, I'll complete the wiring of the first power district.

Less the front light but still working. Bad news and good news.

Congratulations on the completion of your 36 feet of track.

Tom,

Very nice track work! And working quickly too. What are you using for roadbed? Can't quite tell from the pictures. Also, how about a mini-tutorial on how you are gaging and spiking track? I'm about to begin and am soaking up every idea I can find. (Like the way you laid out your layout space.)

Robert

(I'm still working on my track plan over at "Designing the Square9."

Very nice trackwork. Welcome to the land of hand laid nuts. I hope you find it as relaxing as I do.

Ralph,

I find the track work very relaxing. Believe it or not I am having more fun with this method than I did with the flex track.

Robert,

I have 3/4 " plywood covered with cork. The ties are Mt. Albert bought from Fast-Tracks. I am using Micro Engineering 1/4" spikes. You can make your own spikes from piano wire. There is good information on the forum on how to do this. If you buy your spikes and ties, make sure you have enough. Nothing worse than waiting for mail order when you need them yesterday.

The rail, code 83, is my old Peco flex track removed from the plastic ties. When this is used up, I'll be using Micro Engineering rail.

I stain all my ties with a mixture of black india ink and "isopropyl rubbing alcohol" 1:10 mixture. I see others stain or paint after, a matter of preference. This done prior to gluing the ties down. I use "Titebond III" wood glue. My railroad is a branch line so the ties do not need to be laid exact. I made a jig for placement of the ties ( a topic itself).

I use needle nose pliers to push the spikes down. I push one down to the top of the rail and then the other. I then push them all the way down making sure the top edge of the nail catches the bottom of the rail. I spike every second tie. I do the inside rail first. Once the inside rail is complete to about 2" from the end I stop. Using two 3 point track gauges, 5 or 6 T-pins I start the outside rail. If I am on a curve I join the two rails together with a metal joiner and solder them to make continuous rail.

I could write on and on, however ... I read the many posts on the forum and asked many questions on the forum. There is a wonderful bunch of people out there willing to share lots of good information. Some techniques you may like and others you will not.

Bottom line: "Start laying track", oh ya .... " Have fun, I do"

Tom...there is no better feeling than completing all that handlaid track and watching your little honey snake through handlaid turnouts![^]

I can only imagine the sickening feeling as you watch that little honey slowly making its way toward the concrete[:-bigeyes2] :crazy: :erm: [:-censored][:-censored][:-censored] But again....your trackwork looks GREAT!.....all the best with this layout....tom

Tom,

Thanks ... she will get repaired ... I am spending most of my time on the trackwork and wiring.

Speaking of which, I've have a short that I need to sort out. I made a big mistake that I should have known better ... This morning I wired and soldered 6 sections of the rail to the bus before checking for short(s). All the rails are connected by metal joiners to make the matter more difficult .....

Short found ... failed to cut one gap in the turnout ....

Every short I've had has been because of that. It's a nice easy fix though.

Per Tim's suggestion in his video, I meticulously check and re-check each turnout when it is all done for continuity (actually discountinuity). It is sooooo much easier to do when the turnout is on the bench than when it is spiked into a layout. Recommend the practice.

Robert