Welcome back! Apologies for the cliff hanger from the last post, but (spoiler alert) we didn’t get trains running by Memorial Day! Had I not had a dental implant installed last week and been forbidden to do any strenuous activity last weekend, we might have had a chance. But it was not to be.
I just had my follow up visit yesterday and asked about the restricted activity. Good news! I got a pass to continue working on the stringer replacements! I had taken yesterday off anyway to make an already long Memorial Day weekend longer and give a fighting chance of making the deadline.
The new fence is in and it’s time finish up behind the shed. The mainline, switches to the sidings off the mainline, and the sidings themselves are all back in place. All the elevated sections have the track back in place as well. All that remains are the wye and ground segments from the downtown loop to behind the shed.
Reworking The 10′ Diameter Stringers
With the wood stringers it was easy enough to just use the posts to hold everything in position. These PVC stringers aren’t so forgiving. The spacer blocks want to twist, like pulling a candy wrapper on both ends to unwind it. The screws want to pull out of the PVC “end grain”, much more so than wood spacer blocks. We’ll have to glue them.
Easier said than done! Sitting it in the sun to make it “bendy” doesn’t hurt. Thankfully only the one destroyed by the hurricane, now long gone, needs replaced. The other two that remain on the side between the shed and the garage are questionable, but still functional. But before installing the new stringers, those blasted “Asparagus Ferns” have to go!
Not sure who thought these things would be a good addition to their yard, but they are absolutely annoying! Thorns sharper than roses, impossible to eliminate, short of digging them out by the roots. And that’s what was done. Not a single one remains. If one decides to pop up later, it just means there’s a root that was hiding and overlooked.
Memorial Day Weekend Progress
Between replacing the stringers and modifying the design of the new curved turnout, it’s been pretty busy this Memorial Day weekend. But there are still many more stringers to replace. After placing the new 10′ diameter curved stringer, it was apparent the posts had been pulled out behind the shed when the new fence went up. The hope was they could remain in place. No such luck.
Without them in place, more time was spent guessing where those posts actually go than painting and installing the connecting stringers. But at least that’s done now and ready for track. Once it’s repaired that is. Anyone who’s ever used Aristo-craft track and had to deal with those tiny, fumbly 2mm screws knows what a pain it is to remove them just to reseat the rail in the tie strips.
Moving on to complete the remaining straight stringers now that the stringers behind the shed are complete. The diagonal stringer that forms the Main Street crossing is already in place, so the short connector sections are next on the list. Before long they’re assembled and painted and ready to install, along with a new siding extension. So in they go.
New Solutions To Old Problems
I bought a number of rolls of High Temperature PLA (HT-PLA) filament to print my own ties for the curved switch design and replacement tie strips. Other applications include cut stone block retaining walls and brick downtown apartment storefront buildings. As usual, nineteen different projects going at once, if not nineteen thousand!
One other item of note that applies to the wye switch, the curved switch, and the HT-PLA. Previously I had designed and printed insulated replacement parts for the SplitJaw™ clamps on the diverging routes of the wye using standard PLA. It quickly became apparent that PLA is no match for the Florida sun! Another one of those found out the hard way items.
Essentially the PLA slowly deformed in the heat until the track joints simply gave out and popped open with all the stress those curved wye leg rails are under. Hopefully this recent improvement of HT-PLA will fit the bill. But before using HT-PLA in earnest, it has to withstand the test of the Florida sun and heat. We’ll find out soon enough.
Surprise! Surprise!
Not much surprises me anymore, but I am absolutely amazed at the performance of this HT-PLA! The first test was printing and annealing 8″ long brick walls, fairly thin at ⅛” thick, then leaning them over the 4″ tall half height concrete blocks that make up the station platform and leaving them out in the sun all day. They remained straight and tall, no bending, sagging, or warping!
Next was 4″x7″ black cut stone block retaining walls. Same outcome! As expected, being black, they got hot. Really hot. Like nearly 150°F! I got out the infrared thermometer to measure. It and most of the turf were ~145°F! The darker green turf was even hotter at ~155°F! I don’t know how Rocket can stand to walk on it, let alone lay down on it, but I couldn’t get him to move from there!
Those cut stone retaining walls were entirely another project. I’ll have a post about them to link to soon. Let’s just say it took a number of different false starts just to get something that could be 3D printed. But after a few design iterations, it’s now a viable part of the station siding facelift. Let’s just say I ordered a LOT more spools of HT-PLA filament just for them. Stay tuned for more details.
Progress Continues
Fast forward a few weeks and it’s time to install the wye trackage, starting with the wye switch. The mainline switch and sidings have been installed for nearly a month now. Time to get the track and as much of the wye installed as possible, in anticipation of the new curved switch prototype.
The curved switch design began in earnest the beginning of May, and has slowly evolved into its current incarnation, using HT-PLA for the ties, frog, and throw bar. Even an adapter for the standard Aristo-craft switch machine. There’s even a preliminary version of a servo driven switch machine on the drawing board, now printed using HT-PLA. But that’s yet another project for another day.
The most difficult part of refurbishing the wye is already done, with the exception of figuring out which of the many curved flexible track sections are the two that go there. Actually, a number of them will fit, just not sure which are the right ones. But I’m getting ahead of myself again. Time to fit the wye switch in place. The curves will follow.
While We’re At It
While I was going through the rest of the flexible track sections looking for the wye pieces, I decided to figure out where the rest of them belong too. The original thought was to just get the downtown loop operational to be able to continuously run trains. That’s still a ways off, but the 4th of July will be here before we know it. We’re not missing that deadline!
It took a number of iterations to figure it all out, just like the wye legs did. For now the track’s all just laying on the ground approximately where it goes, waiting for another time to work on it. The remaining parts of the wye need finished before any of it can be connected, so it will have to wait until that’s done first. Then the drudgery of removing what remains of the rotted stringers begins.
Again, that’s not on the schedule. Not yet anyway. Just getting the continuous loop up and running is the goal, and it’s almost a reality. Just a few more things until the first test run! But those things are going to take another weekend, if not two, putting us well into June.
About That Wye…
Setting and levelling the stringers for the legs of the wye takes the entire weekend, but is well worth the effort. More excavation is required, but it adds more dirt to build up the embankment with. Enough dirt that the turf needs pulled up to allow contouring the additional overburden. But I’m getting ahead of myself again.
The turf is two long sections that are way too heavy to lift all at once, covered in a couple inches of leaves and acorns and gravel and already full of trapped dirt. You name it, it’s covered in it. All of it is slowly shoveled off and added to the base of the elevated track section just beyond using just that small, hand sized garden spade. Building up that embankment is slow going for sure.
Beyond that, the turf needs cut from beneath the long straight leg just to extricate it and excavate even more dirt to set those stringers in place. That hadn’t been part of the original plan. But because the turf’s essentially trapped beneath the stringers, it has to be done. Slicing the turf along the plastic edging that defines both sides of the right of way frees it up.
Can’t recall why it was done that way the first time around with just access openings in the turf for the posts. Perhaps the thought was it would reduce the likelihood of rot. The evidence proved otherwise. Perhaps it was more expedient. Certainly paying the time penalty now for that decision in the past.
Earth Moving
Thankfully it’s in a number of pieces, but even those are heavy. They are so heavy with trapped dirt I can barely lift one at all. The trick is to lift by an end or corner and shake the dirt loose into a pile that can then be easily moved where desired. Slowly but surely the dirt is shaken out of the turf, little by little, until the entire length is now laying upside down on top of the embankment.
More dirt needs moved and contoured with the flat shovel to shape the embankment. Posts need persuaded into place using the sledge hammer. Wiring needs rerouted and buried along the newly created “trenches” the stringers now sit in. Last but not least is cutting the remaining turf to fit the new topology. It’s exhausting work, in the midst of a heat advisory, but well worth the effort.
The embankment finally looks like an embankment. The wye finally looks like a wye. And best of all, it looks like it’s meant to be that way. Not an afterthought. Not a pile of dirt under the raised track section. Ann was not very happy about all that dirt at first, worried about slipping on it and falling while stepping over the tracks. But now she says it looks great, like it’s supposed to be there.
Unveiling The Curved Switch
Fast forward another weekend and it’s finally time to test out the prototype curved switch. At four feet long (~122cm), it’s a bit unwieldy. Getting it from the workbench and out the back door to the wye was a real feat, but it fits like a glove! Perfect! Can’t wait to see whether it works or just derails everything.
For now, just the 14′ diameter diverging route is connected to the North curved leg of the wye, but the 20′ diameter route provides the starting point for laying down the straight leg of the wye. The track for the other side of the curved switch can now be put back in place too.
That much needs to be completed to be able to lay the rest of the ground level track up to and around the curves behind the shed. Hopefully it’s apparent why starting from that mainline switch and working the wye and the rest of the track from there is mandatory.
Growing Pains
We’re using standard SplitJaw™ rail clamps on the mainline side of the wye switch and our homebrew “double” insulated clamps on both the diverging routes. In this case, double insulated isn’t meant in the sense of power tools, but rather a double length rail clamp, using four screws where the standard clamps use just two. Lots of growing pains there.
Every time I look, the dogs have once again pulled the joints loose or broken the clamps altogether! The prototype didn’t allow them to tighten all the way. Subsequent versions using annealed HT-PLA just didn’t have the strength. Many design iterations later they finally survive the constant pounding of fetching the ball and chasing the squirrels. Double insulated and now double thick!
And now that the rail clamps keep everything together, all the track moves together… Right off the stringers! This is going to take more than wire ties to keep the track aligned and remain on top of the stringers. Going to have to think about that one. First thought is something like the deck sections that hold the track in place for the station siding. We’ll revisit that later.
Growing Trackage
The curved switch is designed to replace a full 14′ diameter section (22.5°) plus an additional 1⁄3 section (7.5° – grand total of 30°). If geometry and angles aren’t your thing, it takes sixteen of the 14′ and 20′ diameter sections to complete a circle. It only takes twelve of the 10′ diameter sections (each section is 30°). The curved leg of the wye is a single piece of flex track just the right length.
Long story short, there are three remaining 14′ sections to place after the switch points bringing us to point due East. Those 14′ sections connect to two 20′ diameter which turn us Southeast. Those connect to two 5′ long straight sections, running diagonally across Main Street. A short connector section joins to another set of two 20′ diameter sections that bring us back to due East.
From there a 2′ straight section connects to three 10′ diameter sections, bringing us due North behind the shed. The mainline also crosses Main Street, but perpendicularly. It then connects to another set of three 10′ diameter sections, again bringing us due North behind the shed.
All Coming Together
It’s all coming together rather nicely. The only missing trackage is the 10′ diameter curves and the straight sections to connect them behind the shed (and all of the lower loop around the deck). I didn’t think I had enough of those 10′ diameter sections left that could be repaired, but it appears I was wrong. There were enough for all but one quarter circle, made up with flex track.
The remaining straight sections behind the shed will need cut to fit. Time to break out the tape measure, Dremel saw, and diamond files. Might also need a few new tie strips to hold the rails in place. My skills with the Dremel saw leave much to be desired. Nothing a diamond file won’t fix, but need to start thinking about designing and 3D printing a “chop saw” jig for making precise cuts.
That completes the entire continuous loop of track. It’s been a long time when we could last say that. With that much done, it’s time to turn to the wiring. But it’s already getting late on yet another Sunday out in the heat advisory weather. The wiring will have to wait for next weekend, along with running trains. As much as I’d like to test the track, patience is prudent.
At this point. it’s almost like starting over with the wiring anyway. Thankfully all the fuse positions and most of the cables are labelled, albeit upside down on the fuse box and weather faded sharpie on the cables. The three new wye cables aren’t labelled at all! Need to break out the multimeter and start testing. Next weekend.
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More to come. Stay tuned for Running Trains!