Post #19

 Well another month has passed by, and no sign of any trams running as yet but plenty of background work being organised.

I have finally sorted out the baseboard and I feel the size is large enough to keep me occupied for a while, scratchbuilding and plenty of plastic buildlings to be assembled and weathered up. All likened to a box of Lego pieces where it all comes together eventually and looks like what the instructions said it should.

I had some drama I shouldn't admit to, it was one that put me back around two weeks. I had the two uprights done and the perimeter of the frame work. I then secured one cross piece in the middle thinking that would keep it stable. I was trying to raise the sheet of 8' x 4' up onto the frame  solo but it was doomed to failure. The sheet was up against the rear support and as I tried to raise the sheet up onto the frame, it decided to collapse in a heap. A few broken pieces of timber but worse still the rotating bearings ended up bent and required replacing. So much so that all of the ball bearings in the unit ended up all over the floor. Well back to Ebay and order another two. The bearings have a declared 66lb each so I don't know if I should be weighing everything that goes onto the layout or just wait for the crash?

As revealed previously the bearings provide rotation to the baseboard to (theoretically) allow work on the underneath from a stool. The days of lying on my back looking up are gone, so the results of this experiment will eventually make it to these posts.

A further measure towards non collapseability (is that a word?) I have secured a fold up leg in each corner. Now I can actually lean on each corner without worrying about collapse. These legs have to be hinged so when I need to rotate they are folded up out of the way.

The baseboard was finally lifted up into place onto the frame, I was confident that enough support was now in place to prevent the second collapse. It was a good feeling to actually get this far. Also to accomodate the 10" radius curves I have extended the length by 200mm and the width by 100mm. This has required purchase of a smaller sheet of ply and the cutting up ready to be connected to the main sheet. The smaller pieces can be seen in the photos.

Rotation plate

I have stayed with the original concept plan for the layout. I feel it will offer plenty of operation in future. The trolley barn will be built over four roads but only two trolleys long on each road (indicated in the photo by the top of a kit building box). There will also be an outside road long enough to enable the Electroliner to be parked there. Also a single short siding to hold the sprinkler cars and or freight motor.

Where the barn will be

Opposite view from above photo

The track on one side of the barn will be made utilising Peco track and points because I already have them and it will also speed up construction. I have purposely made the barn at an angle in one corner. This to me adds interest but also it adds another area where a crossing loop will be built on a single line section, making it forced operation. And in studying photos on the web for ideas for the layout I came across a photo of a dead end track at Aurora. It is beside a river and has a timber waiting shed. This will add some interest (I hope) and a destination and dead end track to reverse direction at.

Aurora terminus. Photo www.trolleydodger.com

Overall view

So that's where it is up to at the moment. Baseboard is in position and a 95% agreement on the layout design. It is easy to design on a 'flat' level but when all the buildings and tele poles are added then another dimension needs to be considered. There is no way a 10 storey building would be considered for this size layout.

More next time.