Steel Mill Module 3 Redesign - Part 3

Last night I started lining up the rails on the end-plate template. I soldered the rails at template height and aligned the gap between the rails. Next, with the template still in place I began boring the new frontier alignment pin holes. The new holes did not interfer with the old pin system so I didn't waste anytime filling in the old alignment holes. Drilling the new holes straight is a very import step in the alignment system. I used a speed square and a line level taped to the top of my drill to help ensure that the holes are drilled as straight as possible. Next, I removed the template and sanded the end plate flush to remove any over-hang of wood and rail. Then I used my Dremel to scribe a line between the rails and between the two (2) tracks on the mainline to isolate track current. As you can see in the photo, I'm just cutting through the copper plating on the circuit board.

As you can tell by the last photo, I began messing around with aligning the new track to the existing track. As you can tell by the photo, the two (2) siding tracks will have to be shortened to accommadate the curve off the 21" branch line. The two (2) main's have the gradual sweapping curves we like on the main's. It appears there will be a little room between the main's and the branch, if you noticed there's a stub of a track in the photo that could lead to a unloading site for covered hoppers maybe? H'mmmm.

Steel Mill Module 3 Redesign - Part 2

Well summer time yard work has been cutting into the modeling time. No suprise! I cut and placed a new luan roadbed piece to re-route the mainlines back to 8 and 10" inches. I used my template to get this dimension. Once I glued and stapled the piece in place, I aligned the template to the front edge of the module. I cut a couple of pieces of circuit board that the rail will be soldered to (it will replace the rail ties at the frontier. I drilled holes and counter bored the the circuit board, then I used "Walthers Goo" to hold the board in place and screwed down. Once everything dry's I'll solder the rail to the circuit board. I will have to used my Dremel to scribe a line between the rails and between the two (2) mainline tracks to isolate the current. Once the rail has been soldered down, I can make the final alignments to my template in order to drill the in-plate alignment holes.

Now that the frontier is pretty much lined up I can start to figure out how to arrange the track. The 21" branch-line ended up being further back than I would have liked. The two (2) sidings that I planned on storing scrap gondola's is going to be getting shorter. I had to pull up more track on the 8 and 10" inch mains to allow for a gentle curve, this resulted in cutting the feeder wires to the rail. If you'll notice I cut them leaving about two (2) inches of wire on the rail. This will make it easier to re-connect the wire.