Starting the bench work for Carlin

I have been waiting for the arrival of some materials for the Wesso section before I could proceed with it any further so I decided to get started building the bench work for the Carlin section.

This section is 91 inches long and meets the next section to it's right between wall brackets.  When both sections are both ready to be installed, they will be bolted together.

This section will have removable bottom plates with LED lights mounted on them to light up the staging yard and the display case.

This photo shows the difference in elevation between leaving the lower helix at Winnemucca on the west end of the layout and the east end of Carlin.  The climb around the entire room will be gradual.  Most of it will be in the canyon at the opposite end of the room.

Lower helix conclusion

1/8 inch hard board was used to wrap around the outer parts of the helix.  This will eventually be painted to blend in with the walls of the room.

Another piece of old 2 x 2 Ntrak module leg was installed on the outer edge of the "Winnemucca" section on the top,  this is grey in the photo.

In last October's Helix Progress post I had mentioned that there seemed to be a bit of a twist occurring in the helix sections causing there to be a slight difference in the spacing in some places.  I was able to solve this by making 4 spacing strips that hold the outer edge at a spacing the 2-/14 inches between levels.  One of these was mounted on the outer edge between each all thread rod.

Each loop of the helix has a pair of 22 gauge feeder wires which are connected to a 2 position terminal strip.  Then that terminal strip is connected to the output of a PSX-1 under the helix.

This photo shows the connections for the inner or WP tracks.  The connections for the outer or SP tracks are on the opposite side of the helix.





While this marks the completion of this lower helix, there will eventually be another helix stacked on top of this one that will connect the other end of the layout to a return loop and siding that will be above Wesso after the layout goes all the way around the room.

Land contours for the Wesso section

Been working on creating the land contours for the Wesso section of the layout.  Both the SP and WP lines follow the route of the Humboldt River and both lines cross the river many times.  I'm sure in the long history of the river and railroad co-existing the tracks have been washed out when the river has risen and the railroad has learned to build up the level of the tracks.  This is a type of scene I want re-create on parts of the layout including on this section.

This view of the prototype is typical of the type of what I want to represent on this module with the tracks built up in anticipation of the river possibility rising.

On this section I am using a combination of Woodland Scenics plaster cloth over cardboard webbing for the river bed and insulation board and drywall joint compound for the sides of the built up areas that the tracks are on.

I'll talk more about the river in the next post.

Bench work for Wesso

Here is an overall view of the Wesso section bench work.  It is 24 inches deep at the widest parts and about 80 inches long.

I built this section of bench work very much like a module for a portable layout.  The side railings  beams are 1/2 inch plywood and the deck is 1/4 inch.

The path for the rail lines was raised above the surface with blocks of 5/8 inch plywood.  This section is set 5/8 inch lower than the adjoining section so the level for the tracks on both is the same.

Land contours will be done with insulation board but I wanted solid wood under the road bed.

A river bed was cut into the flat surface were a pair of bridges will carry both the east and west bound lines over this first of several crossings of the Humboldt river.

As I did when working on the yard, this section will be resting on wall ledgers so it can be easily removed to work on.