I have been working on the river scene today. It's a good day for it, since it's only 13 degrees right now (3:17 PM as I type this). It was down to 11 at 8:30.
I installed an Atlas re-railer into the track just before the liftout to catch anything before it heads onto the bridges. These will be disguised as a road crossing. Yes, I know: right into a wall. Hey, ya does what ya gots to!
The feeder wires to this section, which is isolated to prevent long drops to the floor, were originally underneath this area of track, so they will be relocated behind the re-railers. The track joiners will be soldered as well.
Two pieces of older flex track have given their rails for this project. Let us have a moment of silence in memory of their sacrifice............... OK, now that that's over: I used the rails to make a single rail across both bridges. Each bridge kit came with two rails that slide into the bridge, but that would have meant a rail joiner between them. I didn't really like that idea, so I used two older pieces of flex track for their rails. I slid the rails into one bridge and then into the next. It makes a surprisingly strong assembly.
I used a narrowed down strip of .030" styrene on each side of the Warren truss bridges to fill in the I-beam web and give a place to glue the ends of the deck bridges to. You can see the white in the photo. I'll touch that up with some pewter gray to match the bridges. Gluing the bridges together REALLY stiffened them up! You can also get a better look at how the rails cross the bridges seamlessly.
I used a thin cutting blade on my moto tool and cut through the rails on the liftout.
The feeder wires you see will be un-soldered as all the track on the liftout will be replaced when the finished scene is integrated into the layout. I will be installing new track as though the liftout were permanent, and then re-cutting it to ensure correct alignment.
Next I removed the track and roadbed from the area where the bridges will be and marked the cut lines on the liftout. I originally thought about trying to carve the end abutments in place, hence the reason for the second line 1/2" in from the the outer lines, but then decided I would make the abutments off layout and fit them in. The reason for that is that the deck bridges will have to have an angled slot carved into their abutments for the sloping beams to nest into.
Also if I screw one up, it'll be easier to fix.
The plan for the middle pier was always to carve it off layout to fit the bridges, then cut it to height. This is looking at the 'back' of the liftout. When operating, I will be on the other side.
Next step (gulp) was to cut up the liftout. I drew what I wanted the river to look like, then cut it out. I use a saber saw with a fine metal cutting blade set at an angle to give the banks a little slope. I think it came out alright. (Whew!)
Here is the bridge assembly set in place to give an idea of what this will look like. This is looking at the front of the scene, as it will appear during operations.
The plan for the river is to have the actual river about half as wide as the cut out. The other half will be some cork to represent a sandbar, on which will be some fishermen camping out. I don't think I'm going to go for a glowing fire, though, as this will be a daylight operation. There will be a walking trail carved into the bank from the sandbar to the top, where there will be a parking area.
My original plan was to have the trains, and remember that operating direction will be from left to right in this pic, first cross the deck bridge, then the truss bridge. But then I got to thinking (yes, dangerous I know) that since the town of Soggy Bottoms is going to be to the right of this scene, it would be more logical to have the camping scene and access road on that side. That means the sandbar will be on the right. You may be wondering why I don't just have two back to back deck bridges. Notice how far down they come? I wanted to have a truss bridge to allow clearance for river traffic. Since the sandbar is going to be on the right, that means the river, and the truss bridge, will now be on the left. So the trains will first cross the truss bridge, then the deck bridge. Need to be adaptable.
I have some 5/32 cork tiles left over from a different project, so they will become the sandbar. I will use two layers and bevel the edge for a slope.
The black cable thing you see is the power connector for the liftout. I had a couple sets of 1/4" headphone jacks (male and female) laying around so I decided to use them to power the liftout. Since the track 1 foot before the liftout is electrically isolated, I am using 1 set of jacks to take power from the main bus under the layout over to the liftout using 16 gauge stranded wire for flexibility. This goes to a terminal strip on the liftout to which there are feeders going up to the bridge track, and also another set of 14 gauge stranded wires going back out via the other set of headphone jacks to the isolated section of track before the liftout. When the liftout is not in place, a locomotive cannot get near the edge of the chasm. And if the liftout is in place, but the jacks are not plugged in, same thing. It may not be purdy, but it works and it was free!
Now I need to sand all the old adhesive and foam out of the riverbed. I'm going to wait for a warmer day and do that OUTSIDE!
I appreciate all the kind words from everyone. I wish I had more time to devote to this, but after 10 hour days of doing my job, the weekend is the only time I have the energy! Knowhutimean, Vern?
