Sunday, June 5, 2011

Houston, we have a problem.



After months of successfully running trains through the west staging yard, the last couple of days have presented amazing challenges that are causing me to re-think this whole side of the layout.

Well, at least the bits that are under ground and virtually impossible to reach.

I'm not sure if a heat kink has developed (the layout is in the attic, and it got hot as hell last week), or there's debris that's fallen on the track, or if my haste in laying the recycled c80 flex I used down there is rearing its ugly head...  But it's turning out to definitely NOT be ready for prime time.

It's been exacerbated by the installation of the yard office desk, which makes the distance between the aisle and the exit throat unmanageable without extraordinary effort.
The problem is on the right side.

This is the "as built" drawing, and you can see how far back the turnouts are from human contact, and this is made doubly challenging because the vertical clearance is only about 6".

That view pretty much illustrates the problem.

In retrospect, I should have brought the helix around another 1/4 turn, and placed the turnouts closer to the front edge, as I did on the east end in the original construction.


Why I didn't take this into account is beyond me.  And I'm afraid that in the present condition, an easy solution is too.

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