CV 14674

Finished another CV wagon. This one made out of styrene. Roof is dried out hand wipe over planked styrene. Most other details as per S wagon. This one a little cheaper as the brake cylinder is made from scrap sprue. The lettering is printed on an inkjet printer, coated with flat enamel then thinned down by rubbing on sandpaper and attached with PVA.

Fully planked S wagon

Just completed a fully planked version of the S wagon apart from some weathering. Made from scrap ply , paper, card, tie wire, phone wire and tea bag strings.
The W irons, wheels, couplers and the K brake being other peoples work (GME, Slaters and Kadee).
The brake shoes are an experiment using tie wire and solder. The brake spiders are cardboard soaked in shellac.
Total cost - about $40

X200 shunting its train

The scene slowly develops as details are added. In some cases only temporarily. Here we see the X200 bringing its short train to feed the local industries. Of course business is a bit slow at the moment as none of the industries have any structures yet :>)

New siding

Currently no space can be found to accommodate the existing shelving and that needed to extend the layout around the garage walls. I decided the loop may have to be placed on the outside. So, the point that was put in place to continue the loop inside at the northern end has been extended into another siding. This will provide some space for extra locations to spot goods vehicles and will add some much needed variety. Basic scenicing has been commenced in this area.

Electrickery

The wiring was completed at the same time as the track was laid. All points are operated by a slide switch and the frog polarity is controlled by the same device. All tracks are bonded to a wire bus located under the front of the boards. Control is DCC ( Digitrax Zephyr) and I have installed a throttle bus with several outlets available along the length of the layout. As the rains have returned after a very short pause I have taken to building some more track at my workbench inside ready for installation. My usual construction methods may be a little on the fragile side for use outdoors so I still have a decision to be made in that area. The most obvious and well tested track outdoors is Peco but I would like to only purchase one type of rtr track for use both indoors and out. It's a pity I wasn't modelling British prototype as their code 124 bullhead would be ideal.
Structures and ground cover are moving up the list of necessary jobs to be done.

Ballasting

I thought a bit of ballast would not go astray down one end. Given the shed has dried out a bit and the sun is shining I hit it with some spray can grey and some reclaimed ballast from the HO and S gauge layouts; a mixture of Chuck's and my sieved dirt. It will need some more work to finish it but at least the pc board sleepers blend in without any real effort required.

Trackwork

Only a couple of feet of siding to be now installed and scenicing can commence. At least a train can now shuffle up and down. Despite wading in water for most of the day the bulk of the trackwork has been completed.