May 2017
The major project for 2017 started here. There has always been a hump formed across the tracks where the previous owner had grafted on an extra baseboard section (to form the road bridge under the track) at the joint between boards two and three. One side was about 7mm too high and was quite a step up. It had been lived with for long enough, causing random uncouplings of stock passing over it.
Now the main line rails were cut and pulled out, and the sleepers were taken up with a chisel. Point motors were also removed, leaving quite a large hole where they'd been installed directly under the track. A spirit level doubled as a straight edge and a bit of merciless routing work dug out a fresh channel for each main line track, making quite a mess in the process - but it was good fun!
In the end the result was a perfectly flat trackbed over which fresh track was laid (and also a brand new set of crossover points, but that's another story). By the time the track was relaid over this new surface, trains were running more smoothly than they have ever done. Even Dapol HSTs remain coupled at any speed!
Surveying with the straight edge, the shadow tells the story of the hump, with it being clearly visible above the road bridge and falling away to the station on one side and the level crossing on the other - with a height change of around 7mm (1/4 inch) across about 100mm (four inches) on the station side.
The track was pulled up, leaving just the brass screws at the joint between the two boards to be removed.
A straight edge was screwed to the board and routing work began to dig out a flat channel for the new trackbed.
The result was a smooth new trackbed that would produce really smooth running.
Looking the other way you can see the humps and wobbles on the inside line, and there's still more routing to do on the outside line.
After routing, what we had was a nice mess, even with extraction switched on during the routing process. It's best to grin and bear it at this stage.
The depth of the cut on the outside line can clearly be seen here. You may ask yourself, that can't be right, but that's a flat surface, really it is.
The outside track bed after routing - nice and smooth!
The outside track was relaid and two coaches were placed on both lines for comparison. The one on the right seems to have gone mountain-climbing - yes, that's how far raised the track was across the hump.
Now the inside track got the same treatment, although it had to be a bit more brutal on this side. The rails were removed and everything else was routed out, except the Bridgebury Arms public house which had to be removed to avoid it being squashed.
Track relaying was started - and a new crossover was installed over the board join. How wise a move this is remains to be seen, but the board join provides a lot of natural track isolation.
All of the track had now been ballasted and tested, although the wiring under the board was interesting. The pub is back in place, an important point with all the thirsty navvies working on this line.
The rail sides have been painted with acrylic brown - the basic minimum for decent-looking track.
The new ballast has been weathered with brown acrylics - dry brushing on a mixture of brown and black acrylic, although this can be tricky as it dries lighter than you might expect. Anyway, that's it - all done and ready for the next show.
March 2017
The branch line fiddle yard at the right-hand end of the layout (from the operator's point-of-view) was found to be lacking in storage space (even after all these years), so in early March it was upgraded and will eventually be connected to the main fiddle yard. There's still possibly room for one more siding too - before and after photos shown below.
