September 26, 2011

Apologies for the lack of posts over the past little while.

Admittedly, not a whole lot of stuff going on other than things taking up weekends (GETS in Edmonton, Railway Days at Heritage Park, good weather and obviously taking advantage of it before snow flies.) to get stuff done.

However, a few bits to report on:

1. A restock of Code 70 ME flextrack arrived, so I’ve got enough to lay trackage on the visible portions of the peninsula.
2. We’ve secured the trackage in the Parksville yard.  I’m also getting a fair number of feeders wired for that trackage as well, including the port sub trackage on the middle deck.
3. I’ve built a few Bullfrogs, now that I know how to make them work effectively (ie: take some of the spring out, wax the moving friction bits and voila.  Works wonderfully.)  I’ve also installed two of them – one at south siding switch Mud Bay and at the Ballast Spur just south of that.
4. I’ve acquired and received a few more bits from FastTracks, including an assembly fixture for doing the curved 30″/40″ #8 turnouts and a few more quicksticks.  As a result, getting trackage laid through the Parksville industrial area will be happening soon and we’ll be able to connect a few more bits of trackage together.  (thinking south of Bryn all the way through to where the port sub enters the helix!)
5. We’ve got another piece of backdrop installed, so most of Parksville has a backdrop installed.  We are learning that the “Murray school of glue” is desirable here.  For those who don’t know, Murray is one who figures that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth OVERdoing.  Thus, his glue applications tended to be quite excessive.  The backside of the masonite is quite rough owing to the manufacturing so the excessive glue is better to ensure a good bond.