C&S Mainline Arrives in Brooks!

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Friends Kevin and David came over last night, and we finished laying roadbed and the main line through Plymouth and into Brooks. Of course, only about half of the benchwork for the town of Brooks exists at this point. Brooks will have a passing siding, a station and a couple of places to switch cars, so once that benchwork is in (and a couple of other little things get done) it won’t be long before trains can actually run on the railroad.

There’s still about a 3-foot gap where the trestle at Mount Harris – Common Hill will be, as I’ve not really solidified the plan for the trestle there yet. For now, we’ll be installing an IPB (Impossible Plank Bridge) to get trains running across the gorge.

Image by and Copyright © 2012 Troels Kirk

After seeing this photograph from Troels Kirk’s Coast Line Railway, I decided to change my plan for the bridge between Corinna Mill and the area approaching Plymouth. My first inclination had been for that to be a trestle as well, but I’ve now decided that it will be a stone bridge. While not exactly typical for a Maine two-footer, I think a stone arch will just look “right” for that scene.

First Roadbed, Now Track

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I had a little time this evening to get back down to the basement and play trains a little more. I decided to put down a bit of track on the new roadbed. Yes, I know the support issue still needs to be dealt with, but we’ll discuss that in more detail tomorrow night — heck, we might even do something about it.

Anyway, at this point it’s conceivable that a train might actually leave Corinna, and venture as far south as the station at Plymouth.

I’m trying something new with the track laying. Wish me luck on this. Instead of nailing the track through the cork roadbed and into the plywood subroadbed, I thought I might try using the LocTite Power Grab adhesive to secure the track to the cork. I have been told that this works well — once the stuff gets a hold of something, it just plain doesn’t want to let go. We’ll see how well this actually works. At least the Micro Engineering flex track is not the “springy” kind.

To put the track down, I pre-shape the track piece that’s going in and set it aside. Then I slather about a 1/32″ layer of the adhesive on the cork where the track is supposed to be, carefully connect one end of the track, and set it into place. A little pressure is used to “set” the ties into the glue. It seems to grab pretty well within just a few minutes.

I generally prefer allowing my switches to float a little, so no adhesive is applied in under them, except for about an inch at each end, just to get them to sit still. I rediscovered that the Micro Engineering switches have a bit of a hump to them, so I’ll have to drill through the tie at the center and use a single nail to get that under control.

I’ve let everything alone to set over night. Tomorrow will tell how well this actually works. The guys are coming over tomorrow night, and we should be able to make pretty quick work of the trackage up to the bridge at Mt. Harris/Common Hill, as well as the roadbed beyond the bridge heading into Brooks.

Heck, we may even try to run a train!

On The Roadbed Again

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Today I laid the roadbed from Corinna Mill all the way around to where the bridge at Mount Harris – Common Hill will be.

Never mind that the layout is still supported on a couple of rock-n-roll speaker stands, or that we hadn’t gotten to raising the layout that 1 1/4″ I wanted to. I had cork and glue!

More Benchwork!

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Yesterday, Kevin and I finished up the benchwork for the area between the towns of Brooks and Plymouth, which includes the Mount Harris/Common Hill area. In other words, benchwork for the peninsula area.

Sorry ’bout the horrible cell phone pictures. Once I get a little further along with things like lighting and proper support in the area, I’ll take some better shots.

Right now, everything for the peninsula is supported on two heavy-duty speaker stands and a photo strobe stand. Most of them materials for the support structure is on-hand. The plan is to use some modified shelving units from Ikea to provide support and much needed storage space beneath the layout.

You Get What You Pay For

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At the most recent Great Scale Model Train Show, I ended up running a couple of my old Bachmann Moguls all day, both days. They ran great, and looked pretty good, all things considered. But, they were awfully quiet, as I hadn’t yet put any sound system in them. And, since they aren’t going to be regular runners on the Corinna & Searsport, I really wasn’t too keen on the idea of spending a hundred bucks each or more to add sound.

What to do?

Digitrax SDH164D

Digitrax SDH164D

I was looking around on the Litchfield Station web store, and noticed that they had the new Digitrax SDH164D for under $40 each. I figured that for that price, I’d give them a try.

To be perfectly honest, I’m not all that impressed. Sure, they huff and chuff, and there’s a whistle and bell in there. Maybe I’ve become spoiled by the tremendous sound quality of the SoundTraxx Tsunami and ESU LokSound decoders, but these decoders from Digitrax sound downright toy-like. The closest thing I can think of to compare it to is the ill-fated MTH Loco-Sound system that MTH put in their least expensive train set engines for a while.

I’m sure that in a train show setting, where the acoustics are terrible and there’s lots of background noise, the SDH164D will be just fine. In that environment, the sound is primarily to entertain the kids, and let us know by the sound that our train is still running around the layout. But, if you’re considering this decoder for a more exacting application, be warned: You get what you pay for.