Fillin the gaps

With the majority of the track done in the new yard, the next thing I needed to do was to fill in the missing ties.  This is done by simply removing some ties off old track, slicing off the spike heads and slipping them under the rails where the ties are missing.

I used PECO C55 this time and since the rails are embedded further into the thicker ties I had to find some thinner ties.  I scrounged up an old section of ME C55 flex and started removing the ties.  As before, I sliced off the spike heads and sanded them down a bit so they'd fit snuggly.

 

Ah, much better!

In a case like this where I used insulated rail joiners, I took another section of ties and shortened them on one end (close to where the rails would sit) so they will just butt upto the insulated joiner.

In this situation, again, I had insulated joiners but really couldn't shove them under the center track, so I got creative and shortened the middle section and did the outer two sections as before.

Now if any of the ties are loose, I'll come back with a small drop of CA glue to hold them into place until I get the ballast installed. 

I suppose there are better ways of doing this, but this satisfies my needs.  The ME ties are narrower and thinner and they do not match the PECO ties perfectly, but these will do fine.  Once the track gets painted and ballasted they should blend right in, besides that, most ties are installed unevenly anyway.  But at least you won't see big gaps in the ties.

Just another quick video...

 ...to prove I've actually been working on the layout.

Nothing much special.

The new engine facility

The rail joiners finally arrived today, only 2 weeks late!

As of now this is how the engine facility will look.  Only thing left to do is to finish securing the tracks, drop the feeders and connect them.

At present, they are just tacked in place as I'll probably make some minor adjustments moving forward, such as shortening the three facility tracks a bit.

For reference I updated the rough drawing.  The blue dotted industrial tracks will come later.

Recently, someone asked me what NB & SB meant.  This is where I'll pre-stage the cars that go South and North, and the Running track is an open track that the consists can use to get to one end of the yard and to the other.

In due time I hope to get videos made showing how the session will start and how the tracks will be used.

  

Gettin closer

What's finished...

I got the inner rear staging track connected, secured the turnouts leading into those tracks, then I dropped and connected the feeders.

The engine facility/caboose track and the industrial lead is still laid out temporarily as I'm waiting on a few turnouts and metal rail joiners to arrive.  Once everything shows up, it shouldn't much to wrap that area up.  Then I can get the rest of the feeders connected.

With the area I have to work with now, I decided to go with two engine facility tracks and one caboose track.  The caboose track will also be long enough that I can use it as a MOW track to store my track cleaning cars on it so that they are ready to go when needed.

The rest of the industrial trackage won't get laid out until I get some buildings assembled and placed.  But that will likely be awhile as I have more pressing things to work on.  

As of this post I can now run a train through the yard, Yay!  But the rest of the layout still looks like a storage shelf.