April 14, 2009

The main track into Canonsburg has been completed (see the bridge in the background), so it is time to start laying the track in Canonsburg. This is a complex piece of track work. I decided to wait with this area until I had some experience under my belt laying the track in part of the Washington area, and the entire track of the Shingiss area. However, now the "fun" begins. I have built one #4 turnout in Washington so far, but there are seven turnouts and one crossing to build in this area. Several of the turnouts are wye's. However, I find that with hand-laying track, it doesn't really matter whether the turnout has one straight side or both are curved; it is easy to make them fit into whatever is needed. The templates shown in the next photo are only guidelines. There are several #4 turnouts and a couple of #6's. In the back where the ties have already been laid, you can probably make out the crossing in this area. I purposely designed that into the layout, because I've always wanted to build one. It does, however, serve a purpose; it gives me just about a freight-car-plus-engine's length of maneuvering room to reach the industries in the foreground.

April 18, 2009

I spent most of my free time this past week cutting and laying ties. The result is shown below.

April 27, 2009

The next step was to stain the ties.

Followed by some strategic placement of weeds at the end of industrial spurs. They will eventually be trimmed to look more uneven.

It was then time to ballast. This took several days.

And the final touch, before rail construction can be begin, was to age the ties and highlight the ballast. This step took two days.

June 7, 2009

It took me quite some time to build, but the area now has a crossing installed. The next photo shows the main line track coming in from the Shingiss area (over the bridge, in the top left). The main line curves into Canonsburg. The straight track that crosses the main line will be used for moving freight cars around in the area. Most of the time it should not be blocked, so it was decided that crossing the main line would be OK here. Continued construction of the main line is the highest priority right now.

July 13, 2009

Due to some non-model railroading projects and activities, construction of the track in Canonsburg has been slowed, but not stopped. It took me a month to build the next turnout (in calendar time; not in actual working hours!). However, it is a significant turnout, because for the first time on the Chartiers Branch, I can do switching work. The next photo montage shows #5912 arriving from Shingiss and delivering a boxcar to the "Alman Cash & Feed Store". The engine will ride on some temporarily placed track to allow it to exit the turnout.

August 14, 2009

Since last month's update above, I have completed another #4 and #6 turnout in this area. The track in the lower-right corner of the photo below is the end of the layout. That track represents the mainline going through Canonsburg. The Tortoise switch machines controlling the three turnouts built so far are all on their sides, because structures and scenery will be right above them. All that remains is four more turnouts and some spur track to complete this area.

August 27, 2009

My first official wye turnout has been completed (the one front and center). For two weeks (see photo above) the PRR gondola has been sitting at the spur. Thanks to the completion of this turnout, it could now be moved to the pocket on the left, and a PRR boxcar could be delivered to the spur on the right.

October 9, 2009

The trackwork for the Canonsburg area has been completed. It took nearly 6 months to lay this track, but I have enjoyed it. This area includes 7 turnouts and one crossing. The track is all finished and painted, but I still need to hook up the last three Tortoise switch machines. The two in the front are in their approximate position, but they still need to be mounted.

October 15, 2009

I thought last week that with the trackwork done, I should be able to quickly finish the remaining tasks, but it still took me almost a week to finalize the last three Tortoises. Then today I ran my one engine across all the track in Canonsburg to make sure it all worked. There were a couple of wrongly-connected wires, and one wire which I had forgotten to connect. I needed to tweak one turnout's throw range. All went smooth after that. This next photo shows the engine at the most distant point in this area. This area is now officially finished, except for scenery.

After cleaning up the layout, I was able to do some switching with my two freight cars. The runaround worked great for getting the gondola pushed onto the track on the right. The track plan I had developed allowed for 40-foot freight cars, and now that it is built, it appears to take the cars just fine. In 2010 I hope to expand my fleet and do some more intense switching in this area.