John's Alaska Railroad HO Scale Layout

September 2, 2020

LJ returns from Kentucky to get his hair cut for his upcoming wedding by his favorite barber. He allows time to have a train night dinner with us. Terry prepares one of his favorite meals, burrito casserole with a cheesecake for dessert. After his haircut he makes a brief stop at the train room to inspect the current work.	Work continues on replacing the dreaded "S" curve. Rick shows there is more than one way to skin a cat. Instead of using Liquid Nails to glue the cork to the plywood he uses Rubber cement. This adhesive is applied to both the plywood and the underside of the cork road bed. Rick places them together and they cure within ten minutes.	The cork road bed can be pulled up and realigned if necessary within the first minute or two. It takes time to apply the rubber cement to both surfaces, but track can be laid almost immediately.

Driving track nails into plywood can be tough. Rick uses a pin vise drill to make a small hole and then uses the track spikes to secure the rails into place.	By the end of the evening the mainline is in place. More than half of the siding is in place and will be finished next week.	This video shows two passenger cars smoothly traveling through the new mainline.

Rick adds two more passenger cars and the train flows smoothly through the new mainline. Success!

September 9, 2020

Well I forgot to buy cork road bed this week so Rick was unable to finish the Usibelli siding. Dang it! He did finish trimming the end rail of the current siding to accommodate the new rails. Next, he moves the Tortoise to the new switch position. Thankfully, the Tortoise moves closer to the AM-1 so the existing wiring was still of sufficient length.	We head to the garage and retrieve the last of the fascia fiberboard. Rick marks off the proper measurement for the new fascia piece for the entrance to the Usibelli siding (former dreaded "S" curve).	The slick sides of the fiberboard are sanded off for allow for proper adhesion of the paint. This should be the last time we need to sand fascia board so I can now return the palm sander to LJ!

Thankfully, we still had some Liquid Nails left over. Rick coats the top and bottom supports to properly hold the new fascia. As we finish this part of the project Terry sends up freshly baked chocolate chip cookies (at left) to energize the crew.	As we don't have clamps deep enough to reach the top rail/fascia surfaces, boards are force fit from across the isle.	Rick uses clamps on the bottom wooden rail/fascia surfaces. All this will be left in place for 96 hours to allow proper curing of the Liquid Nails adhesive.

September 16, 2020

A few months ago I thought I was finished with the "spackle and sand" routine. Nope. Replacing the dreaded "S" curve with the "Smooth As Glass" curve required new framework and....new fascia. I am almost out of spackle, but had enough to complete the job. Great! I hate going to the store. The above photo shows the northwest joint.	The southeast joint was a pain in the neck as I don't have tools to work the funky angle. In the end I used my index finger to finish filling the joint. This required lots of sanding to get a smooth joint.	Low on spackle? Heck I was even lower on black paint. I scraped the inside of the gallon paint can and had just enough to put two coats on the fascia plus touch up a few other scuffed areas on the layout. Let's hope this is the last fascia modification!

The nearest hobby shop is half an hour away, but I bit the bullet and picked up more cork roadbed. Tonight Rick puts rubber cement on the cork and puts it in place.	Rick follows this with code 100 nickle silver track. The Smooth As Glass curve is now complete!	Rick tests the new track by running four Ultradome passenger cars backward through the mainline of the Smooth As Glass curve. Next, he runs it forward indicating the mainline is good to go.

Next Rick runs the four Ultradome passenger cars forward through the siding from north to south. I am so excited! This modification was painful, but all the mess and hard work paid off.	Rick is thorough with his testing. This video shows the train running through the siding from south to north.	And finally this video show the passenger train running from south to north through the mainline. Many thanks to John Gray for diagnosing the problem and guiding us to the correct solution.

While running trains over the past week I discovered a mini reverse curve at the north end of the double track. This will be a somewhat easy fix as the switch just needs to be moved south by one passenger car length.	The passenger train runs smoothly in three of the four directions. When backing up from the main to the siding the train shorts out three times. We ponder the problem for an hour and Rick finally decides to take the train home for further analysis.	When it comes to scenery I will admit I am not the best. I spent quite a few hours on this mountain and although I am not happy with the results it does look better than pink foam board. The dark sand came from Seward. It is amazing the mountain weighs only about one pound and lifts off easily.

September 23, 2020

Over the past week I painted the new woodwork, cork roadbed and track on the "Smooth As Glass" curve. This is a view looking north.	A view of the painted "Smooth As Glass" curve looking southeast.	After a fabulous dinner of homemade chicken Parmesan and garlic bread the crew resumes work on the final reverse curve. Rick uses a Dremel cutting wheel to remove the track for the new high speed switch John purchased this week.

Using a paint scraper and Bowie knife Rick removes the old cork roadbed. The old Liquid Nails gives a good fight, but ultimately loses.	Rick test fits the high speed switch for track position as well as the access hole for the Tortoise switch machine.	All the old cork roadbed is finally removed.

Using rubber cement Rick secures the cork roadbed to the plywood.	The new cork roadbed, flex track and high speed switch is now installed. All joints are soldered and joints filed smooth.	Supervisor Max continues his research on his book, "Ten Ways to Fall Asleep at Work and Not Get Caught!"

Rick sends high dome passenger cars forward through the mainline. No problems! Not shown in the above video is successfully reversing the train through the switch.	Rick sends high dome passenger cars forward through the siding. Success! Not shown in the above video is successfully reversing the train through the switch. Next week the Tortoise switch machine will be connected and the entire layout will become fully operational.

Feel free to contact me at john@alaskarails.org
Page created 9/4/17 and last updated 10/2/20