Beyond the loops

Now that the staging loops are complete I can move on to the rest of staging. However, construction still won't be straightforward because the next linear 6' or so are a complicated, tightly-packed in mix of 3 levels of track, including two custom made bridges. In order to get this right I'll need to build a little bit, check and measure that everything is still going to fit, built a bit more, etc.

Still, progress will be noticably faster, even though I'm still lucky to get an hour per day in on the layout. Here is where it was on January 22, only two days after the staging loops were done:


There's a lot in this picture that has changed since the last post. To start with, along the wall you see a long (6'+) level sitting atop 4 support piers that will be used for the entry track of the top tier. As you may recall, this has to have an upward grade (right-to-left in the photo) of just under 1% to climb 1 7/8" in just under 20'. All kinds of measurements were taken at first, to make sure the grade was accurate. Then I started by building the highest pier, then built a pier about 6' away that was the right height for the grade at the point. Then, I set the level in place and started adding the intermediate piers, using the long level as the height guide. I'll will continue this process later for the rest of the grade.

At a few points on the layout you can see squarish shapes of cutout cardboard with lines drawn on -- these cutouts were used to determine the exact size and location of the subroadbed for the three tiers. Once they were confirmed by measurement I transferred their outlines to 1/2" plywood and cut them out.

You also can see that the support piers for the mid level are in place for the part of the layout that is on the desk top.

Two days later I took the next two photos:



This shows the subroadbed cut out and sitting in place (but not permanently anchored yet) for middle and lower tiers. You can also see that the subroadbed for the middle tier return track is in place and the first of the two custom bridges is in place, although at this point it is still removeable (and will be until the lower tier track is in place and tested). If you look closely you'll see the cardboard cutout for the upper tier bridge lying atop the middle tier.

Another view of the same stage of construction, but cleaned up:



I removed all the subroadbed that was not yet affixed and vacuumed under it. This will be the last time I can easily vaccum this part of the desk, as the subroadbed will soon be constraining access to the desktop, so I wanted to give it one last good clean.