Gwabegar is complete

It has been some time since my last post but then things get in the way like building a Sellers turntable from a kit for AMRM. The review will be published, I believe, in the April 2010 issue of the magazine. So to read about my turntable kit build you need to buy the next issue of AMRM.

Back to the layout. Over the weeks since my last post the staging yard the is "Gwabegar" has been completed with the track and point work all laid and the Tortoise machines installed and wired to a panel. The baloon loop that will provide continuous running (after I figure out the automation of the point motors needing to change to allow this to happen. But that is another project) works fine with the necessary smart electronics to do the polarity change "on-the-fly" as a loco passes through the gaped section.

Having completed the track work and electrical stuff for the point motors I have now completed the spiral that leaves Gwabegar and raises the main line up to the level that will be Merrygoen. As with the Gwabegar yard Merrygoen will be built on a flat section of ply so the next stage is to put in place the necessary supports and to that end I will be using the wall to provide the rear support struts will support the ply on the front of the layout. There will be some bracing of the ply using real timber but only as much as is needed so as not to restrict the access to Gwabegar.

In addition the entire base for Merrygoen will hinge at the wall to allow work under the base as well as improve the access to Gwabegar for maintenance in the future.

Once the supports for Merrygoen are in place and the ply fabricated to the dimensions required the will, I guess, be the long awaited "working night" on The Coolah Branch layout for the usual group of modellers who I tend to hang about with every second Friday night.

I have also included a number of pics that show the construction up to now.