LK&O

A Railroad with Relevance

Module #12

Written By: Alan - Mar• 14•16

Well, the railroad has mod 12made it all the way round the layout to the Potomac River at Kitzmiller MD. On the other side of the river is the last module to be built thus completing the track laying on the upper deck.

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If you recall from the last post, I forced myself into reverse installation of modules by breaking from the module/connector/module sequence of construction. Lesson learned – think long and hard about where module joints are positioned. While it is only a minor inconvenience now, it will complicate removing module 11 or 12 in the future. A cross I will have to bear. Not all designs can be gems, right?

With module 12 in place I installed module 11 and the mine spur. Now I can construct and install the connector (#8) between module 11 and module 9 in a normal manner. All completed modules are wired in and functioning correctly.

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Module 12 was an easy build. There are no circuit breakers or occupancy detector circuits mounted on this module. The circuity that powers and senses trains on module 12 is located on the adjacent modules. Track buses and a lone switch machine is all there is to it.

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Speaking of circuitry on other modules, there are three different occupancy zones on module 12 (switch, main, siding) that have to get across the river to module 13 to connect with their respective controls. I did not want 12 gauge wire running across the bridge itself so the wiring takes a path around.

Here it drops off of module 12 at the river:

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Takes a path behind the river alongside hidden track:

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And then emerges on the other side of the bridge ready to attach to module 13:

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That’s about it for this installment. Not real exciting I know. But it is for me. I’m almost to the end of the upper deck!

I am really happy so far. At least my track laying doesn’t look like this. 😉

wavy track

Until next time…

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5 Comments

  1. Rob Clark says:

    Hi Alan…
    I have to say that it’s a real treat seeing your progress photos. The precision that you apply to every part of the process is both impressive and slightly scary.

    Regarding your module joint issue:

    “Not all designs can be gems, right?”

    Many years ago and old (and much respected) boss of mine said “There are only two types of plan – lucky and lousy”
    It was of course a provocative and fun statement, but it has stuck with me over the years when plans haven’t worked out. The world doesn’t end – the plan is a template for success rather than a guarantee.

    Best regards

    Rob

  2. Antoine L says:

    Can’t wait to hear about your Railpro experience when everything is wired up and running.

  3. Alan says:

    I have used RailPro extensively testing modules during their construction. RP performs as advertised. A delight to use. I too look forward to using it on the completed layout. No reason to think it won’t perform.

  4. Jay Beckham says:

    I really love the photo of the mine. I am in the process of designing a mine for my O Scale layout. I could not find any additional information on the mine or what your plans are for it. Is the structure itself anywhere on your blog?
    Thanks

  5. alan says:

    Jay,
    Nope, sorry. The mine structure at this time is nothing more than an idea in my head.

    There is a poorly done Photoshop rendition here: https://lkorailroad.com/connector-8/

    and a single photograph here: https://lkorailroad.com/welcome-to-maryland/

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