Resuming work

After a short summer hiatus, construction season is back on Hedley Junction. I painted all tracks at Donohue. The consensus among us is to complete the paper mill scene first and quickly.

Before moving forward with more scenery (we decided to model late May instead of late April), we reached an accord about completing the code 83 track conversion program. It means all rail in Montmorency and the peninsula will be replaced with Peco tracks.

I often discussed about enlarging the peninsula. After some thoughts, we decided to keep the track where it is, but to enlarge the river scenery. Having atrack near the fascia on a highly scenic part of the layout really reduce the overall impression. Now, there will be about 12 inches of scenery in the foreground. Louis-Marie already started the complex carpentry job with is amazing skills.

The next picture shot from the passenger train in Charlevoix last weekend gives a good idea of what I want to achieve in term of scenery with the peninsula.

We also ended the long chapter about the returning loop located on the peninsula. I asked Jérôme what were his conditions to remove it. The answer was simple: a long enough runaround siding to make operation easier in Clermont. "Can do!" I replied!

To keep the actual mainline geometry and have room for the siding, I had to be creative and think out of the box. Peco Code 83 curved turnouts are nice piece of engineering, but fitting them on a 24" radius curve ain't easy, or so we think. The answer was quite simple. Using an Xacto knife, I cut the plastic webs linking the ties together the same manner flextrack ties are made. It means only the outer rail kept its webs. Once done, I heated the turnout with a hairdryer and gently bent the turnout. Yes, it does work fine if you are careful. The result was a 24"/30" radius turnout fitting perfectly the actual roadbed.