November 2023
Redirection Along the Wall
21/11/23 10:35 Filed in: Roadbed/Track
We return to the hidden track.
I ended the previous 'Projects' post with a photo of the "unwanted view of the hidden track running along the wall." Also refer to the 'Plans' post entitled 'Discusssions and Decisions.'
Looking down the hidden track from the doorway
After discussing the situation with Brian and soliciting opinions via email, I determined the long hidden track needed to be revised.
Looking back the other way, showing where the backdrop is cut
Instead of forming a reverse loop, I decided to divert the hidden track through the backdrop into the shop room next door where it would access a fiddle yard.
Track scraped up. . .
I cut a slit in the backdrop so it could be bent back into a hole in the wall behind it.
. . . then roadbed and sub-roadved cut and pulled up
The fiddle yard will be a removable module that will sit on my workbench and represent an unmodeled quarry.
Roadbed flipped over to curve in opposite direction
I was able to simply flip the subroadbed and roadbed over and use them to curve the track out of rather than into the room.
Belina Test
07/11/23 07:42 Filed in: Scenery
While the big cardboard was out, I decided to mock up some scenery ideas for the peninsula.
Belina backdrops have been mentioned in hobby publications over the years as a way to hide a turnback curve at the end of a peninsula. 180˚ curves are far more common on model railroad layouts than real railroads. Jerry Belina came up with an idea for preventing someone from being able to stand at the end of a peninsula to get a view of the tracks on both sides with a tight loop of track connecting them.
View from the layout room door of the Belina drop and high ridge view block in place. They make it much easier to focus attention on the area around the wye.
There is a turnback curve around the end of the peninsula on my layout. The benchwork extends about a foot beyond it, as I anticipated the need for some tall scenery between the track and aisle to "enclose" the view of the track and prevent the appearance of the trains curving tightly in order to avoid running off the edge of the layout.
A layout visitor would have to walk all the way around the peninsula in order to see this scene. The high ridge view block curves and runs parallel to the wall blocking the view of the hidden track while still allowing access to it from directly above.
My plans for scenery on the peninsula have always included a high ridge running down the middle to block the view of one side from the other. The ridge would have to curve as it approaches the wall to block the view of the hidden track that runs close along the west wall. Not being able to visualize how that was going to work, I wanted to mock up the view blocking scenic profile for the center of the peninsula, and a Belina drop for the end.
Turnout at extreme right is inaccessible with Belina drop in place.
The mockups were generally successful. The Belina drop did indeed prevent the view of the track around the end of peninsula from being distractedly drawn into the aisle. But there is a turnout in the turnback curve around the end of my peninsula which the Belina Drop renders inaccessible. The high ridge running down the center of the peninsula is an effective viewblock except from the prespective of the layout room doorway. Standing in the doorway it is very easy to sight down the long hidden track running along the wall regardless of the high ridge.
Standing in the doorway provides an unwanted view of the hidden track on the right running along the wall.