Westlake Publishing Forums

Thanks. I now know what a pocket screw hole looks like, that my parents' dining room table had some, and how its builder created them. I also hold Frithjof in an even higher level of awe. -- Russ

As the harbor area is to be served by both motor vehicles and the light railroad, I had searched the WWW for pictures showing light railway tracks embedded at street level.
Especially since - unlike the Lauenburg prototype - I also want light railroad trucks to load sand from the sand bunker.
The field railway sleepers and rails would certainly be a hindrance to truck operations!

On June 1, I visited the Rammelsberg World Heritage Site in Goslar on the occasion of UNESCO World Heritage Day: click

There I was able to photograph exactly what I had been looking for on the internet and came back with lots of ideas!

There are some great alternatives there! So I will probably experiment a little with replicas between and next to the rails and try to imitate stone, wood, concrete and asphalt.


Rammeldberg_Straße-Schiene__10 (fspg2)


Several contact sheets with four pictures each have been summarized, if you want, you can see them here!

So far I have always talked about modules... but strictly speaking, they are segments that can only be assembled in this way and do not offer any standardized transitions to third-party modules!

So I have now started to glue 60mm wide and 5.0mm thick MDF panels to most of the areas on my harbor segments that are used by both the light railroad and vehicles. These were previously drilled with the CNC router for the 0.8mm rail nails and 3.0mm holes for attaching the track gauges.


Spurlehre-26,7mm_02 (fspg2)



Spurlehre-26,7mm_03 (fspg2)


No rail plates are fitted here, as they will not be visible underground anyway. In addition to the rail nails, superglue will fix everything in place.


Hafenmodul_12 (fspg2)



The sand bunker can be bypassed by the field rail locomotives via the two points on the second and third segments in order to pull the loaded wagons back again.


Hafenmodul_13 (fspg2)



On the left, the two small points in the foreground serve the old storage shed and the four-position lock shed.

Hafenmodul_15 (fspg2)



Hafenmodul_16 (fspg2)



The old storage shed is operated via the small Brangsch field turntable. In contrast to the version available here, I could electrify the disk I have installed later.

As things stand at the moment, however, I will be operating these segments with Deltang and its successor micron radio control, so the disk will not be wired.

Hafenmodul_17 (fspg2)



Hafenmodul_18 (fspg2)



Hafenmodul_19 (fspg2)



Hafenmodul_21 (fspg2)

Outstanding. -- Russ

I really like the way this is shaping up!

A little further progress was made on the segments.

The two front turnouts are mounted on sleepers and should later be freely visible and not be driven over by road vehicles.

The sleepers for the first modules had already been sawn in 2008 from old fruit crates that had survived for many years in a garden shed... Of course, there was still a box with some leftover sleepers.

As already described on March 14, 2008, I also stained these field railroad sleepers for the visible area again with black shoe polish dissolved in isopropyl alcohol.
If the application became too "watery", I simply dipped the small bristle brush into the shoe polish again and rubbed it onto the sleeper.
After the alcohol has dried, a brownish-greyish color remains as the basis for further aging. The blackness of the cream remains in the deeper grain of the thresholds. In any case, I like this color tone quite well to start with, as it already gives a hint of weathered wood.


Schwellen beizen_01 (fspg2)



I had already pre-drilled 0.8 mm holes for the rail nails on the CNC router for the rails that will be embedded in the road area.
It turned out to be not really practical!
The upper hook of the rail nails could only be pressed into the vertical holes with great difficulty. The hook head bumped against the rail head and had to be turned to the side with small pliers each time, pushed in a little deeper and then turned back again before it reached the rail foot.
The solution was simple! The parallel rail profiles were aligned anyway with the help of the track gauges, which were fixed in the pre-drilled holes with the 3.0 mm screws. Now I drilled angled holes about 5.0 mm deep into the MDF boards on both sides of the rail profiles using a 0.9 mm drill bit. The 9.0mm long rail nails were then positioned in the drilled holes using small pliers and fixed in place with a small square peg and light taps with a hammer. After a visual check, all the nails were additionally secured with a small drop of superglue.
 
Schienenklammern-schräg_01 (fspg2)


 
So today I was able to lay the first burnished rails to the engine shed and the old storage shed.

Hafenmodul_22 (fspg2)



Before I can burnish the left rail profile, it had to be pre-bent according to the course. At the points where the switch blades touch the outer profiles, I still have to file the corresponding recesses into the rail foot tomorrow.

It's amazing how quickly the segments were covered with all kinds of tools again!

Hafenmodul_23 (fspg2)



The tapered rail profiles of the centerpiece are to be cut to size tomorrow using a wood jig (or perhaps Pertinax). The drawing with the correct angle was taken from the template and used to create the milling file.

Feldbahnweiche_222-Herzstück-Lehre_01.gif (fspg2)

It gradually is coming to life. -- Russ

As already announced, I have once again milled Pertinax gauges.

The first jig was used to give the tapered frog rails a clean cut edge.
The rail profiles were placed in the corresponding groove, and I fixed the Pertinax jig to the Böhler circular saw with small clamps. Using a 0.5mm saw blade, I slowly plunged from bottom to top while pressing the inserted profile down with a piece of wood, you can see the result here:

Feldbahnweiche_222-Herzstück-Lehre_02 (fspg2)



The next jig was made for a left-hand and a right-hand turnout. This allowed me to insert all the individual parts accurately and solder the previously pre-tinned rail profiles together with a little soldering water and a 40 watt soldering iron.




After a sandblasting shower and subsequent browning, I was able to fit the first two points on the front module. Three movable tongues and the assembly of the turnout setting levers are still missing.

Hafenmodul_24 (fspg2)


Hafenmodul_25 (fspg2)

Beautiful trackwork, The wagons should operate flawlessly on it.

Disgustingly perfect. -- Russ

Looking good!

In the meantime, a bracket has been mounted "underground" for the old scales, with which I can vary the installation depth before finally gluing it into the base board.

Alte Waage Lbg 97 (fspg2)



The road level is now 15.0 mm above the base board. This gives me a lot of leeway in terms of depth when designing the rest of the road level...

Alte Waage Lbg 98 (fspg2)



The first attempts to create a pavement similar to the original already look quite acceptable.

Alte Waage Lbg 100 (fspg2)



Alte Waage Lbg 101 (fspg2)



Alte Waage Lbg 102 (fspg2)



Inspired by the pictures of the Rammelsberg shown on June 8, I will try to make the surface very varied.
In addition to the cast ceramic bricks, asphalt, tar, wooden planks, concrete slabs, gully and manhole covers will hopefully provide an interesting variety.


Various fillings will also be seen between the rails in the road area.

Rammelsberg_Weichen in Straße_01 (fspg2)



I would have had to buy 3.5mm x 3.5mm brass L-profiles for the lateral boundary of this area... apart from the current price, I decided on a different solution.
Plates with two V-grooves were milled from some leftover brass plates. After annealing, the sheet metal bending machine was used again.

Biegemaschine (fspg2)


(Blechschneidemaschine mit selbstgebautem Einsatz zum Biegen von scharfen 90Grad Winkeln)


an_der_Kante_biegen (fspg2)



Unfortunately, the lateral protrusions had to be longer than the 3.5 mm required, otherwise I would not have been able to achieve a clean bend.

Begrenzungswinkel_01 (fspg2)



Once inserted as a test shows that the area between the rails and the plate still needs to be colored dark!

Begrenzungswinkel_02 (fspg2)



Unfortunately, the edge of some of the panels tore open during bending. In order not to exceed the exact outer width of 22.7mm, I milled a small Pertinax jig and was able to repair all parts quickly. (The rail spacing is 26.7mm - so I have 2.0mm between the rail and the limiting plate for the wheel flanges).

Begrenzungswinkel_03 (fspg2)



The remaining nine point setting levers were also fitted.

Montagelehre Weichenstellbock 01 (fspg2)



In addition to the sand bunker, there was also another sand storage area, which was bordered by wooden walls.
The only two pictures I have are taken at different times.

Originally, the crane stood on supports on the sloping bank. Here you can see the plank wall to the right of the three sand bunker supports.

Münzel_Kran_LEA_02 (fspg2)

Münzel-Kran_Lauenburg (Copyright W.Hinsch-LEA)


The following photo shows the sheet pile wall, which was probably built in 1959/60, from the water side.  The board wall, slightly tilted by the sand, makes a wonderful motif for a replica.

Münzelkran vom Wasser aus gesehen (fspg2)



The model replica of the sand pile will cover the edge of the two neighboring modules as a removable structure.

Sandhaufen-Gerippe_01 (fspg2)



The supports are 3.0mm x 4.0mm brass H-profiles, which are soldered into corresponding recesses milled with a 0.5mm milling cutter.

Hafenmodul_28 (fspg2)



The frame is milled from 5.0 mm HDF boards and can be completely lifted out later if the modules need to be moved.

Hafenmodul_29 (fspg2)


Hafenmodul_30 (fspg2)

As always: extremely impressive work.

Bernhard

Satisfactory. -- Russ

fspg2,
More terrific work and I agree that the variety of pavement and dfferent fillers between the rails will be really interesting visually.

Inspirational. Beautiful craftsmanship.

Stuart