I changed my layout from one to two main lines and made the outer one from a larger diameter radius track. This was necessitated when I purchased a new Aristocraft SD-45 CSX diesel engine at the Central Florida RR show early in Oct. When I got home, I found out that the curvature of my existing track was too tight for the new engine, so I got a wider radius curve track and decided to expand my set up to two main lines, so that the diesel runs on the outer loop while my Bachmann 4-6-0 steam engine runs on the inner loop. I had to clear out a lot of dirt and plants to make way for the change. Made a number of trips to get stone dust and small-size gravel for the bed and borrow on several occasions a wheel barrow. I also made a scalloped red brick wall around the garden area so that the rain does not wash the mulch onto the track.
Below are some pictures showing my progress.
The pictures below show the finished layout.
It features an Alaska RR on the inner loop, a reminder of our great trip to Alaska and a CSX RR on the outer loop.
Don't some of these scenes look real? I particularly like the one above where the CSX is turning the bend around the mountain with the water in the background.
I made a red brick wall around the garden part and added some SMALL plants. As can be seen in pictures of my old layout, Most of what was there was getting just too big and were transplanted. If you look closely, you can see some the the roses I planted climbing up the trellis.
To run the CSX diesel, I converted it to battery power. I got the necessary parts - QSI board, G2 receiver, batteries, and connectors - while at the Florida train show early Oct. I also had to buy an Aristocraft CSX box car to house the batteries. This was done so that the coupler on the battery car lines up with that on the engine. Below you can see the battery installation in the box car. To the left are the batteries, held in place by velcro. At the door enclosed in the black box are the necessary controls: fuse at top, on/off switch with red led on left, and the jack for charging on the right. This is the car just behind the CSX diesel locomotive.
Earlier in the year I had my Bachmann 2-6-0 steam locomotive converted to battery power. The battery pack and the necessary electronics are housed in the tender. The electronics comprise a receiver to recive the signals from the hand held controller, a QSI board that controls the sound and the engine speed, a speaker along with a switch, fuse and charging jack. The difference between this and the CSX setup is that in the CSX all the electronics are incorporated in the engine while the batteries are located in the trailing box car. This is a nice feature about Aristocraft engines.
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