Southwest Ave Extension

Southwest Ave started as a module consisting of two segments:

The segments are sitting on their wall mounts, to the right is still attached a short extension to allow operating, to the left a similar extension is already removed. The two segments were designed from the beginning to allow an extension in the the middle. This does not only affects the track plan but also that every single track has to end square to the end of its segment.

I bought the plywood needed at a local carpenter and he also cut it as needed, so building the modules wasn't an issue.

The picture above shows five new modules, built and painted, arranged in a fancy way in my garden. The extension for Southwest Ave is in the middle, all other modules will be used for new projects.

The following picture shows the left segment of Southwest Ave. To the left follows a corner module, to the right the center segment will be inserted:

The following picture shows the right segment of Southwest Ave. To the right follows a corner module, to the left the center segment will be inserted:

The following picture shows the freshly inserted center segment of Soutwest Ave. The roadbed is already installed:

Center segment after finishing trackwork; the long track in front will be a team track, the track at the rear a lumber dealer:

I'm building modular not only because it's very convenient to work with and even moving wouldn't be a big deal but also because I'm attending FREMO meets. So the modules and their segments will be moved quite frequently. The most fragile parts are the rail endings. It's not sufficient to rely only on the plastic sleepers, a more rigid fixation is necessary. At first some brass screws are placed:

Then their heads are cut off, the rest is filed down to exactly match the rails of the new track to be layed. After glueing down the new track the rails can be soldered to the brass screws - that's a very strong fixation!

The next step will be adding the missing ties, followed by the usual procedure of painting the rails rusty, weather the ties, ballasting, and so on. Finally the brass-screw-fixation is completely hidden: