And still nothing done.

The first week of my annual leave is almost done and not a cracker has been done on Victoria Street. As I work through the list of other tasks designated, the main one this week is improving the storage of books in the front room, which included a trip to the Swedish shop of flat pack furniture plus a side trip to the hardware store.

While this project may not be directly layout related, the construction of the 'library' will result in freeing up space in the man cave of literature..

So far the art of hanging cabinets on a wall the is twelve feet long and eleven feet high with a door in that wall, has utilised my years of engineering experience and know how.

All was going well with the mounting of the timber rails which will support the cabinetry until I received a short, sharp lesson in one of Newtons Laws of Physics, gravity!  Yes, I went base over apex off the ladder and trestle. The resulting crash together with an outburst of some old Anglo Saxon, had the bride running up the hall to see what mischief that I had done to myself.

As I lay somewhat uncomfortably on the floor and some construction materials, blinking and slowly doing a stocktake of potential injuries, the bride inquired if I was all right. (Does it look all right!)

I extracted myself from the mayhem slightly winded, nothing broken, nothing bleeding, but knowing full well that this will hurt eventually,  with the resulting bruising that is somewhat similar to ones that cranky thoroughbreds deliver.

After a coffee break, and some words of self belief such as "suck it princess", I tidied up the work area before Worksafe were notified, and continued on, a little more slowly and  carefully than before.

From under the debris in the front room.
Glenn.

On the road to nowhere.

After about three weeks of doing 3/5ths of 5/8ths of nothing, I ventured across town to the Labor Day Weekend exhibition at Sandown, just to have a look for some inspiration for Victoria Street, with my two girls in tow, little cash or time were spent at either at the vendors and/or the exhibiting layouts.

This exhibition is more aimed at the young and the young at heart, so this would have to be one of the very rare times that I have paid to walk into a racecourse, then walked out with the same balance in ones wallet that one entered with. All in all, it was the usual traders, exhibits and merchandise these shows have in common.

After dropping the kids off at the outlaws, I wandered off home to think of what needed to be done to the layout, hence the title, the road to nowhere.

 

The finished 'junction'

(road surface will hide the multitude of sins)

With Victoria Street undergoing an expansion, the concept of 'beyond' needed to be redefined  after extending the layout left of the railway bridge, then the end of the known world at 4mm/1'.   Therefore the new reverse curves now include a 'junction' going off scene into the foreground (Albert Rd) to the rest of the Melbourne tramway system.

The extra trackwork was made up of left over pieces of flexi track, nothing really scientific, rails of the diverging track soldered to one side of the running lines, rails for the crossing and points were filed, trimmed, and glued with five minute epoxy. The running rails were then given a few strokes of a needle file at the 'frogs' for the appearance of flange ways that provides the necessary clatter of tram traversing point work.

All of which managed to work with rollingstock without shorting out the Powercab.

The junction will now allow some tramway running rules such as-

     -trams from/to the branchline (Ammo Factory) shall give way to those trams from the city.
     -trams must make a compulsory stop at facing points, check setting before proceeding.

All of which is pointless, much like the 'junction'.

 

Setting the gauge of the point

(waiting for the epoxy to set)

 

 

A closer look at the junction

(note the gap between the diverging rails and the running rail

at the diamond so not to short out the Powercab)

 

 

Another angle of the tangle.

 

 

Give it another week, then I will be on annual leave, so the layout and rollingstock should get some attention after I complete the list of household projects as directed.

 

 

From the unwired end of the layout.

Glenn.