Progress on the Bekin United Railroad (BURR)
While I may not have been updating the web page very frequently, I have been working on both the BURR and the FSM Franklin Watchworks diorama.
The most significant change to the layout since the last time this was updated was the moving of the layout from the garage to the house. I found that the temperature swings and the fact that my wife and I were in completely different parts of the house caused me to work on the layout less than I should. I had tried to bring the modules into the house to work on them but found that there was little incentive to put them back in the garage.
The modules would only fit in the 'train room' in one configuration. This configuration caused the industrial module to jut out into the doorway opening. After some calculations, I found that if I reduced the width of the industrial module by 12" I could fit both modules into the 'train room' and still be able to easily walk in and out of the room. Since the primary purpose of the industrial area is to switch the industries, and the fact that the industries are already closely grouped, I decided to remove the main line tracks in the back. Unfortunately, this causes the main line tracks behind the yard to also be of no value. The reduction of the module width by 12" left a 12" gap between the modules. I needed to maintain the original relationship between the modules to maintain the 30" radius curves. I created a new 12" by 36" section to add to the industrial module to maintain the curve radius.
Once the calculations were verified, I modified the industrial module and laid the track. In order to lay the track I had to make all of the turnouts 'DCC ready'. All of my turnouts are Shinohara turnouts. I followed Allen Gartners instructions on how to modify turnouts. I then started installing the Tortoise switch machines.
After installing a few switch machines I wanted to start working on the scenery. I spent some time with the Walther's catalog and determined which buildings would go where. I needed to verify that the building footprints would fit between the tracks. By reducing the back of the industrial module 12", I forced myself to use either building flats or the new background structures that Walther's is producing. I purchased two of the background buildings and chose to build "Centennial Mills' first to see what it looked like. You can read about the construction of this structure in the structures section
Revised: 09/14/2004