Construction update 6-2016

Construction has been continuing on the lower level, with track laid as far as Bliss, and benchwork completed far enough to connect to the pre-existing Fresh Pond Yard. (This is the third location for this HO scale Fresh Pond, it was built in Brooklyn then moved to Queens before trekking east.) One of the constraints encountered was that in this area, it is the middle level which is really driving the benchwork layout because the track layout at Hicksville only fits into the basement in one of a few particular ways. More on that in a bit.

Here is “Wheelspur Yard”, LIC queens:

And this is the temporaryDutch Kills bridge,

awaiting completion of the bridge proper:

The prototype relaid the track down the center of the span, some time after the running tracks were reduced from 2 to 1, so I bought enough bridge, as it were…

An overview of the most recent new area, Hicksville above, Maspeth Queens below.

 

This is just east of Greenpoint avenue overpass and “C” Secondary where the line becomes two track rule D-251. Allied Extruders, with its switchback move to enter is at the left, and the (very) new spur into Waste Management’s Review Avenue Transfer Station is on the right

And this is the west end of Fresh Pond Yard

 

Approaching Hicksville eastbound, here are some shots of the test fit. The track here was laid upon an xtrkCAD printout which had been jogged around by hand. I had to reconfigure because I found that there was enough room between the chimney and the green column to barely fit two tracks. This will allow for a wider aisle.

The light colored 1/4″ Lauan plywood will be the core of the viaduct structure that the station and interlocking are built upon.

(Above) Left hand into a wye enabled me to bend the track just enough…

(Below) The distinctive layout of two double-slips and the station on an elevated concrete viaduct are what makes this “Hicksville”

The original plan was to go outside the column at the extreme right. This meant that the entire area had to be slid around, and there was also a reconfiguration to the switches at the west end which was needed. In a happy accident, the layout morphed into something which more closely resembles the real world. I should play the lottery!

Cheers!