dividing layout in two to move house advice

[bluedepot]

I am hoping to be moving soon... end of this month if it all goes to plan...

Unfortunately I need to divide my layout into two halves so I can move it.  it is on two 150cm by 80cm boards, they are bolted together with 3 bolts. That's the good news!

The bad news is the track is laid down across the join in the boards.  ok ok... I know now that wasn't so clever!

See picture below...



The end of a pencil is at the top to show the join (although you can clearly see it on the running lines anyway).

The running line at the bottom (which I refer to as up ml) is not a problem.  I can dig up a few cms of ballast to the left of the join and detach the track.

The other running line (down ml, one up from bottom) is more of a problem.  I can either dig up 65cm or more of ballast to remove it, or cut through the rails with a circular cutting disc. any advice?  I could always solder the rails back together again once the layout is moved and bolted back together. it's just going to be really annoying to remove a load of ballast, relay the track (ensuring it is flat to the board), and then try and make the ballast colours / weathering all match up!

The set of points into the sidings will have to be dug up.  I am resigned to this. I have seen people cut through points, but I won't attempt that as I think it will just cause problems. it was a daft idea to have points over the board join anyway so I only have myself to blame!

The line at the top. which leads to the small depot building, I can either cut through or dig up.  any thoughts?

The fiddle yard is (obviously) not ballasted so that is totally easy to sort out (6 loops, 2 sidings, all can be taken up over the join for the move).

I do have a dremel somewhere but never used it with the circular saw before.

As for the wiring... that's going to be a nightmare.   My plan at the minute is to cut the bus wires in 4 places, then re solder them back together once boards re attached.  Signal / point wires i'll just have to cut, label and re solder together if necessary. That's annoying but not that hard.

So any advice please, esp. on cutting through the rails with a circular saw!

In my new flat I will have a spare room for the layout to go in... so my bedroom will be free from all railway junk!!!  The lounge is quite large as well so I could move the layout into there if I need the other bedroom at some point.

If I ever get the layout finished or in a presentable state with some actual scenery I will organise an NGF Leicester meet up in my flat with free tea and biscuits!


Cheers,


Tim


P.S. Note to self, build micro-layouts in future...

[EtchedPixels]

I would dremel the trackwork except the point which I agree maybe a lost cause.

If you slide fishplates right under one side before you join the boards back together you can then line and bolt it back together and using a screwdriver slide the fishplate across the new joint.

Do however clean the ends of the rails and check the fishplate fits on both before bolting it all together!

[ozzie Bill.]

I'm with EP, use the dremel. in my (limited) experience it is much easier to reconnect at one point - such as the break in the board - rather than several remote locations that may be over .5 metre apart.  Good luck with the move, Bill.

[Newportnobby]

Shame about the point, Tim, as I wouldn't recommend cutting that
I've found that Xuron cutters create a very small gap though for your other lines.
As EP says, once the boards are parted slide fishplates fully onto one of the tracks and when re-assembled, just slide them across.
Best of luck

[Bealman]

Good luck with the move!

[NinOz]

The bad news is the track is laid down across the join in the boards.  ok ok... I know now that wasn't so clever!

The running line at the bottom (which I refer to as up ml) is not a problem.  I can dig up a few cms of ballast to the left of the join and detach the track.

The other running line (down ml, one up from bottom) is more of a problem.  I can either dig up 65cm or more of ballast to remove it, or cut through the rails with a circular cutting disc. any advice?  I could always solder the rails back together again once the layout is moved and bolted back together. it's just going to be really annoying to remove a load of ballast, relay the track (ensuring it is flat to the board), and then try and make the ballast colours / weathering all match up!

The set of points into the sidings will have to be dug up.  I am resigned to this. I have seen people cut through points, but I won't attempt that as I think it will just cause problems. it was a daft idea to have points over the board join anyway so I only have myself to blame!

The line at the top. which leads to the small depot building, I can either cut through or dig up.  any thoughts?

As for the wiring... that's going to be a nightmare.   My plan at the minute is to cut the bus wires in 4 places, then re solder them back together once boards re attached.  Signal / point wires i'll just have to cut, label and re solder together if necessary. That's annoying but not that hard.

So any advice please, esp. on cutting through the rails with a circular saw!

Piece of cake.
Cut through straight tracks with a thin blade and rejoin with fishplates (as mentioned above).  If resulting gap is too big, a little bit of solder to fill at the top (avoiding the fishplates) or a piece of plastic card in the gap and smooth with a file.
Remove point and on reassembly move to the right to avoid join ( I assume that it will all be moved again in the future).
If you used PVA to glue the ballast then a 50:50 mix of IPA in water will quickly release the glue.  Can reuse the ballast if you need to for colour matching.  Although relaying with a less weathered ballast can mimic freshly repaired track with new ballast.

Wiring is just label each side, cut at the join and reassemble using screw terminal blocks or similar.  Ready for next move.

Don't know about the circular saw; never used one as I couldn't find one with sufficiently large diameter to give a vertical cut, I am sure there are some available now.  I always used a razor saw but you need one with lots of tpi because of the thinness of the individual rails or risk ripping out the rails from the sleeper base.  Wouldn't use nippers of any form as they deform too much.

Careful with the labeling.  At work I asked a tech to label all joints when we were moving some instruments which had lots of non-colour coded wires.  He did but with removable labels.  Carefully wrote all the connection points on the cables and instrument labels.  They all fell off during the move.

CFJ

[Robin2]

I've tried cutting rails with a Dremel and cut-off disk. It wasn't a success. The body of the Dremel gets in the way so the cut won't be vertical and I found it impossible to hold the Dremel steady enough to make a thin cut. I reckon my cut was 2 or 3mm wide by the time I was finished.

Now I use a Xuron cutter - but remember it will cut better on one side than the other. Also, I'm not sure how easily the Xuron will cut if the rails can't separate while being cut. If it was my layout I would resign myself to inserting short pieces of new track across the join after the move and just hack through the existing track in whatever way was most convenient.

If you have time you might consider cutting the wiring and adding suitable connectors before you dismantle the layout. That would allow you to verify that everything works while the rest of the layout is undisturbed.

...R

[NeilWhite]

Hi

I would use a Dremel with a cutting disk to cut the tracks. Whenever this comes up people say that the fact that the cut won't be vertical is a problem. I don't see why this is a problem. Using a Dremel (or similar) you can rest the body of the Dremel on something solid (e.g. the track) to steady it as you cut through, and get a fine cut. If you do get a larger gap than you would like it can be filled later with glue or filler (e.g. Milliput). On a straight section of track I think you can get away with a reasonable size gap without doing any filling.

I would do the same to neatly cut out the whole of the point that spans the join. Then it would be relatively easy to replace it after reconstruction. 

Why is the fact that the cut isn't vertical a problem?

For the wiring, perhaps you could put in multi-pin plugs and sockets (e.g. D25s? - have a look at Rapid or someone to see what is available) now to join the wiring up. Then you could test the joins before dismantling the layout and getting it all going again afterwards should be easier. Alternatively you could terminate everything in terminal blocks on either side of the join, and use temporary links to join up for now. That way it will be easy to reconnect everything up afterwards - just put straight links between the pairs of terminal blocks.

Neil

[Oldman]

As said by others, do the wiring first.  Use multiway connectors and check every thing works before you do anything else.
Think the point will be a write off, put it down to experience.
Personally would use a razor saw if possible on the rest of the track. Cutting wheels will work but could clog when you get to the plastic sleeeper base.

[Rabs]

I personally don't see why the point would be a particular problem - that's the same place that people often put cuts into points for isolating the frog anyway.  You might as well try cutting and rejoining it. If it doesn't work it's no more effort to replace it after the move than it is to do it now and who knows, you might find it works fine and not need to.
I'd use a dremel (with a steady hand) or a small razor saw and just cut all the rails along the line of the join.  I'd then protect the ends of the rails so that they don't get knocked in the move.

[Sipat]

Good luck with the move... what area are you moving to? I know theres a few n gaugers here in Melton.
Steve

[bluedepot]

Hi everyone,

Cheers for all the replies!

I'm feeling much more confident about it now!  some excellent tips!  I will re-read this thread a few times before I move to action!

what razor saw should I use if I don't go down the dremel route?  how about this 42tpi one?   the razor saw I have now is a bit old and blunted after much use in the past.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zona-Ultra-Thin-Razor-Saw-42tpi-NEW-SA35-150-/400115828526?pt=UK_Hand_Tools_Equipment&hash=item5d28c3072e

I don't actually have the right bits for the dremel currently (just been through the box to look) so would have to buy some.

cheers again,


Tim


P.S. moving just a mile south of the city centre, not far from where I am now.