With Chicago yard mostly done, I've moved on to work on the layout's West side of Chicago. I decided I would map out where the roads go and get those down, because most of the buildings are already in place (the buildings are like a divider down the peninsula with one business on one side and a different business on the other). I'm using Kancali Brick sheets, which though pricey, are very nice when done. I also needed to install six Blair Line grade crossings.
In the first shot, you can see the grade crossings laid out in place, but not glued down. You can also see where the road has been mapped out on the foam.
Here's a closeup of three of them. The only problem is, with my Atlas Code 100 track, the thinner strips that go next to the rails stick up too high on the oversized plastic "spikes" that hold the rail in place. I didn't want to cut the spikes off, because I was afraid it would allow the track to go out of gauge.
The solution was to sand them down using 150-grit sandpaper. The wood is either bass or balsa, and the heavy sandpaper made short work of them. Here you can see the original thickness on the top piece and the new thinner thickness below it.
In case you didn't know what sandpaper looks like...
Here they are in place. I gave them a quick coat of Delta Ceramcoat Quaker Gray. The tie details bleed through, so you just slop on the paint. I superglued them to the tracks. I forgot to mention that the center pieces did NOT require any sanding. They set low enough between the rails that they were fine as-is.
I also gave all the boards a basic black chalk scrub using a paint brush.
This one was a little tricky because of the way they come together, but it came out pretty good.
An overview of the street before the brick sheets are cut.
Here's the street with the brick sheets down. I'll paint them once they are in place. It's easier than painting them on the bench because you can use the paint to hide any gaps between sheets.
I also decided on some street trackage on this side of town. The Kancali sheets have a little stone-lined section that works well for that. The bricks go in the middle, with the heavier blocks along the rails. I had just enough to finish the trackage. It will be really close to see if I have enough brick sheet left to finish the street. If not, I'll just "pave" parts of it, just like the real thing.
Here are some shots of the testing of the street trackage. If you see some "ramps," it's just the brick sheets resting on the T-pin head I use to hold the track in place.
The dotted line gives you a rough idea of where the street will be (it will actually be narrower than drawn). I also will be adding something to hide the big gap between Delta Foods and the back of Fluid Dynamics (the brick building to the right).
A look down the street...
Where the traveling crane is resting is the future home of Chicago Tool. The crane will actually sit at the end of the tracks with one wheel in between the two spurs and the other on the far side of the dock you can barely make out. There's just enough room for a truck to get between it and the dock. Perfect!
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