Indiana Live Steamers has recently started construction of "Phase 3" of our track plan, which
will add almost one mile of track, a trestle, and a complete block signals system to our land lying west of
the (north-south) road thru the middle of our layout. This will involve about 3000 feet of new track panels, and our first large use
of plastic ties to lay the rails on.
The area at the top of the picture, to the right of "Walnut" is the proposed route of the new construction. The loop in the lower
left corner of the map is the location of our tunnel, which will be built as Phase 4.
The rail joiner we decided to use is simply a 4" long piece of aluminum bar stock, 3/16" thick by 5/8" wide. It need two corners
rounded off to a 5/32" radius, then gets four 1/4" holes drilled on 1" canters. Each rail end will have two matching holes
drilled, then one rail joiner, or "fish plate" is installed on each side of the joined rails, and secured with four #8 screws and nuts.
We'll need a minimum of around 1400 "fish plates", and two members have voluntered to make them. Will probably need another thousand or so
to rework older sections of the existing track.
This is about as exciting as watching paint dry. This is a typical 4 X 6 bandsaw, made in China, sold by Harbor Freight. A
cheap product, basically a kit from which the buyer can build a decent band saw. Takes lots of modification to make this
into a workable tool. Mine isn't finished yet. Long way to go.
