Water Extension

I’ve had the major part of the water extension built for quite some time but haven’t finished the “hard part” of it yet. I felt like I was making half of a guitar as I got the thin plywood wet with water so I could bend it into the curvy shape I wanted. I had the top and most of the base done so it was usable but the front edge was not installed yet. That’s the curvy part. I had never done that before but familiar with the concept. It was harder than I thought but rewarding when completed. I got the first layer done and the next week did a second layer. I ended up using twice as many support pieces as I thought I would but it’s really secure.

It needs to be detachable so the rest of the yard fits as one piece into the trailer. It just connects using clamps with a couple pieces of wood supporting it. At shows I have seen people “rest their arms” on it so I do have a single leg I can put on the end that hangs out the furthest. It is the same style leg I use for my Free-moN modules. There is enough space to have two car floats and a tug. I really like how it turned out.

I have temporarily painted it Seaside blue which matches pretty close to the images I’ve downloaded as references to the San Francisco Bay. The prototype was on the Hudson River which is brown in color. Since I have “transplanted it” to the Bay Area I will be going with this color after I do the water effects of ripples and small waves.

When the toggle clamp is in the open position there is a little gap.
With the toggle clamp closed this end is secure and tight against the layout.
With the first piece of thin plywood installed only a couple of support pieces were installed. More were glued and nailed later on.
The piece needs to be held in place while the plywood dries.
Installing the second layer was important to have enough glue and clamps. I wanted to use few staples so there wouldn’t be as many holes to fill.
Really soaking the wood was important. Having lots of clamps helped having the plywood dry just right.
After a week or so to let the wood dry and glue to set, the holes were filled and sanded. First coat of Seaside Blue being sprayed on.
The clamps really secure the water extension nicely. I like the temporary paint.
The first public show with the water extension construction complete with the car float operational.
The process is to not have too much weight on one side. First step is take the outside row only halfway off the car float.
Step two is to take off the opposite row of cars. Step three is to go back and finish the first row. Step four is to take off the center row. (In my video I mixed up 3&4)
All cars from the car float are now in the yard ready for sorting.
At this public show there wasn’t room for the yard to go out into the public side. It is designed to be reversible in the layout so it went to the inside. It’s not as ideal but still worked well.
Brian ran the train for me around the layout and back into the yard while I threw the appropriate turnouts (switches). One of the goals of building this is to have others have fun running on it so I’m glad he got to do that.
I like how the Transfer Bridge and Car Float work on the water extension.

I should have left the center cars and moved the outside track that was half on after the inside was cleared to keep the car float prototypically balanced. I also don’t have the idler flat weighted enough to use it yet. It is fine pulling but being pushed it has issues. This took about 8 minutes and the video is sped up to under a minute and a half.