Board 2

Well after conducting successful loads trials from the last post, it was time to get the saw out and start into the next baseboard. It would be so easy to have laid a straight line as the load trials were conducted but it would have no character. So I made a squiggle in pencil on the board for the track to follow. The track from the first baseboard joins the second at right angles. This is a no brainer for future times when they might need to come apart and rejoin. A Y turnout will be laid up to the join. One track forms the main line and the other leads to the coal siding.

Baseboard 2 showing cutaway for a creek/gully

The track is still on a rising grade from the adjacent board, the rise gentle enough so as not to restrict loads by steep sections. This may happen further around the layout.
Although my collection of pineboard seems to be growing I bit the bullet and purchased two 2.4m x 1.2m ply. Hopefully this will be stable enough to outlast me. When planning this section, I stared at this board for quite a while before I committed to pencil the route of the track. I wanted to incorporate either a creek or just a gully on the board and as can be seen in the photo a section was cut out and set in at a lower position.
There is no 'undo' button once you commit the jigsaw into cutting.

I assume this style of baseboard could be labelled the 'cookie cutter' style but it differs from some I have seen in that I use the whole width of the sheet and just raise or lower the board either side of the track roadbed. Using this system allow you to have a solid base for adding the scenery to. Some modellers I have seen just use the roadbed for the track and then have to come back and fill in around the track, which to me would seem more complicated. Each to their own.
I have still stuck with the 30" radius track on the two boards as it looks OK. I figure that if I need a tighter radius then all my stock will run around it. I think 18" radius would be too tight for my liking.
It is still a hard thing to do just looking at the boards and trying to visualise what scenery will go where. I don't know what will end up on the boards as yet.

Two wagons in the siding

The photo above shows where the Y point from the first baseboard will lead onto the next board. The siding was going to be too short to have two wagons in it so I extended the track base onto the next board. It looks rough as at the moment but it is great what you can hide under scenery, ballast etc. The building for the siding will go behind the red wagon. (one day?) The baseboards are 50cm wide at this point along the wall. It is still amazing to me how quickly O scale modelling seems to gobble up space.

8A climbs up over the creek crossing. Mount Crap in the background.

The next item on the work schedule is to start making the curved turnout that was shown in the last post. Once this is in place then the track can start to be laid onto the baseboards.
The next board in the corner will feature a timber trestle based on the Monbulk trestle like the one in the photo below.

In the meantime I will be doing some carpentry study, especially those tortoise and tenon joints.