The First Switch
In contrast to the tale of the last switch—that troublesome little 55mm beastie I'll have to make myself—I've permanently installed the layout's first switch. The 55mm switch had no impact on the branchline, so I wasted no time in laying the track to Daphetid.
My plan was to use Micro-Trains flex track for the trestle. The flex track rail is a perfect match for Rokuhan rail, and the closer tie spacing of the flex, when contrasted with the (admittedly too-wide) tie spacing on the Rokuhan track, looks appropriate for a bridge, which would have closer-than-normal tie spacing in real life.
In this situation, I'm capitalizing on relative dimensions, as opposed to absolute dimensions, to help create a reasonably satisfying appearance. I hear about the wide Rokuhan tie spacing from people all the time, and while I'm not in love with it either, I'm after an effect, not perfection (and besides, Rokuhan made the track for the Japanese market, not ours). So, the Micro-Trains flex helps the situation by creating a little bit of an illusion: the ties are closer together in a place where they should be.
My first step was to solder the flex to the end of the switch; this created a solid connection point so that the track bending process would go smoothly. After securing the switch in place on the subroadbed (above), I began bending the flex, right in position on the layout.
Once the flex was shaped correctly, I cut the rails at the other end, made the connection, and soldered those joints, too (above). Now it's all silky smooth and solid as a rock—here's the Bumble Bee and a coach defying gravity:
The irony of this particular spurt of progress is that, once again, I'm completing something first that John Allen didn't get to until last (same thing with the culvert by the mill). Not that this bears any significance; it's just one of those curious little bits of trivia that fleshes out the history of a project—and provides fodder for the blog...