James River: What's New?

Website News Archive: June-September 2012

17 September 2012

My round of oral surgery last month begat a number of others as I endured complications and numerous follow-ups, including one emergency visit. Nothing to blame on the surgeon; it's just that my body didn't like what was done and retaliated. So it hasn't exactly been smooth sailing.

Nor has my progress on the new JRB. I'd originally planned on making a smaller version of the destroyed original using Rokuhan track. But after a serious falling-out with the owner of that company, I elected to chuck that plan and pursue the possibility of all handlaid track. This wouldn't be as onerous as it sounds, since most of the track would be embedded in streets, which would make tracklaying a breeze—comparatively speaking; the point is, there'd be no ties to worry about.

But it's very early days yet for this plan, so anything might happen between now and groundbreaking—whenever that might occur. Maybe 2013?

16 August 2012

The ghost of the original James River Branch is finally gone. UPS has driven the last nail in that coffin, and I made sure there would be no reminders of what once was: I took all of unusable the remains, including the shipping crate and the terminally damaged Plexiglas lid, to the local recycling center for disposal. So all that remains are the buildings worth salvaging, which will figure prominently in whatever emerges next from my workshop.

For a while I toyed with the idea of using Rokuhan's absurdly sharp curved track, plus their new 90-degree crossing, to create a vaguely interesting trolley route, but ultimately I saw it as more work than it was worth. Instead, I will simply start with a large sheet of PC board material, and lay the track directly on the copper cladding (no ties will be visible anywhere, so there's no need to make the trackwork look anything like track: only the railheads will be visible, and all I need to do is carve a gap in the copper between the rails). This frees me to make any route I may wish, with curves as sharp as a four-wheeled power unit can manage, and crossings of any number and at any angle required. In a way it is quite liberating, but at the same time just a bit daunting. I'm excited!

It will all have to wait for a while before I can start in earnest; I'm scheduled for major oral surgery tomorrow, and will likely be a vegetable for a week or so. But it nothing else, it will give me time to mull over possible track plans...

7 June 2012

It's all done: the end of the James River Branch is under way. Time to move on to greener pastures.