Weekend Update

Had some time over the weekend to continue working on the ferry dock.  With all the turnouts built, it was now time to focus on the "easy" track.

I've become quite fond of the FastTracks "plain old track" jig for making straight track— so it was time to try using it to make the straight section of the pier.  I started by making a simple section, then adding my longer PCB ties to the newly constructed rigid track:

Removing the "standard" ties, I end up with what I want:

Once I had the decking in place, I cut some scribed styrene:

...and fit the pieces between the PCB ties.

As the night drew to a close, I stood up on the chair to check my work against a prototype photo.  My dock is meant to go onto a module, so I'm purposely beefing up some of the framework underneath the deck.  To my eyes, I'm pretty close:

Getting back to work

I finally got past some work deadlines and had a chance to build the "easy" turnout for the ferry slip.  Started out with a Fast Tracks #7 turnout template, and a bit of graph paper trimmed to the contours of the dock.

Like the earlier 3-way turnout, I decided to use "extra-long" tie strips that could be blended into the decking.  After a bit of filing and soldering, I spliced the new left hand switch onto the existing track work.  I ended up cutting the ME code 40 rail joiners down to a more reasonable length, but I'm not 100% happy with their appearance.

After I was happy with the splice, I flipped the whole assembly upside down to solder additional bracing to the underside of the PCB ties:

After some tweaking, I now have all the turnouts in place on the dock:

P.S.: Yes, I know I still need to add the throwbar to the turnout.  Next up, continuing the spur that runs down the left hand pier.