And a little progress has been made

At this point the final switch has been added.  Before laying a turnout on cork roadbed, a wedge of cork must be cut. This can normally be "eye-balled", however I instead chose to write a computer program to plot the exact shape of the wedge I needed for the Peco SL-8361 switch.  I then printed the template, cut it out, taped it to a scrap of cork, and used a hobby knife to cut the cork to this shape.  For reference the PDF that this program produced can be found at the bottom of the page.

Soldering of rail joints

All rail joints on the club layout must be soldered, in order to achieve a electrical and mechanical connections.  Cheap soldering irons (in the 25-to-60-watt range) tend to have blunt tips and tend to heat the joints slowly, resulting in melted plastic cross-ties (sleepers).  I have a professional soldering station with a very fine tip that goes up to 800deg F.  Ideally, when soldering a rail joint, the joint will be hot enough that the solder will melt completely and spread to cover the full length of the rail joiner.  The solder should be SHINY once it cools.  If it is dull, then the joint was not heated enough.

Soldering of track feeder wires

I used 22ga solid-core "hookup" wire to transfer power from the terminal barrier strips to the rails, in colors that match those of the 16ga wiring harness (which follows the NMRA color code standard see reference page). Feeder wires can be soldered to the outside of the rails if the track is pre-laid, or to the underside otherwise.  Do not solder feeder wires to the inside of the rails, as doing so will cause the wheels on your equipment to ride up and possibly derail.