Whittlingly fiddle-yard baseboard

The next job was to add a short baseboard for a fiddle yard. In this case, the fiddle yard will have two entry tracks as it completes the run-round loop, but doesn't need to be long as trains will be a couple of 6-wheel coaches or 3-4 wagons and a tank loco. 

I didn't take many construction photos, but the sides and top were marked out and cut from the same 5mm ply as the main board, and cross-beams cut from timber. Before assembly, I remembered to set up the alignment to the main board, which used a couple of "bullet" type dowels - I had these and the catches in stock left over from a batch I bought for Hexworthy. It is easiest to clamp the ends together, then drill pilot holes through both from the back of one end - hence doing this before assembling the board. The holes were then drilled out to 7.5mm and the bullet and corresponding socket were tapped into place. 

The board is approximately 2' long by 1' wide and simply consists of a cross-beam at each end and one in the middle, with ply providing longitudinal support front and rear, and finishing off the ends.

Up top, the ends are profiled to support a shelf - on Hexworthy a shelf has proved useful for spare stock and tools. The rear panel has a cut-out to clear the turntable, and the deck has some cut-outs - hopefully, the reason for these will become clear later.

The upper deck curve was marked out with a "compass" made from a stick with a screw for a pivot and a hole for a pencil, it's 21" long. To get the deck height correct, the fixed part has 3 layers of 5mm ply (lower deck, spacer, top deck) - it seems that 44mm timber + (3x5mm) = 58mm, the 5mm ply is actually about 4.7mm! The turn-table deck sits on spacers of thinner (4mm ish) ply so it is slightly lower, this is for a cunning plan (we will see). I then marked out lines perpendicular to the curve for the track centres - there will be three tracks, but the outer two will be quite tightly curved. 

The turntable was then strengthened with some small strip wood and fixed with a 6mm bolt, a block of wood under the deck provides support to the pivot and depth to hold the bolt vertical. A strip of ply provides a lip and neatens the front of the shelf too. So far, it's looking pretty neat. 

Finally, the over-centre catches were added to hold the boards together. This was tricky as the 44x19mm timber forming the ends of the boards already has screws into it from the front and rear and deck ply panels, leaving little space for the screws holding the catch!

While it looks a small, simple board, getting the levels right while thinking about how the turntable needs to work made it quite a head-scratcher to make. I've come to the conclusion that "fiddle yards" are so-called because they are fiddly to make - or is that just me?