All Activity

That's a good idea. I suppose I could fill the panels a bit and make it look more concrete-like. It would certainly add to the scene.

Shorting since sorted, now I can park multiple locos and units on the same siding, welcome to the 21st century! Looking to the right towards the yard entrance/exit, some scenic-work-in-progress: yard-throat-2024-10-21_01 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

Some other single track viaduct in Ibaraki is the Kashima Rinkai Tetsudo just out of Mito. Looks like concrete. Streetview: Streetview in Google Maps

Is Roger the one in the glasses? 😜 jeff

I have to admit I was not aware of this thread till now. So here is me, and Richard, from the COVID days. Unfortunately Richard has passed on since this photo, but he lived to a good age of 16, as an outside cat to boot. In the background is part of my HO scale BC west coast logging layout.

When we visited in March my wife was amazed at how many people she observed taking pictures of trains. Nothing like this, but not something we see a lot of here in any case. I had fun taking pictures of people taking pictures of the trains.

I have also considered changing the colours of these as, yes they do look quite toy-like. The pillars especially look like a concrete construction but share a similar colour to the viaduct sections. To make them look more like concrete, you could fill the indentations with putty or cut some styrene sheet to fit over the spaces and give a smoother side. Surprised these things haven’t been updated but maybe Kato doesn’t sell that many. Also be aware that shinkansen coaches will rub the low wall on anything smaller than the R348 in my experience. Obviously E3/E6 will have a better tolerance. Certainly for modern construction, everything is made from concrete for viaducts not spanning any rivers or ravines these days, in my area anyway. A lot of steel is used for the Nippon steel electric railway for obvious reasons.

So got my order today from their .com site. Not bad 1 week. $25 shipping for the small box, but probably what it would have been most shipping options these days. The kits are nice, basically sankei kits. Their cardstock is pigmented all the way thru the cardboard like sankei, but is a bit thinner and definitely not as stiff or hard as the sankei laserboard. It’s much closer to a thick cardstock. Colors are good, but there is a little sheen to the cardstock. I do worry this cardstock may be more susceptible to sucking in moisture both from glue or from humidity later than sankei laserboard which definitely has a lot more resin in it. The structural design looks a bit simpler than sankei and maybe a bit fewer layers, but I’d need to carefully compare similar models. The 5 story building I went thru felt it would be a big light on the walls for the size of the building. Smaller buildings this wouldn’t be as much of an issue. But the design details are quite nice. I’ll need to assemble one to see how that stacks up against a sankei. i love that their designs tend compliment those of sankei structures, but the cost issue ordering from the .com site makes these not worth it to me to buy more. Hopefully hobbysearch will start stocking a variety of these and we can get them at a more reasonable price. jeff

Good evening @cteno4 So far, we have 7 members in total who've done or own T-Trak modules. The club president made two extra single straights without track installed to showcase how the structure is built and how the electrics are installed. These can be considered club-owned. Many people have shown interest in the concept, including aspiring club members who wouldn't be doing modules if T-Trak wasn't an option. Our club president manufactured and pre-assembled all the module structures, terminal Unijoiners and electric installation. He is currently negotiating with a Portuguese scale model kit manufacturer to reproduce our solution of T-Trak modules so that people inside the club can buy the kit or pre-assembled structures at a discount, and those outside the club can also buy their own without needing to become affiliated with us. Other vendors like Pikart are an option, but shipping costs make them very unattractive for "Europe's garden by the sea".

After a discussion with Ken from Sumida Crossing, it may actually be that the single viaduct track sections are in fact steel... Kato don't explicitly say what they are intended to be, but looking at the ribs on the sections and the panels it may well be a representation of steel, hence the colour of the plastic. Not really sure where to go with this now, but I will continue weathering the scrap section that I painted. As mentioned by Junech, I could highlight the vertical supports as steel and see what it looks like. Thanks everyone for your help on this. Tim

That's good to know, thank you jeff

Extreme Makeover Layout Edition I started the day making the side walls for the pit of doom. This was pretty simple and just involved cutting strips of wood, then drilling holes where the wires would need to pass through. I glued brass tube into the holes for the tubing to attach to (top). On the side the wires will exit I sanded the brass flush and made sure there were no sharp edges or burrs that the wires could catch on (bottom). Once all the tubes had been connected I could then glue the wall in place. A glimpse behind the wall at the messy jumble of tubes. With all the walls in place it was time to glue everything back in place (top). Finally time to move that bus, and see the restored scene (bottom). I will need to construct some form of conduit to protect the wires but I will save that for another day.

I would agree that since the parts appear to all be already shaped and formed it looks very straightforward to assemble, just clip/screw together and solder a few wires. It does look though as though the flywheel and gears need to be pressed onto the motor shaft. To do this accurately often needs either a very smooth and accurate vice or a specialist tool such as a 'gear puller'. Pushing the gears on by hand is often not possible.

This then is why most railway companies ban tripods, steps and other photography aids from their premises. Because they will make the horde of photographers problem much worse. Too many steps and even full blown ladders to count in that video.

Thank you. I'll take a look at it... Just sprayed up an old second hand section that I acquired from a second hand junk box. When that dries I'll weather it down with a wash and some pigment and see what it looks like. Edit: The paint used is Tamiya XF-55 Deck Tan (Flat).

The only single-track viaduct I know from the top of my head is from Yoro Railway with Karasue Station (Google Maps) being on the viaduct itself. But that is still missing the verticle support structure the Kato pieces have. But they can also just be concrete. If you want to give the viaduct pieces some additional accents besides just being concrete you could say that this verticle support structure is out of metal. An example would be a bridge from Tarumi Line between Tarumi and Midori station (Google Maps). Maybe a nice detail to add to the viaducts as well.

Like this one...

Sumida crossing seems to think they are concrete, so hoping it's right! Also looking online at cast viaduct sections in Ibaraki and they look very similar to the Kato sections, so fingers crossed!

That would be really interesting to see. I'm feeling quite inspired to get a small show layout on the scene since exhibiting a continental layout with a friend at the Warley at Statfold show last week.

Tim, yea I was never sure what that color was to represent other than maybe a painted metal of some sort. It does contrast a lot if you have it put with the double viaduct and just screams more “what am I?!” yes we would appreciate it greatly if you could post your experiments and results here! Always great to see. I’ve been knoodling on the idea of doing the mini onetrak with the single viaducts for Btrain shorty shinkansens. cheers jeff

Thanks Jeff I'm guessing that they are meant to be concrete? I never saw metal viaducts when I was last in Japan. Strikes me as odd that they are moulded in a different colour plastic to the double viaducts. I have a tried and tested method of producing a concrete look, by just using various paints and washes. I will post picks of a test subject when completed! Thanks, Tim

That sounds like a good idea, I’ve never liked the look of that dark gray single track viaduct much. Using a flat will also also help make to feel more like concrete and less plastic. Only issue I’ve had with the double viaduct is that bit of plastic sheen it can have and always toyed with the idea of hitting the non track section with a flat grey it just dullcoat, but never have tried it. do wash the parts to be painted well before spraying. jeff

@Giugiaro, Wonderful to see the start! Looks like you all are on a good path, interesting L setup. Love your use of the blank module for a little impromptu loco display. So how many of your club are doing Ttrak? How is your club going about this, all member owned modules or some club owned? Please keep us posted! jeff

Hello all, Working on my new show layout and I have been thinking (yup, dangerous I know); the Kato Single Viaducts look a bit grey and plasticky. Was thinking should I take them apart and give them a bit of the weathered concrete look that I've done on club layouts? I will be mixing them with double track viaduct sections in places that are more of a concrete colour. Thing is, they don't match. Thoughts? Thanks

On October 12 and 13 2024, at Lombos' Gymnasium near Carcavelos/Oeiras railway station, the Portuguese N Club presented their debut on the world of T-Trak modules, at Fermodel's 2024 edition of their model railway exhibition. I was successful at bullying convincing my club to adopt T-Trak as a second standard for modules, and the experience as, so far, gone very well. Here are a few pictures from the event: Assembling the modules on Friday Getting some details ironed out Running two trains that look like they're Portuguese. C57-200 pushing a generic vintage train Our makeshift rolling stock exhibition A view of the visitors during our "kids open hour" A photo from the participating club members