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Sounds like it's time for a livestream walk 😄

And Japanese N scale at 24:30 😄

Building the Adorable Railway or ‘Airashi Tetsudo’ Firstly, why is it so adorable? The dimensions are 3m x 0.8m so that it is just the size of a very tall household door! So ‘A-door-able’ suggested itself and links with the very Japanese idea of ‘joyful trains’. This layout is small and that is because it is used at one end of a single car garage. The usual inside width of a one-car garage here is around 3.2m so it means the layout fits and is able to be moved about when needed. I have downsized from a large home to a more modest villa with a garage and still want to have some modelling potential. The design allows enough space to partially put the bonnet of the car under the layout so that positioning the car in the garage is not critical. The requirement for car space is also the reason for no cross beams or bracing at the front. The rear “hinge beam” is attached to the legs by big plywood corner braces to make sure the whole thing is robust. While in general I think it will work just fine, I think that I will keep the car out from under when still hot. I can imagine that the timber frame may take offense if a hot engine is left too close too often. It is also designed to come apart in 5 modest sized and ‘flat-ish’ pieces so that it can be transported easily if needed. With such a small structure it was an easy decision to paint the lot. An earthy colour for the visible part that will have track and scenery, light colours under the board to make wiring comfortable and white strips on the front of the legs as a visual reference to avoid hitting the layout when parking the car. The first image below shows the basic dimensions and the 5 major components. It is a very light construction of pine battens and 7mm plywood; a lot lighter than I would usually build! It is glued and screwed to give as much strength in the joints as possible. The legs are a similar construction with the plywood panels helping to provide bracing. Casters on the legs make it simple to move around for general access but it also has a hinge along the back to allow it to be tilted to wire under the baseboard in comfort. An experimental feature is the use of gas struts to hold the whole lot up when working underneath. This has been successful so far but I am also aware of the significant force from the gas struts on the frame when the board is horizontal. I want to keep to light construction and am hoping that there is no long-term warping of the timber by the gas struts. [I used two 200N struts which means support for a 40kg weight. The baseboard is about 20kg bare but with about 2:1 leverage the board has on the struts this is close enough.] That is the build details, so what of the track plan? Basically a 4 track double-end staging yard behind a scenic backdrop. From this, a single track mainline will lead to a small junction station which has a branch to a terminus. The mainline then returns to the staging yard. A basic loop in other words. The station layout is loosely based on Kobuchizawa on the Chuo East Mainline. The track plan is designed to allow typical Japanese passenger operation of Limited Express, Rapid and Local services as well as branchline operation. All trains will be diesel/diesel railcar as I have not got the patience to manufacture N scale catenary but feel a bit uncomfortable running electrics with no wire (just a personal foible!) I will also cheat and have more freight than normal so that I can have some shunting operations as well as through running JRF block trains like tank, container and refrigerator. Yep, no Shinkansen. I am trying to capture the regional flavour of Japanese railways and my little baseboard does not really have space for a high-speed line. I might squeeze in a short tram line though!

The first `chapter' of this video shows how one Australian group has broken away from linear layouts.

Your one up on me! Streetview never even occurred to me! I should learn to use it properly. Tony

PS: 1015's are short-shanks (1016's are medium shanks) they tracked just fine on the 8033 (~ 64 mm coupler to coupler) at prototypical speeds through S249 curves.

Thanks! Although technically that SW 1200 is a road switcher designed for light rail branch lines (BLU, Branch Line Unit in CP speak). It has road trucks, larger fuel tanks, MU connections, and other upgrades to make it work effectively outside of yards. Below are some true switchers used in Canada. MLW S2 (Alco brass) GMD SW 9 (Life Like) Another painted for BC Hydro (Life Like) Baldwin DS 4-4-1000 (Bowser)

Folks have used the Kato viaduct station plates to do splits like this. It comes with low walls similar to the double viaduct walls. jeff

Trigger Warning: Perfectly good plastic was cut in the making of this post. 😁 Fitting the Micro-Train 1015-1 to a Kato 8033 (ワム 380000) was very easy and resulted in a car (two actually) that functions perfectly over Unitrack and the 20-032 magnetic uncoupler. Using a pair of flush end nippers I removed some underframe plastic . . . yeah, in 100 years these cars will be selling for $300 each and my great-grandkids will be saying "why, oh, why did he do that . . .." (Of course a triple-shot espresso will be going for $150 so it's all relative.) Then I glued a square of 0.040" styrene over the hole and secured a 1015 to each end with two sided tape . . .. Darn if a bit of 0.010" sheet didn't fit between the trip-pin and rail while a bit of 0.015 wouldn't. So, I drilled and tapped through the hole in the draft gear box and ran a 00-90 screw through to secure it. Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.

Can you draw a picture or supply a example pic of what you wanna do please?

I have seen youtube videos of Kato double track elevated viaduct with a section that a branch on one side but Kato has no specific product. So How would one make one? I have seen somewhere on the internet someone used a Tomix viaduct spreader part with Kato track mounted on it but no specifics on it. 😞 Is that possible? Instructions on how to make would be most helpful but please at least a list of parts, The plan is use the V13 add these viaduct branches to it and then using Kato single track viaduct pieces bring the track down to ground level. I can send two trains up, have go around a couple times, then bring them down going in opposite directions at the same time. 🙂 of course both stations are one opposite ends of the layout.

Andrew, Great, good of you to produce this document. This goes hand in hand with the mini onetrak modules I’ve been working on with the wooden canvases for those not able to do any woodworking. I’ve got the same basic specs of 1” height to track base and minimum 1mm overhang from the edge of the modules. Great thing about these mini modules is other specs are not needed as it’s so flexible to wander modules around on a table with a few more bits of track between some modules and mix and match radiuses. jeff

Yeah we shouldn’t turn mojo into a google streetview monkey! But I do the same thing tony! I was particular wondering what the giant 5 story milk bottle was in the previous walk that mojo looked like he was trying to find. as fun as it is to pivot around in google streetview, these videos certainly give you a vibe off the area and I see different details than I do blundering around in google streetview. jeff

I am quite enjoying these. My only issue is that I keep shouting at you -"I want to see that building, turn there!" - but you keep going your own way. Oh well. Great stuff anyway. Cheers, Tony

Does anyone have any info on this topic? I can't find anything.

Kofu this time. On the way home from Hard Off. This is just before I got on the wrong train 😓 I thought about brightening it up, but I couldn't get a result I was happy with. I'll keep trying.

Just pre-ordered a UK Class 483 in N scale (I'm a sucker for UK EMU/DMU's) from Revolution Trains, it looks quite promising. I also ordered some FR11 decoders and lighting kits for my Class 800, I hope these are easier to install than the FL12 decoders, as that was a pain in the a**.

Hello All, Myself and a few other modellers are moving along with developing "Pocket Sized Modules" that are fully compatible with the Kato Mini Diorama modules, but allow for more `real estate'. Attached are some photos plus a PDF copy of a very incomplete draft of the module guidelines. They provide enough information to build modules but do not yet cover electrics and other details and considerations. ant feedback is most welcome. Also see on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/85896932@N07/albums/72177720309074008/with/53341606810 Cheers, Andrew of Auz. Pocket Sized Modules - Draft Guidelines - 2024-04-09 .pdf

FWIW the purpose of the wings was to prevent the partially blind from falling into the gap between the train sets. Still able to see shadows and light, these individuals mistook the gap as an open door, and thus fell through or at least collided with the end. As a stopgap before fitting all trains with these wings, JR West left the headlights turned on driving trailers coupled face to face to warn these individuals. As for the inebriated (not just salarymen, as women and college students etc. also drink), JR West rotated platform benches to face away from the platform edge- i.e. now along the length of the platform, so the staggering occurs safely away from any arriving train and any possible collision or fall on the tracks.

It looks like domestic Japan only. Not even on eBay at a crazy price.

Question - has anyone bought the Tomix 8018 layout? if so, where? I can't find a source that will ship to the United States thanks in advance.

And they wonder where rumors start. 😁 😁

Phew! jeff

Whoops, whew. Went in today to pick up some Evergreen plastic, and chatting with folks discovered the sign on the door read much more ominously than it was intended. The retail store is only closed *this Friday* while they're travelling to a show, not a permanent closing.

I put the smal/short version on one end in case I want to couple them up to a other unit.