What did you do on your layout today? (N scale)

[brill27mcb]

I think most of the problems are in North America, where people are running NMRA-spec wheels (tread width, flange depth and shape, tread taper, flange fillet, etc.) on Japanese market turnouts. The rest of the world does not religiously follow NMRA specs, but many Americans wrongly assume that they do. Just visually compare the wider, deeper-flanged, no-fillet Japan-market wheelsets from Kato and Tomix to North American ones, and the differences are pretty clear. Not to say that a little tuning can't help things when needed.

 

Khaul, the original well-publicized #4 points "tuner" was John Sing. Mike Fifer simply parroted his work.

 

Rich K.

[DD13]

On 4/6/2025 at 2:16 AM, Khaul said:

 

They are #4s, which are a bit tricky to use at the beginning of a ladder. They would cause derailments when trying to access the left most track.

 

I am a bit lazy to go the whole Fifer way. Adding a short piece of track solves the problem for me.

 

Other than starting a ladder, my #4s work well in any other positions, crossovers and sidings are not a problem. I put together a Timesaver puzzle with four #4s and 2 #6s. The curved track links the industry sidings to the rest of the world behind the computer.

 

How do you play on the layout? 

[DD13]

On 12/28/2016 at 11:04 AM, kvp said:

Yesterday:

-module assembly of two single size ttrak modules, ready for painting

-wood purchase for two double size ones (the wood shop only screwed up two pieces and both are larger, so they are fixable)

-new cabling and connectors on my fremo Y module, track is ready to be ballasted and the frame to be painted

-fixed a track laying mishap on one hungarian fremo station module, ready for turnout motor install and track painting

-tested the DCC install in a soon to be hungarian M30 locomotive, it only needs the number plates

Is there any post on building your T track modules?. Need inspiration. 

[cteno4]

KVP has not been around the fourms for quite a while. You might check out the ttrak forums, lots of interesting modules presented there to get inspiration Also ttrak wiki site has tons of modules presented from around the world. Our club has a bunch of japanese themed modules up there.

 

jeff

[Khaul]

On 4/8/2025 at 1:42 AM, DD13 said:

How do you play on the layout? 

 

I have always been attracted to switching puzzles because you can get a lot of fun with very little space. The Inglenook shunting puzzle requires only two switches, a few straights and, if you want to make it really cool, a magnetic uncoupler.

 

This is a good example, in OO:

 

 

Can you have an Inglenook in N scale? Well, of course, there are many examples. Can you do it in Japanese N scale? You can, but it's a bit of a challenge. Japanese rolling stock comes with Rapido couplers, which are a bit bulky, unprototypical, ugly and of a pain to uncouple manually. Rapido automatic uncouplers don't look nice either. So, I converted my Japanese freight cars to knuckle couplers. I used the Japanese ones, and then I even converted some of my rolling stock to the Kato USA ones, with trip pins for magnetic uncoupling. Well, none of that works well enough for shunting. These systems don't even couple well. Uncoupling is even worse. Kato magnetic uncoupling simply does not work well beyond switching locomotives, and that in a good day. I have been considering to install Micro Train couplers to some of my Japanese cars, but that would mean quite delicate surgery without a guarantee of success. Plus, the couplers are relatively expensive, almost more than a Japanese freight car!

 

So, I've been sniping for American rolling stock in Ebay. I bought a few Micro Trains boxcars at a quite decent price, 17 AUD per good-as-new freight car (10.20 USD) shipped. Coupling and uncoupling is perfect. It works like witchcraft! Some of the boxcars come with plastic wheels. That's not ideal, but I can live with it for now.

 

 

[DD13]

3 hours ago, Khaul said:

 

I have always been attracted to switching puzzles because you can get a lot of fun with very little space. The Inglenook shunting puzzle requires only two switches, a few straights and, if you want to make it really cool, a magnetic uncoupler.

 

This is a good example, in OO:

 

 

Can you have an Inglenook in N scale? Well, of course, there are many examples. Can you do it in Japanese N scale? You can, but it's a bit of a challenge. Japanese rolling stock comes with Rapido couplers, which are a bit bulky, unprototypical, ugly and of a pain to uncouple manually. Rapido automatic uncouplers don't look nice either. So, I converted my Japanese freight cars to knuckle couplers. I used the Japanese ones, and then I even converted some of my rolling stock to the Kato USA ones, with trip pins for magnetic uncoupling. Well, none of that works well enough for shunting. These systems don't even couple well. Uncoupling is even worse. Kato magnetic uncoupling simply does not work well beyond switching locomotives, and that in a good day. I have been considering to install Micro Train couplers to some of my Japanese cars, but that would mean quite delicate surgery without a guarantee of success. Plus, the couplers are relatively expensive, almost more than a Japanese freight car!

 

So, I've been sniping for American rolling stock in Ebay. I bought a few Micro Trains boxcars at a quite decent price, 17 AUD per good-as-new freight car (10.20 USD) shipped. Coupling and uncoupling is perfect. It works like witchcraft! Some of the boxcars come with plastic wheels. That's not ideal, but I can live with it for now.

 

 

Have an US locomotive, the Gp38. Maybe I will buy some boxcars for a  shunting layout. 

[Khaul]

On 4/7/2025 at 10:35 AM, brill27mcb said:

I think most of the problems are in North America, where people are running NMRA-spec wheels (tread width, flange depth and shape, tread taper, flange fillet, etc.) on Japanese market turnouts. The rest of the world does not religiously follow NMRA specs, but many Americans wrongly assume that they do. Just visually compare the wider, deeper-flanged, no-fillet Japan-market wheelsets from Kato and Tomix to North American ones, and the differences are pretty clear. Not to say that a little tuning can't help things when needed.

 

Khaul, the original well-publicized #4 points "tuner" was John Sing. Mike Fifer simply parroted his work.

 

Rich K.

 

I have my trouble with Japanese rolling stock on the Kato #4s. The problem is well known in Japan, as a search "UNITRACK 電動ポイント4番問題" will show in YouTube. For instance. The video shows the results of modding, see the link in the description. I have no problem with crossovers. Comments under this and similar videos show a lot of frustration among Japanese hobbyists.

 

 

 

 

[cteno4]

Ive never heard of this being a huge issue in japan. The hobby is so big in japan that even a small fraction can create a number of comments out there on blogs and such so i dont thing its a great measure of the scale of the problem. Ive only run japanese rolling stock thru #4 points and most of the issues have been geometry when using untuned points. Adding some spacers got rid of most of the issues and tuning most all the rest down to the random details all points may give. The tuning really is not very difficult if it’s a big issue for someone, just takes some time and practice and a scrap piece of track to practice on cutting pockets. I’ve also found some point derailments were due to coupler issues torquing trucks.

 

I always tell people of the issues and the ways around it if they want to use #4s and also say get a couple and play with them and see if its a problem for you or the fixes are past what you want to do. I know many that swear by #4 points for many years now.

 

We stopped using them on the old club temporary layouts more because they were a bit more fragile and folks were not alway so gentle with the track in setting up, tearing down, and packing up. Usually is was the internal spring bar popping loose inside. I think it was from some doing some twisting to the point [surprising the ways some folks take track apart] and then tossing into a box.

 

I tended to notice more crankiness with the double crossovers, but that I think was mostly due to running long shinkansens thru them a lot on the old layout to get to the yard and Shinkansen couplers and trucks hate the sharper points.

 

I’ll see if i can ask our sister club in Iwate about the feeling of #4 points in japan generally is.

 

jeff

[Khaul]

The kids are in Europe on vacation. So I commandeered one of the beddrooms and together the whole layout. The whole thing was design to fit on the dining table, but that's not an option anymore. Here you can see the transfer table, the access curves and one of the sections, not yet decorated.

 

 

I added the decorated part, run quite a few trains and took pictures.

 

 

 

The level crossing.

 

From the undecorated module.

 

Level crossing, daylight.

 

I even took the good camera and went a bit artsy.

Edited 6 hours ago by Khaul
Update