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

[Pauljag900]

4 hours ago, sid21177 said:

Wow - DC or DCC ??

Only dc I m afraid Sid,Dcc is a bit beyond me at the moment,tho I m trying to learn😂😂

[sid21177]

18 hours ago, Pauljag900 said:

Only dc I m afraid Sid,Dcc is a bit beyond me at the moment,tho I m trying to learn😂😂

I'm exploring bluetooth based control with DC block wiring - who needs DCC  :P - lol

Edited August 23, 2017 by sid21177

[Pauljag900]

2 hours ago, sid21177 said:

I'm exploring bluetooth based control with DC block wiring - who needs DCC  :P - lol

Hi Sid,

i m sure it has its advantages especially on a large layout if you want to run multiple trains on the same line but mine is t really big enough for that plus there s the obvious problem,cost😂I ve got about 22 trains in total so would cost me a fortune to replace so I ll stick with what I ve got for now.

be nice to here how you get on with the Bluetooth sid,

paul

[ToniBabelony]

My son wants me to make a layout. My wife is okay with it, so... I made a frame today:

It'll be about 1200 x 750mm and preferably low profile to store it vertically (so only one track level).

Plenty of possibilities to make a fun layout to run 4-car trains methinks.

[kvp]

7 hours ago, sid21177 said:

I'm exploring bluetooth based control with DC block wiring - who needs DCC  :P - lol

You mean bluetooth control of the DC blocks or bluetooth control of each train with constant DC power?

[kvp]

4 hours ago, Kabutoni said:

My son wants me to make a layout. My wife is okay with it, so... I made a frame today:

It'll be about 1200 x 750mm and preferably low profile to store it vertically (so only one track level).

Plenty of possibilities to make a fun layout to run 4-car trains methinks.

Random idea for 3-4 car trains on two loops (243/280), 2 stations and a tiny yard. Platforms are: side on the top stub track, half curved below it on the outer loop, side on the inner curve and island on the bottom.
 

[ToniBabelony]

 

16 hours ago, kvp said:

Random idea for 3-4 car trains on two loops (243/280), 2 stations and a tiny yard. Platforms are: side on the top stub track, half curved below it on the outer loop, side on the inner curve and island on the bottom.

Thank you for your suggestion, but I'm not so sure if I want to go for a double tracked plan.

One of the layouts I encountered at the JAM was really inspiring and simple enough to interpret the track plan for my own.

Basically a circle with a station focus on the one side and scenery focus on the other. The station in my case would have one or two sidings in the front and a similar focus on the scenery on the back. Scenery wouldn't be much of a thing though, as I'm planning to go for a background devider board (detachable). Maybe even two stations (rural and urban) would also be fun.

EDIT: this will probably be what I'll be going for. Maybe... It's entirely not an original design though. I'll be doing a few redesigns perhaps.

Edited August 24, 2017 by Kabutoni

[sid21177]

18 hours ago, kvp said:

You mean bluetooth control of the DC blocks or bluetooth control of each train with constant DC power?

The blocks, switches etc.

[kvp]

1 hour ago, sid21177 said:

The blocks, switches etc.

That's nice. Have you found a good way to keep the block driving PWM pulses synchronized when a train crosses over from one block to the other? (so the pulses don't wired OR together?)

[Densha]

12 hours ago, Kabutoni said:

One of the layouts I encountered at the JAM was really inspiring and simple enough to interpret the track plan for my own.

Ah yes, that's a very nice layout:

 

[Pauljag900]

13 hours ago, Kabutoni said:

 

Thank you for your suggestion, but I'm not so sure if I want to go for a double tracked plan.

One of the layouts I encountered at the JAM was really inspiring and simple enough to interpret the track plan for my own.

Basically a circle with a station focus on the one side and scenery focus on the other. The station in my case would have one or two sidings in the front and a similar focus on the scenery on the back. Scenery wouldn't be much of a thing though, as I'm planning to go for a background devider board (detachable). Maybe even two stations (rural and urban) would also be fun.

EDIT: this will probably be what I'll be going for. Maybe... It's entirely not an original design though. I'll be doing a few redesigns perhaps.

Hi Toni,If you built the scenery up enough in the center you would nt need a center divider either which will keep the height down slightly for storing.

[Kiha66]

Wow, what a well done layout!  Somehow the simple loop with scenery manages to look much bigger than just stuffing as much track as possible in an equivalent space.  I assume the layout is automated via a tomix TCS unit?  Cant wait to see how yours comes out tony!

[ToniBabelony]

Hmmm... I like this solution. Placed the tracks at a very small angle to increase dynamism a bit.

Edited August 25, 2017 by Kabutoni

[nah00]

Well I guess it counts as on my layout since it's on tracks to make sure none fall off before the glue dries but I did destination boards and reserved/non-reserved cars on my Kodama. Sadly not enough Hikari destination boards for the whole train but I did get the Rail Star so at least I have one Hikari. 

[Martijn Meerts]

Not much done on any of the layouts. The big Japanese layout is still pretty much on hold until the smaller one I bought has been converted to computer control. For the smaller one I'm still determining where all the blocks and section should go, but at least I've started wiring that one. Hopefully I'll have some time in the weekend to finish up at least 1 loop, hopefully 2, so that trains can start running.

Other than that, I'm seeing if I can pick up the T-Trak project again. The idea for that it to base it on the Enoden line, and eventually model all the stations (long term ;)) and depict the 4 season of the year to get some colour variation. Considering I want to be able to automate that layout I really want to go DCC, but on the other hand, it would be fun to also combine the modules with others doing T-Trak, so I'm trying to come up with a decent way to be able to switch between DC and DCC and still be able to use blocks and other features such as digitally controlled lighting and all that.

I do have several modules already lasercut and ready to go, so it's really just a matter of getting started. Just need to decide which spots on the Enoden line I want to start with (suggestions very much welcome). I'll likely have some additional lastercutting done for some station modules, and I might also do some scenery-only modules eventually that would add some more depth where needed.

[kvp]

2 hours ago, Martijn Meerts said:

so I'm trying to come up with a decent way to be able to switch between DC and DCC and still be able to use blocks and other features such as digitally controlled lighting and all that.

I think i may have a simple solution i mentioned earlier. You could use standard jumpers or N pole switches, to easily switch between turnout isolated DC and DCC. For blocks, there are the natural block boundaries between blocks where you can easily add or remove isolating joiners. Then there is the station track question, where in DC you need power routing, while in DCC you need power everywhere. This could be solved by power bridge switches that bypass turnouts. While in DCC and automated DC, you'll need block occupancy detection, which could be solved by adding diode based block detectors behind the switches. These could be left there both in DC and DCC operation. In DC, only the power routed active tracks will show detected, while in DCC power anywhere allows detecting every track all the time. Combining DC/DCC detection and DC power routing either has to isolate and detect using the non power routed rail or isolate behind the turnout and take power from the frog rails, route it through the detector and feed it into the station track. DCC bypass switches/jumpers could feed the detector inputs directly, allowing the power anywhere mode. If you use 4 pole switches for bypass, then 1 switch could bypass power routing for 4 turnouts. a typical ttrak module has between 0  and 8 turnouts on it, so only one or two switches has to be thrown to switch between DC and DCC, while block detection provides block occupancy in both modes. (in DC mode, this is more reliable with PWM/CL based power due to using the full voltage)

ps: The diode based detectors are the 2+2 series diodes connected in back to back pairs to create a constant voltage gap for a back to back mounted, resistor current limited optoisolator pair connected in parallel to the diodes, which provides an open collector TTL low active output. (very much the same signal the Tomix TCS threadle sensors provide, with DC having direction indication, while DCC turning on both outputs) These detectors have the advantage of only needing a series connection on one power wire and being usable on DC and DCC layouts and even in turnout power routed blocks as there are no common connection points between multiple detectors on the traction power side. If i was not clear enough, i can draw a diagram...

[Martijn Meerts]

I did study some electronics back when I did car mechanics, but that was over 20 years ago. So much of what you said doesn't make much sense to me at all at the moment :D

Of course, the easiest option would be to just use modules with no turnouts on them if I want to combine them. The Enoden doesn't have a lot of double track anyway, and as long as there's no turnouts on the modules, and each module is it's own block, there's not even a need to have any special wiring at all. Just use either regular or insulated Unijoiners depending on whether it's DC or DCC. Each module will also get feeder wires, so it would even be possibly to just leave the insulated Unijoiners on, as long as you connect each module's feeder to power.

Would still be interesting to see a schematic though, and possibly experiment a bit. Currently not sure what digital system I'll use even. I do have a couple of them to choose from :)

[kvp]

2 hours ago, Martijn Meerts said:

Of course, the easiest option would be to just use modules with no turnouts on them if I want to combine them. The Enoden doesn't have a lot of double track anyway, and as long as there's no turnouts on the modules, and each module is it's own block, there's not even a need to have any special wiring at all. Just use either regular or insulated Unijoiners depending on whether it's DC or DCC. Each module will also get feeder wires, so it would even be possibly to just leave the insulated Unijoiners on, as long as you connect each module's feeder to power.

Would still be interesting to see a schematic though, and possibly experiment a bit. Currently not sure what digital system I'll use even. I do have a couple of them to choose from :)

On the top is the double track examples, with block boundaries between modules and a normal connection. In DCC mode or if you only need loops you can replace the isolators with normal joiners. On the bottom is a normal Kato power routing turnout set up in analog mode, dcc mode, analog with block detection and dcc with block detection. As you see, the bypass switch is easy to install with or without block detection. The top right is the classic Fremo analog cab control, with each track isolated and manually switched to one or more controllers without help from the turnouts. The bottom right is the circuit for a DC/DCC diode based block detector with an open collector TLL output, also known as a Tomix TCS sensor connection.

ps: I could not find a way to copy a quote to another topic, so i couldn't put this into the ttrak topic.

[Martijn Meerts]

Hmm, interesting. I'd need to use occupancy detectors that are compatible with 1 of the systems I have though, so the question is how to integrate those.

Anyway, I'll create a thread specifically for my T-Trak stuff soon-ish, and then we can use that one instead of going way off topic here :)

[sid21177]

On 8/24/2017 at 3:11 AM, kvp said:

That's nice. Have you found a good way to keep the block driving PWM pulses synchronized when a train crosses over from one block to the other? (so the pulses don't wired OR together?)

The turnout switching & block routing can pretty much be automated. I'll have them on separate controllers so that they don't get mixed up, and that there is some level of manual control over the execution.

The throttle control is still manual, the interface changes from analog (knobs/switch) to digital (smart device/BT). The user will still be responsible for making sure the blocks are given the right polarity. Each block is connected to a single throttle. Don't want to take out all the fun of running trains - lol

Once I get a basic interface running, I can think of expanding the functionality - simultaneous multiple throttle speed/direction adjustment, locking etc.
That is the advantage of controlling via software

Lets see how it goes, I'm still researching :)

[kvp]

2 hours ago, sid21177 said:

The user will still be responsible for making sure the blocks are given the right polarity. Each block is connected to a single throttle.

In this case, the pwm pulses in each throttle has to be synchronized, so they start at the same time. Otherwise you'll have jumps (sudden high speed) when a train crosses from one block to another. That is assuming a chopped pwm pulse, because on-off pulsing will cause a short between the two block drivers if they are not perfectly in synch.

[nah00]

Did this a few weeks ago but finally got a small greenhouse and orchard scene finished (cat loved knocking over the trees in the orchard so that was a priority. Started with ground cover and a generous amount of PVA glue, glued down the tree bases too. Fit the orchard and greenhouses in before I added a gravel path (eventually there will be a small railroad crossing to the other side of the tracks) and fencing (used a Noch fence, even was able to save most of the bits I cut off as a scrap wood pile). Pretty happy with the final result, notice the two railfans taking a break to watch the trains at the crossing. 

Ran some trains in the meantime of waiting for everything to dry, two diesels from half the world and and over a half a century apart meet when a DF-200 and RS-1 pass each other. 

[serotta1972]

That looks great nah00 and I thought all you did on your spare time was apply car numbers and destinations boards on Shinkansens. :)

[Pauljag900]

That looks spot on mate,good effort there😀👍👍

[dgreen787]

The layout is currently the simple loop with a passing siding, but yesterday I added the small detailed bits to the KiHa58, with the exception of the radio antennas? that sit above the driver's compartment on each car. And yes, the 787 still needs its extra details.

 

Also, not sure if the question belongs in another section, but does Tomix or any of the other suppliers make a hand drill to make the holes that the piece fits in to? A guide for the holes came with the train, and it specified a .5mm drill bit. I haven't seen anything along those lines on Hobbysearch or the other Japanese online shops, and Amazon is giving me bits for power drills.

Edited September 1, 2017 by dgreen787