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

[Lina_Blue]

Added some additional piers I didn't use for looks.

 

Also ironed out many kinks which rise during high speed operation.

 

Sadly, even after searching the entirety of the floor I can't find that one red pantograph piece which had flown off 😞

 

But everything else now runs very smooth!

 

[MichiK]

24 minutes ago, Waisneed said:

Sadly, even after searching the entirety of the floor I can't find that one red pantograph piece which had flown off 😞

 

You might want to carefully examine your cats' tails ?!

[Lina_Blue]

2 minutes ago, MichiK said:

 

You might want to carefully examine your cats' tails ?!

 

Cat's didn't wander around in de vicinity (yet).

[MichiK]

Hmm... they still might later on - good luck, anyway!

[nah00]

2 hours ago, Waisneed said:

 

Sadly, even after searching the entirety of the floor I can't find that one red pantograph piece which had flown off 😞

 

 

Wait until dark and then turn off all of the lights and search with a flashlight, especially around the borders of the room and under/along/in the viaduct track. 

[gavino200]

5 hours ago, Waisneed said:

 

Sadly, even after searching the entirety of the floor I can't find that one red pantograph piece which had flown off 😞

 

 

I think I may have a spare one. Which part are you missing?

[Lina_Blue]

 

2 hours ago, nah00 said:

 

Wait until dark and then turn off all of the lights and search with a flashlight, especially around the borders of the room and under/along/in the viaduct track. 

 

I did that, but I didn't find anything. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

8 minutes ago, gavino200 said:

 

I think I may have a spare one. Which part are you missing?

 

That would be awesome! I'm just missing the upper half including half an arm and contact shoe.

[gavino200]

24 minutes ago, Waisneed said:

I'm just missing the upper half including half an arm and contact shoe.

 

So you need the second part, the forearm if you will - elbow to wrist? (blue ellipse) and the part that touches the wire (orange ellipse)? 

 

Message me your address and I'll put it in the mail on Monday. If you find it before then just let me know. 

 

 

Edited August 17, 2018 by gavino200

[Lina_Blue]

2 minutes ago, gavino200 said:

 

So you need the second part, the forearm if you will - elbow to wrist? (blue ellipse) and the part that touches the wire (orange ellipse)? 

 

Message me your address and I'll put it in the mail on Monday. If you find it before then just let me know. 

 

 

 

That is correct. If I find anything before, I'll message you ASAP. Thank you again.

[gavino200]

Just now, Waisneed said:

 

That is correct. If I find anything before, I'll message you ASAP. Thank you again.

 

No problem. It's so sad to see such a beautiful train missing it's bits!

[Pauljag900]

 

Today i got rid of all the white bits at the front of the layout using tile effect card and scenic material.

I also drilled through and tidied all the controller wires,just two more Kato controllers to fit,when I get them that is!👍😂😂

 

[Welshbloke]

Oh wow, H&M Duettes! Think there's one of those in the attic, dad bought it in the 70s for his old OO layout. They did offer plug-in extra controllers to go alongside using the 12v DC sockets at the time.

[Pauljag900]

8 minutes ago, Welshbloke said:

Oh wow, H&M Duettes! Think there's one of those in the attic, dad bought it in the 70s for his old OO layout. They did offer plug-in extra controllers to go alongside using the 12v DC sockets at the time.

I had all duette controllers until recently including one add on controller😂😂👍

they re really good controllers but very big ,heavy and they re old now.In their day they were the rolls Royce of controllers and they are bomb proof!,

i like the low/ high frequency which gives superb control at slow speeds and also the half power switch which is great when the grandkids are let loose on it as they can t send them off the track!😂😂👍

[Welshbloke]

They're great for old Dublo and similar motors which draw a lot of amps and have a higher starting voltage.

 

I saw a boxed example of the single controller variant in a shop in Cardiff yesterday for £15. Trying not to buy anything which isn't N scale at the moment though.

[Pauljag900]

2 minutes ago, Welshbloke said:

They're great for old Dublo and similar motors which draw a lot of amps and have a higher starting voltage.

 

I saw a boxed example of the single controller variant in a shop in Cardiff yesterday for £15. Trying not to buy anything which isn't N scale at the moment though.

 

2 minutes ago, Welshbloke said:

They're great for old Dublo and similar motors which draw a lot of amps and have a higher starting voltage.

 

I saw a boxed example of the single controller variant in a shop in Cardiff yesterday for £15. Trying not to buy anything which isn't N scale at the moment though.

That’s not a bad price for a boxed one,generally go for anything up to £50 on eBay,I ll be putting mine up for £25 unless I decide to keep them 

[gavino200]

On 8/4/2018 at 11:20 PM, gavino200 said:

After being afraid to touch these things for more than a year, I finally got round to putting these together. I made a mistake with the blue one. I 'pre-folded' the paper before putting it onto the structure. That caused the print to come off along the fold line. It's better to just glue the paper and fold it onto the structure. I live and learn.

 

 

I bought some colored felt pens and touched these up. It's subtle but I think it was worth it. The small pink machine looks uneven. I should probably color the whole top in pink. Notice there's a pair of lovebirds. It's Saturday night after all!

 

[cteno4]

good perminent markers are great for this. you can get nice sets of gray ones as well for illustration that are very handy. also the alcohol paint pen/markers are handy for touchups and little details that paint dont work well on.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Pauljag900]

Bit more freight for the yard.

painting them should be fun!😂😂

 

 

[Pauljag900]

Kinda train related,just a funny pic so thought I d share it.

i d been doing some cleaning and running Trains with him then he dissapeared so I was taking some pics,next minute up he pops,”surprise grandad”right at the point I took the pic,frightened the life out of me,little rascal.

 

[buckingham]

On 8/17/2018 at 12:02 AM, Waisneed said:

It's possible to stack 15 + 2 interlocked under a standard ceiling.

 

 

Ingenious.

[Khaul]

My traverser is finally operational. Today I installed the brackets that hold the access modules.

 

This is (almost) the track plan. There are three scenic modules at the front. Two are already built. There third is the Option 2 curve to the left. Other than that the curves will be help in place by risers.

 

A general view of the traverser and the access modules.

 

High tech bracket attachments.

 

A yard photo.

 

General view with all my freight rolling stock.

 

Back to storage.

 

 

Edited August 19, 2018 by Khaul

[gavino200]

3 hours ago, Khaul said:

My traverser is finally operational. Today I installed the brackets that hold the access modules.

 

This is (almost) the track plan. There are three scenic modules at the front. Two are already built. There third is the Option 2 curve to the left. Other than that the curves will be help in place by risers.

 

A general view of the traverser and the access modules.

 

 

High tech bracket attachments.

 

 

A yard photo.

 

 

General view with all my freight rolling stock.

 

 

Back to storage.

 

 

 

Does the entire giant straight section move over and back? Is it going to be automated? This is fascinating and ingenious. Is the idea that it's hidden at the back behind scenery, and the viewer sees a string of new trains coming into view rather than the same train looping round and round?

 

I'd love to see video of this when it's finished?

[cteno4]

Nicely done khaul! Love the modular design.

 

jeff

[Khaul]

11 hours ago, gavino200 said:

 

Does the entire giant straight section move over and back? Is it going to be automated? This is fascinating and ingenious. Is the idea that it's hidden at the back behind scenery, and the viewer sees a string of new trains coming into view rather than the same train looping round and round?

 

I'd love to see video of this when it's finished?

 

@cteno4 Thanks Jeff. The modular design comes from space constraints for both running the layout and storing it. They say necessity is the mother of invention. Laziness is the father.

 

@gavino200 Big questions man! First of all, yes, the 4 standard straight section moves back and forth. Trains can be almost a meter long. Not bad 😉. And yes, this is meant to be hidden behind the scenery to play tricks on the viewer. It is not going to be automated because, err, I am not kvp. Actually this design is meant to work with the minimum wiring. Pairs of trains can be chosen to run on the outer and inner loop by moving the traverser. But there is more to it.

 

Let's see some details. My table is 2m long when extended. The traverser allows for 1m long trains and a yard with a few tracks of equal length. That couldn't be possibly achieved with turnout ladders because of the space limits.

 

Now, for the sake of this example I have simplified the layout so it does not show the industrial branch. It's just a double track loop. I can just choose a pair of trains, let them go around and sit back. If I am feeling energetic and get some help from the kids I can run the the layout as follows below. In this example there are four EMUs in the traverser tracks. The numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 refer both to the EMU and the corresponding track. The arrows, red or blue, show the direction of travel.

 

So operations start with EMU 1 running in the inner loop. 1 stops at the station and leaves returning to the traverser. Now the 20-050 pieces are unlocked and the traverser moved one track up.

 

The 20-050s are slid in. Now EMU 1 runs in the outer loop, in the blue direction, while EMU 2 runs in the inner loop in the red direction. For the observer EMU 1 has made a whole round trip!

 

And the process goes on. Now EMU 2 completes its round trip.

 

And so on...

 

That is, the traverser allows for point to point operation without the need of crossovers. This style of operation could be run more professionally without the 20-050 pieces just by connecting traverser tracks to the the loop they face by means of sliding connectors or something like that. The traverser movement could be also electrified, even fully automated... by someone with better skills than mine.

 

Now, the layout looks more like that:

There is a freight brach going from the inner loop into the traverser. In freight mode the traverser allows for holding a string of loads, a string of empties and a loco. The loco can bring empties through the main line, run around using the traverser, push the empties into the branch and come out pulling the loads, maybe run around again and go. That could be even combined with limited EMU service.

 

Also, note that the scenic area suggest a line that comes from the East and leads to the Northwest to make the whole thing look more realistic. There is still a lot of work to do in terms of scenery, but the plan is clear and the track is already laid.

 

 

Edited August 20, 2018 by Khaul

[gavino200]

That's really awesome Khaul! Thanks for taking the time to explain!