T-Trak - Narrow Gauge?

[Beaver]

It occurred to me that some sort of single track T-Trak would be a good basis for modular layouts in HO and OO narrow gauge. Given the very bijou arrangements of many such lines, the tight curves wouldn't be an issue and a passing station could fit on one double module, fitting in well with the concept of small, detailed scenes. I have heard of T-Trak standards for HO standard gauge but not of anything like this.

[cteno4]

Don’t think I’ve ever heard of narrow gauge Ttrak, but no reason it can’t be done! If you want things to meander more you could do an additional track location in the center then you could have the track joint at the front, center or back (front modules turned 180). Might lend itself to doing the U style modules so terrain could go up and down easily.

 

There are some single track n gauge Ttrak in japan.

 

Cheers

 

jeff

[katoftw]

T-Trak is just one variant of many different module type layout systems.  If one of the well know variants don't fit to your liking, make your own.

[Kamome]

I saw some O narrow gauge modules at JAM 2018 which were beautifully modeled. Not sure whether there’s any standard for this or whether it’s just what a group of friends decided on. Anyway looking up images searching with:

 

ナローモジュール

Narrow Module 

 

Mainly brings up some nice O scale gems on Google.

[Beaver]

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone.

 

I today bought some Nekoya Line models as I am coming to realise that an unambitious tiny railway is, in my circumstances, the only practical way to actually getting something built.

 

I did not find much on widely recognised narrow gauge module standards except for Fremo. That would seem like a better choice than inventing another new standard. At JAM I saw far too many clubs presenting very similar yet quite incompatible modular systems.

[cteno4]

It is a difficult decision to make your layout to a standard to play with others or do your own thing. Playing with others is fun but can limit what you can do. Also you have to find others to play with. In some areas just not many Modelers around or in this case doing this sort of thing like narrow gauge.

 

many clubs decide to just do their own things as they can have a lot of internal desires for what they want to do with their layout and they have enough players to play with and do their own thing. It is a bummer though if the modules are member owned and you move away or get disinterested with the local club. As soon as you start to put on standards you start limiting what can be done though — it’s always a trade off.

 

Fremo works, but it really needs a larger space to set up much. We tried laying some stuff out if Fremo and Fremo inspired design for our latest club layout planning and to get much of what we wanted it ended up a large area to set it up. This would have been difficult in some of the shows we do and also to work on things. While it would give some layout flexibility to set up it was just a bit too limiting in what we could do track wise. Also was going to be a lot more stuff to transport and store space wise.

 

fremo is great to do larger wandering scenes with a rail or two going thru it. You can also do it as sort of a diorama of one of a few thru modules and have terminus modules for point to point or have balloon modules at each end to loop trains back for continuous running. But they do start to take up room fast. Having to bring tracks to center at each end does limit things. You can move tracks around on some modules, but then you have to have modules that will bring them back to center to play with others.

 

i think the biggest thing is, is there a group you want to play with. If there is, that’s a big reason to go to a standard. This is especially true if you have limited space at Home and will run primarily with others. If there is not then big reason to not limit your self and just do what ever will work best for your space, resources, desires, etc.

 

Cheers

 

jeff

[Kiha66]

I have a friend who does ho narrow gauge modeling but has no place for a layout.  We're thinking of using the single track ttrack style of module for convenience.  While not as fancy as fremo they'll be much easier to build and run.

http://space.geocities.jp/popoya2008/menu.html

 

[cteno4]

Another example of this, inspired by they above

 

http://japanrailmodelers.org/pages/modelingjapan/minimodules.html

 

really does work well on the small scale of Ttrak with n scale. Ho scale narrow may need bigger modules as scenery area will he half as deep and long.

 

jeff

[Beaver]

Yes, I will admit the cheapness and simplicity of the T-Trak based approach is significant. A good beginners system bringing quick results. Long routes with many stations and several trains traveling are just as doable as with Fremo.

 

I am thinking it is not perhaps necessary to use larger boards than for N. The stock is much the same length and the platforms and buildings can be much the same size as they may be twice the scale, but are models of things half the size.

 

Though larger non railway buildings could be an issue, especially for Japanese prototypes where older and rural buildings are often bigger than modern city structures due to cheap land.

 

As for minimum radius, again not changed from N I think, to be compatibile with the big equipment used on some small gauge lines, just in case.