H0e forest railways with H0 branch line

[Martijn Meerts]

There's movement ...

 

It's definitely not smooth yet, the decoder needs plenty of fine tuning. The motor is also not quite as smooth as it should be, especially when going forwards at somewhat higher speeds (it starts making a rather interesting sound). However, most parts aren't lubricated yet, and obviously none of the parts have been run it at all. Still, the drive rods seem to be doing what they're supposed to do.

 

 

[gavino200]

3 hours ago, Martijn Meerts said:

the decoder needs plenty of fine tuning.

 

Very nice. What kind of fine tuning are you going to give the decoder? 

[Martijn Meerts]

Mostly how the motor is driven in various speed ranges so it's less jerky and has better low speed running. The Lokpilots have a lot of options for improving running, but it's a lot of tedious work 🙂

 

I also need to figure out if I want to use a regular H0 decoder or a micro one. The bigger H0 ones have a bit higher output which might be better considering the weight of the loco and the weight it'll be pulling.

 

[gavino200]

What's the size of a regular HO decoder? It seems like you'll have plenty of space for one. it would be a shame to skimp on power after all the work you're putting into this awesome project. 

[Martijn Meerts]

The micro one is 8.0 x 7.0 x 2.4mm. The regular one is 21.4 x 15.5 x 4.5mm.

 

So, it's quite a bit bigger, but it does have at least twice the power of the micro one, had more function outputs, and those function outputs can deliver more power. Not that I really need that, considering the only think I need to power are LEDs.

 

There is plenty space in the tender of course, but that would mean having several wires from tender to loco. I don't know how much space I'll have in the loco itself, much of the boiler is filled with weights, and I don't want to remove any of that if not absolutely needed. I might just order a regular decoder to test with, or at least cut out some styrene or cardboard in the size of the decoder. And, apart from the decoder, I also need room for the power pack / capacitor for short term power storage. I won't know for certain if I can fit it anywhere until I start building the main body of the loco, which is quite daunting judging by the instructions 😄

 

[Jaco3011]

Did you remove the capacitors and inductors? Decoder has PWM on output, and PWM doesn't like capacitors and inductors.

[Martijn Meerts]

It had no capacitors or anything. Pretty sure it's a coreless motor though, so that needs some changes in the decoder settings. Also, it's now run a total of maybe 2 minutes, so it still needs lots of running in, but I don't have the track for a full loop at the moment. The curved track I have is too tight for the C55 to go through, which makes sense considering it's a standard TT-gauge curve.

 

 

[Martijn Meerts]

The past days it's been pretty warm here, so the attic's been heating up quite nicely. It's already too warm to comfortably work on something there. So, I moved some tools and things down a floor so I can continue building some kits in a room with an AC unit 🙂

 

Before continuing the C55, I decided to first build one of the Toma Model Works kits I got a while ago. These are very simple kits of various cars used on the Kido Kamioka line. Prototypically they're actually 610mm gauge cars, but these Toma kits are regular H0e.

 

 

These are all the parts for the kit. 3 brass sheets, a pre-bent roof, 2 axles and 1 screw. Documentation is not included, but they added a link to a PDF. The documentation is very basic though, but then again, so is the kit.

 

 

 

This shows the frame and part of the body on the tender of the C55 kit, just to show the size.

 

 

 

Test fitting the body on the frame. Most of the body isn't soldered yet. Also, the coupler is quite interesting, since you have to insert the loop into the coupler pocket, and then insert the little pin to keep it in place. Definitely not shunting friendly 😄

 

 

 

And a size comparison to the WaFu22000.

 

 

[Jaco3011]

If I were you, I'd make it H0f (gauge 6,5mm, same as Z).

[Martijn Meerts]

That wouldn't make much sense, since these kits have already been adjusted for 9mm. Converting them again now means modifying a good part of the frame. Also, these are fairly loosely based on a 610mm prototype, but they're generic enough to use on H0e. I also have some side dumping cars in H0e for which the prototype was also a 610mm gauge car.

 

And I really don't want to do 3 gauges on 1 layout 😄

 

[Jaco3011]

3 hours ago, Martijn Meerts said:

That wouldn't make much sense, since these kits have already been adjusted for 9mm. Converting them again now means modifying a good part of the frame. Also, these are fairly loosely based on a 610mm prototype, but they're generic enough to use on H0e. I also have some side dumping cars in H0e for which the prototype was also a 610mm gauge car.

 

And I really don't want to do 3 gauges on 1 layout 😄

 

You may add some 1372mm/1435mm tramway or private railway and go for 4. This does not include:
- H0n3 - 10,5mm gauge - 3' (914mm) narrow gauge used in USA
- H0p - 4,5mm gauge - parkbahn/ minimal gauge railway

- X scale model railway using T scale 3mm tracks

- non-standard broad gauge railway using EM (18,2mm) or P4 (18,8mm) tracks

- monorail

[Martijn Meerts]

Or I'll just stick to 2 gauges instead 😉

 

[cteno4]

Smart man martijn.

 

jeff

[Martijn Meerts]

Project is on a bit of a forced break at the moment. A while ago I started a remodelling project for the kitchen, living room and hallway. Unfortunately, lots of stuff went wrong, which caused massive delays. The house is a bit of a mess right now, so I don't have a comfortable space to work on things at the moment.

 

But, the new floor is going in as I type this, and in about a month, the new kitchen will be installed. After that I can start clean up the rest of the house, and then work on the project again. Hopefully by then I can even take some time off from work, haven't actually taken any time off at all, apart from for working on the renovation stuff 😄

 

[Martijn Meerts]

A small non-update ... Due to life, progress on anything model train related has pretty much stopped completely. I do intend to pick it up again hopefully sooner rather than later, but I'll have to see.

 

I should also focus a bit more rather than work on several projects, so I'll likely mainly be working on the H0 side of things for the foreseeable future. N scale wise I do want to pick up the Enoden T-Trak again so I can at least also work on some scenery things now and then. The H0 project won't be needing any scenery anytime soon.

 

 

[gavino200]

3 hours ago, Martijn Meerts said:

I should also focus a bit more rather than work on several projects,

 

This too is my constant struggle! 🤣 I get more and more into each project to the point where overall progress gets slower and slower. But really it doesn't matter as long the activity itself is enjoyable.

[Martijn Meerts]

16 hours ago, gavino200 said:

 

This too is my constant struggle! 🤣 I get more and more into each project to the point where overall progress gets slower and slower. But really it doesn't matter as long the activity itself is enjoyable.

 

Well, that's the thing.. At some point the progress is really slow or non-existent, at which point the activity stops being enjoyable. Especially when you don't really know where to go with the project other than some very general idea you've had for many years already. Even more so when the project is probably too ambitious for 1 person to build when that person has very limited spare time.

 

[gavino200]

5 hours ago, Martijn Meerts said:

 

Well, that's the thing.. At some point the progress is really slow or non-existent, at which point the activity stops being enjoyable. Especially when you don't really know where to go with the project other than some very general idea you've had for many years already. Even more so when the project is probably too ambitious for 1 person to build when that person has very limited spare time.

 

 

Wow! That describes my situation exactly. Nevertheless, I'm going to get it done. One small piece at a time. I'm hoping to soon have a basic loop running, so that I can play with trains while I build the rest, one piece at a time.

[Martijn Meerts]

1 hour ago, gavino200 said:

 

Wow! That describes my situation exactly. Nevertheless, I'm going to get it done. One small piece at a time. I'm hoping to soon have a basic loop running, so that I can play with trains while I build the rest, one piece at a time.

 

I have a loop, so I can actually run trains (or, I could of the hobby room was cleaned up).. But in the meantime, my interests have been shifting more towards the H0 project, to the point where even running trains on the N layout isn't much fun.

 

[gavino200]

Just now, Martijn Meerts said:

 

I have a loop, so I can actually run trains (or, I could of the hobby room was cleaned up).. But in the meantime, my interests have been shifting more towards the H0 project, to the point where even running trains on the N layout isn't much fun.

 

 

Ah, that's a problem I don't have. I do have some HO trains but they're mainly for temporary setups running around the house. I love the ability to fit more into less space with N. Also, I love miniaturization, so the tiny size appeals to me. I had OO scale trains as a kid and N scale was fairly rare. I only saw it in one shop in Dublin, and I was fascinated by it immediately. I remember whenever I looked at it there, my Dad would immediately lead me away. Either it was expensive or he didn't want to go down another rabbit hole. When I saw n scale in Hornby catalogues I always yearned for it. I don't know if fulfilling a childhood dream is part of my n-scale preference now, or if I would just be drawn to it anyway.

 

I really like watching your kit-build constructions. I'd love to try my hand at that. I can't imagine being able to do that well in n-scale. Is a passion for building your own trains part of your switch to HO? Is the daunting hugeness of your station/helix/automation project part of your loss of enthusiasm for n-scale?

[Martijn Meerts]

1 hour ago, gavino200 said:

 

Ah, that's a problem I don't have. I do have some HO trains but they're mainly for temporary setups running around the house. I love the ability to fit more into less space with N. Also, I love miniaturization, so the tiny size appeals to me. I had OO scale trains as a kid and N scale was fairly rare. I only saw it in one shop in Dublin, and I was fascinated by it immediately. I remember whenever I looked at it there, my Dad would immediately lead me away. Either it was expensive or he didn't want to go down another rabbit hole. When I saw n scale in Hornby catalogues I always yearned for it. I don't know if fulfilling a childhood dream is part of my n-scale preference now, or if I would just be drawn to it anyway.

 

I really like watching your kit-build constructions. I'd love to try my hand at that. I can't imagine being able to do that well in n-scale. Is a passion for building your own trains part of your switch to HO? Is the daunting hugeness of your station/helix/automation project part of your loss of enthusiasm for n-scale?

 

Actually, the yard and helix took a long time to build, but I knew exactly how I wanted them to be. So that wasn't actually an issue. The main station I've also pretty much got worked out in detail, including a good chunk of the overall landscaping that should go around that area. But for the rest of the layout I only have a very general idea of what I want. Initially I also wanted to just run all trains, but I've started getting more interested in the JNR era, so mixed steam and early shinkansen. However, that means a large part of my collection is essentially not useable. Of course, I can still run them even on a layout that's more late steam era themed.

 

I also wanted the express tracks to be visible a bit, possibly also stop at a secondary station, but space for that is limited, and the trains are too long to make that look good. So instead I'd probably have to stick with a local line for most of the visible track. Anyway, for now it's on hold.

 

I also have several brass kits in N, they're not much different to build. There are some parts that are smaller obviously, but then again, the H0 kits (especially the IMON ones) have far more details. I did pretty much ruin the first 2 kits I built though, I should've gotten a couple of cheaper freight car ones to experiment with instead of immediately going with some locomotives, but oh well.

 

[gavino200]

24 minutes ago, Martijn Meerts said:

 

Actually, the yard and helix took a long time to build, but I knew exactly how I wanted them to be. So that wasn't actually an issue. The main station I've also pretty much got worked out in detail, including a good chunk of the overall landscaping that should go around that area. But for the rest of the layout I only have a very general idea of what I want. Initially I also wanted to just run all trains, but I've started getting more interested in the JNR era, so mixed steam and early shinkansen. However, that means a large part of my collection is essentially not useable. Of course, I can still run them even on a layout that's more late steam era themed.

 

That makes sense to me. I have a few fixed plans for my layout. Some are my own ideas. Others are ideas I'm "borrowing" from other layouts. I find that filling in the blank space is a bit nerve-wracking. Perhaps I'm not as creative as I was when I was young. Perhaps I never was. Lots of insecurities, but I think I'll just continue anyway and tackle it "bird by bird".

 

Likely my layout is going to be all modern, but I'll run any train on it that I feel like, including my ancient "Adler". I've actually thought of having sections of the layout from different historical periods - like a time-travel layout. With a future-apocalypse section. But probably it'll all be modern.

 

24 minutes ago, Martijn Meerts said:

 

I also wanted the express tracks to be visible a bit, possibly also stop at a secondary station, but space for that is limited, and the trains are too long to make that look good. So instead I'd probably have to stick with a local line for most of the visible track. Anyway, for now it's on hold.

 

This is something I've been realizing recently. As I've up-sized my layouts, I've grown my station. At the moment it's pretty big. A problem with this is that increasing the size of the station makes it proportionally the same size on the large layout as the small station was on the small layout. It can make the whole layout look small even though it's actually fairly giant.  I'll have to heavily model the layout to make the large station look less prominent. There's no way I can put more than one station of this size on the layout without it looking ridiculous. I think I'll add a small station or two anyway and only stop short trains there.

 

It strikes me that the best strategy is to run short trains, of about 5 or 6 cars. Likely I'll use this strategy in the future. This is what @railsquid and @Madsing seem to do. Both their layouts are of a relatively modest size, but both give an illusion of large size due to interesting and complex design. Probably "full-size" trains like a 16 car Shinkansen are better left to enormous layouts like the one in the Kato Hobby Center. A secondary benefit would be the money saved by not buying add-on sets. 🙂

 

 

 

24 minutes ago, Martijn Meerts said:

 

I also have several brass kits in N, they're not much different to build. There are some parts that are smaller obviously, but then again, the H0 kits (especially the IMON ones) have far more details. I did pretty much ruin the first 2 kits I built though, I should've gotten a couple of cheaper freight car ones to experiment with instead of immediately going with some locomotives, but oh well.

 

 

I'll lock that advice away and heed it when I get around to building one of those kits!

[Martijn Meerts]

1 hour ago, gavino200 said:

This is something I've been realizing recently. As I've up-sized my layouts, I've grown my station. At the moment it's pretty big. A problem with this is that increasing the size of the station makes it proportionally the same size on the large layout as the small station was on the small layout. It can make the whole layout look small even though it's actually fairly giant.  I'll have to heavily model the layout to make the large station look less prominent. There's no way I can put more than one station of this size on the layout without it looking ridiculous. I think I'll add a small station or two anyway and only stop short trains there.

 

It strikes me that the best strategy is to run short trains, of about 5 or 6 cars. Likely I'll use this strategy in the future. This is what @railsquid and @Madsing seem to do. Both their layouts are of a relatively modest size, but both give an illusion of large size due to interesting and complex design. Probably "full-size" trains like a 16 car Shinkansen are better left to enormous layouts like the one in the Kato Hobby Center. A secondary benefit would be the money saved by not buying add-on sets. 🙂

 

Basically what I had in mind for the station (or stations rather), was the big one that can hold 16 car trains with separate shinkansen tracks. On the left side these disappear into a tunnel running underneath the city and on the right side they'll disappear into a mountain. This would also be the only place the shinkansen would be visible. The rest would just be a simple loop with possibly a couple of hidden storage tracks. Then there's the express line, which I wanted to have more visible initially, but that probably won't work, so that will just become the same as the shinkansen track. Might still be possible to have shorter trains share the express line tracks on the station, but go a different route from there. But the main focus would be the local / urban line with shorter trains as well as single or double car trains that stop at all the small stations.

 

Anyway, probably better to use the thread for that project instead of this one though.. 

 

 

For the H0 layout, the main focus would be the narrow gauge forest railway. Or at least, most running will happen on those tracks. There will be a station where goods are transferred from the narrow gauge line to a branch line operated by JNR. This branch line runs along the mountains but due to increasing traffic a new double track line is being created through the mountains. Also due to this increasing traffic, larger locomotives have been taken in use, as well as some (partially) refurbished express coaches. This allows me to get away with using a C55 pulling 4 or 5 express coaches.

 

But first, I need to figure out what the minimum radius is for the C55 and 9600, changes are they need a rather large loop. I guess theoretically I could create like a fully automated hidden turntable. Decouple the loco, turn it around, and pick up the coaches again, but that's bound to go wrong more often than not.

 

Once I clear some space and have something resembling both motivation and spare time, I'll order some TT flex track so I can test various radii.

 

[railsquid]

5 hours ago, gavino200 said:

It strikes me that the best strategy is to run short trains, of about 5 or 6 cars. Likely I'll use this strategy in the future. This is what @railsquid and @Madsing seem to do. Both their layouts are of a relatively modest size, but both give an illusion of large size due to interesting and complex design. Probably "full-size" trains like a 16 car Shinkansen are better left to enormous layouts like the one in the Kato Hobby Center. A secondary benefit would be the money saved by not buying add-on sets. 🙂

 

Yup, I find around 6 cars (in N scale) is long enough to look reasonably plausible, probably because the formation is longer than the eye can take in at a glance and provides enough variety in car types, even if it's not prototypical. TBH even if I had more space, I wouldn't go much longer, simply because it's such a hassle assembling the formation, putting it back in the case, cleaning the wheels, adding decals, dealing with derailments etc.

[gavino200]

Yes, that's exactly right. I really can't stand dealing with derailments. A shorter train would be easier to set on the rails and keep there. I really think they're going to look better too. I think I'll experiment with shorter trains for a while.