My shinkansen layout project

[macdon]

Innocently enough, what have started off as just having a simple V13 double track viaduct to try shinkansen trains - may have now blossomed into a possible layout. Still unsure if it'll be kept as a test track or expand into a modern urban jungle but Im preparing for both. Its definitely expanding and thoughts of placing it on a custom wheeled table have been coming and going in my head.

It started off with building some custom platforms......

http://www.jnsforum.com/community/topic/7376-platforms-for-a-one-off-viaduct-station/

While viaduct platforms couldnt just float in the air, the idea of using a 6" pvc pipe was integrated to house them. The pipe also yields to custom station facade/mask designs and a custom roadway was added to give the station some sense.

It'll be impossible to just choose 2 shinkansen among the myriad of trains to run around, so to fix this problem and to promote some kind of activity - a ground to viaduct approach/exit was made. Since Kato doesnt have viaduct turnouts (yet), I made one from a spare viaduct straight.
I kept the incline as close to the perimeter as possible to maximize the center space. This solves the inner oval track, so another custom turnout for approach would have to be made for the outer track as well.

That's it so far with the exception of adding more cars to both the 500 Nozomi (now 8 cars total) and the 800 Tsubame (now 6 cars total). A new 3-car Dr. Yellow will be the first train to occupy the ground yard and run in the inner track. It'll switch with the 800 Tsubame.

Mardon

Edited November 26, 2013 by macdon

[macdon]

More pics from previous topic......

 

Mardon

Edited October 4, 2013 by macdon

[Densha]

The custom station looks much better now that it has a station area... :)

[KenS]

I really like the look of the station, with the boxy central building and the arched roof over the tracks. It looks like a modern station you'd actually see somewhere, without looking like any specific prototype.  The parking lot and roads adds to it, as well.

[macdon]

Its funny but that station facade changes every month or so ........ 'coz when I get bored, I just design a new one :D

 

Mardon

[cteno4]

one of the new washington dc metro stations on the new line going out to the airport has this kind of curved look to it i just noticed last night.

 

nice idea mardon to keep things changing like that. put some velcro on the backs of the facades and you can change to your heart's content when you build up a few!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[macdon]

Here's some of the facades I've done in the past few months.......

 

Mardon

 

[macdon]

Current/ new facade.......

 

I was playing around with my Tomix dark grey high rise building when a thought of placing it as a station facade came to mind. I kinda liked the contrast in color between the building and the cylindrical pvc platform housing. I got the very first fiberglass facade I did, painted it dark grey and changed the middle section. It will stay on for now.

 

Mardon

 

Edited October 9, 2013 by macdon

[macdon]

Here's a video - testing the turnout switch.

 

 

 

Mardon

[cteno4]

Mardon,

 

great stuff. love the new station look. looks like fun to have options as well if you get bored!

 

need to flip the directions of the trains to be running japanese. its opposite like the roads to most of the rest of the world (outside the brits and a few others).

 

do you have any room to put a shinkansen yard off one end of the layout in the room? gives a nice place to get easy access and a yard ladder as well as more scenery room around your station. maybe like an L and use the viaduct point off the outside on one end to go into a yard L ed off? can also do a long shop structure over a track or two as well. that would lend itself well with the cardstock models!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[macdon]

Thanks Jeff.

 

Im thinking of expanding and hopefully build a table for it if space allows. The green is the existing and the red is the proposed addition.

 

Mardon

 

shinkansen layout.tiff

Edited October 10, 2013 by macdon

[macdon]

Shinkansen oval is now off the floor......

 

Due to relocating the xbox system from the attic down to ground level, I found some needed space to build a 4'x8' table for the oval. There's still some space around it to plan extension modules or what not later on.

 

Mardon

 

[macdon]

The oval layout grew again - it became 310mm longer and now occupies the whole 4'x8' table.

This is due to the double crossover that was added in preparation for the off-site yard that would serve both the inner and outer lines.

 

This would eliminate my small inside incline/yard thus making the center section totally vacant for either a separate commuter line or maybe a tram system, moving bus, etc. Havent really made up my mind yet but im leaning towards a tram line since I never had a tram line yet.

 

Mardon

 

[cteno4]

this is how it starts to slowly creep out and take over the whole room!

 

jeff

[macdon]

this is how it starts to slowly creep out and take over the whole room!

 

jeff

I really try not to think about it and I do put limits ......... but those limits could be easily thrown out the window when ideas do strike like lightning! :D

 

Mardon

[macdon]

I was doing some comparative study on what kind of tracks to place inside the shinkansen oval.

 

Green = the existing extended V13 double track viaduct oval

Red = proposed viaduct extension

purple = proposed V14 double track set for commuter or tram

 

I also included the Tomix Wide Tram track carded set (#91086) and what a double set could do and last small green oval is a kato CV1. They are all scaled to the shinkansen oval to see how many sets would be needed in a specific layout if I decide to use them.

 

Looking at it, multiple sets of either the Tomix WTT ($25 each set) or the kato CV1 ($18)may not be as value for the money as what the Kato V14 ($72) could offer - which is even double tracks to boot.

 

Did I make any sense?

 

Problem is, the V14 might not be appropriate for city scene trams.

 

Mardon

 

Edited October 16, 2013 by macdon

[cteno4]

mardon,

 

you might think about using the double track to sort of follow the viaduct, part on the inside and part on the outside. then have it runalong the base of the shinkansen station on one side or anther and have it attach to that station via walkways overhead. would need to pull the layout away from the wall then.

 

you could pull your mail street plaza to the outside of the station and have the commuter tracks on the inside back of the station.

 

this would leave a lot of the center area open for buildings and such. 

 

new red area could be more rural, maybe a little mountain/hill over there? a rice field? temple?

 

we will have you filling that whole room with trains soon!

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[macdon]

mardon,

 

you might think about using the double track to sort of follow the viaduct, part on the inside and part on the outside. then have it runalong the base of the shinkansen station on one side or anther and have it attach to that station via walkways overhead. would need to pull the layout away from the wall then.

 

you could pull your mail street plaza to the outside of the station and have the commuter tracks on the inside back of the station.

 

this would leave a lot of the center area open for buildings and such. 

 

new red area could be more rural, maybe a little mountain/hill over there? a rice field? temple?

 

we will have you filling that whole room with trains soon!

 

cheers,

 

jeff

 

Thanks Jeff!

 

Yeah, you read my mind on the red expansion loop - it'll be the 'nature' part of the layout. Im thinking of creating that expansion as a separate module that could be detached if need be.

My 4'x8' table is on wheels so I can basically move the whole layout to the middle of the attic if I wanted to - but im thinking of adding a 4" wide baseboard at the back of the station and run a single line so a train could hide and re-appear on the other side. Sorta like a time lapse of going somewhere to a destination and coming back.

 

My proposed double track does indeed take a lot of space and I cant see a viable shape except for a loop or probably an eyeglass shape. I'll see what else I could muster via railmodeller.

 

I did try a one liner and did a zigzag shape approach however using 8.5" radius curves - what kind of trains do you know could take that small a radius?

 

Mardon

 

[cteno4]

mardon, 

 

what about looping the single line out into the red area? 8.5 will work with many things but it is tight. with this you have a train track right across from your station with the main road there. seems like buildings in that center spot is your best visual.

 

the track behind the viaduct station is great to make things dissapear for a little while from the one side. you could do a bit of platform and station connection there on the back side for when wheeled out.

 

here is another idea of a folded figure 8 loop to noodle on. this gives you a line that the train appears to be going all over the place, very hard to figure out where it goes next for a tight layout. use to really confuse people on the old layout, very fun and not a predictable loop at all!

 

but i think taking the ground line out to the red area might be nice. maybe a little bit of tunnel over there. small rural station out there -- freight and small passenger trains great for that, larger stuff is thru traffic.

 

can you go any longer now, like off to the left?

 

another idea would be to have where the red line comes in at the left to the green cut off at a diagonal to the top left with the viaduct. this might help not have the viaduct ring the outside of the layout as then all your scenery ends up down in the middle of a hole... then bring the ground line out into that corner.

 

cheers

 

jeff

Edited October 17, 2013 by cteno4

[macdon]

mardon, 

 

what about looping the single line out into the red area? 8.5 will work with many things but it is tight. with this you have a train track right across from your station with the main road there. seems like buildings in that center spot is your best visual.

 

the track behind the viaduct station is great to make things dissapear for a little while from the one side. you could do a bit of platform and station connection there on the back side for when wheeled out.

 

here is another idea of a folded figure 8 loop to noodle on. this gives you a line that the train appears to be going all over the place, very hard to figure out where it goes next for a tight layout. use to really confuse people on the old layout, very fun and not a predictable loop at all!

 

but i think taking the ground line out to the red area might be nice. maybe a little bit of tunnel over there. small rural station out there -- freight and small passenger trains great for that, larger stuff is thru traffic.

 

can you go any longer now, like off to the left?

 

another idea would be to have where the red line comes in at the left to the green cut off at a diagonal to the top left with the viaduct. this might help not have the viaduct ring the outside of the layout as then all your scenery ends up down in the middle of a hole... then bring the ground line out into that corner.

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

Cool design Jeff - thanks for showing it!

I did see a similar folded dog bone type of layout plan in one of my searches before and said to myself that I wanna try it one day. Could this be the day? :D

I attempted a shaved version and it almost fits....... so either find points to shave it more or just buy 2 more viaduct straights to expand the oval again! It certainly tests any strength I have to place limitations on this layout Lol!

 

As for space to the left - you mean the whole layout or just the red loop expansion?

If red loop expansion, my proposed plan is to only make a module as big as the red loop needs.

If layout, barely 2" before it hits my spare bin. I guess I could relocate the bin, but I like it where it is as it sits between 2 table layouts.

 

On the right of the layout is where the proposed yard will sit - about 2' of space before it hits the wall. Maybe I'll get a foot width for the yard and will have another foot of space on the left side of the layout before the bin.

 

Mardon

 

[katoftw]

move the crossover to the opposite station side of the loop.  remove 62mm from the length of the loop.  solved.

[Martijn Meerts]

Somehow layouts almost always end up bigger/having more track than planned =)

[macdon]

They certainly grow on ya :D

 

Mardon

[katoftw]

I was youtubing 'kato shinkansen 800' as i was wanting to see a few in action.  and one of your test runs came up.  due to the station facade, i instantly recognised you layout on youtube.

[macdon]

I was youtubing 'kato shinkansen 800' as i was wanting to see a few in action.  and one of your test runs came up.  due to the station facade, i instantly recognised you layout on youtube.

Thanks mate!

Yes, its the same video that I posted (post#9)on the previous page of this thread.

That video was taken when the layout was still on the floor and I built a temporary incline just so I could park the trains.

I was suppose to switch back the Dr.Yellow with the 800 Tsubame again, but sadly video got cut as I could only upload 5min worth. I guess I wasnt fast enough to do the switching as I got mesmerized when I noticed that the dr.yellow even had led lights on the pantograph area. That was cool! :D

 

Mardon