Kevin M

Michael, I have had excellent service from Eurorailhobbies.com in British Columbia. They drive their US orders to a Post Office on the Washington side of the border. No customs problems to deal with. Although I'm sure the virus shutdown is causing them problems getting supplies from Europe.

I received my UWT-100 today. It took me longer to get my computer started than it did to get started using the throttle. I'm using it with Digitrax DSC50, Locobuffer-USB and JMRI. So far I am impressed. It feels nice in hand and I don't have to worry about accidentally touching the screen (smart phone). I agree that it is a bit expensive but I think it is well worth the price. It has a very intuitive interface. I never looked at the manual. Of course I had already watched the videos.

TCS has several videos on YouTube about the UWT 100 throttle. Just search TCS DCC on YouTube. I have been waiting for something like this. I will probably purchase one soon. Right now my dt400r is in to digitrax for repair. Its not the first time I have had to use their repair service. I have used my smart phone but its too easy to accidentally touch the wrong spot on it. DT500D throttles are $199.95 at Micro-Mark here in the US.

Enjoyed the photo trip Paul. Thank you.

I used a Faller 180516 Oberstdorf background for my small HOm layout. Kevin

I had a feeling that would be the case. I bought this used on ebay and have now converted it to a track cleaning car using a block of Masonite (hardboard) and two nails.

The Kibri Surava station is 245mm x 140mm not including the ramp to the platform. The platform ramp is 65mm making the overall foot print 310mm long.

The Sommerfeldt instructions show 67mm from top of rail. That is what I used.

More photos at the train show. I have found that it is very easy to overdo it when applying static grass. I need to get some cows and sheep to eat some of it down.

I managed to get my layout presentable in time for our local train show. It still lacks more details but I will add them in the next few months until our next show. It will probably never be as detailed as well as those I've seen from the UK and Europe. That is beyond my abilities. I was surprised at how well it was received. The youngsters really liked it. They were excited to see which tunnel the train would appear from next. The lower loop kept them guessing.

Where can I find a replacement bogie, preferably here in the US? My Sliding wall wagon took a dive to the floor and managed to break the pins holding the coupling loop. And the loop decided to fly to unknown parts in my garage. Of course this is no great loss because like most modelers I now have more wagons than will fit on the layout. Kevin

It has caused more of what little hair I have left to fall out. I should have started with a simple loop to experiment with. Although overall I am pleased with this layout.

I mixed some paint to get a dark grey. I won't know for sure how it will look until I get the layout into a room with better lighting. I have the layout in a spare bedroom for the winter so I can work with some heat. It does not have the best lighting though. Sometime in the next week or so I'll have a friend help me move it into my garage/shop where I have much better lighting. I am trying to get it ready for our local train show next month. A few lessons I have learned building my first layout with catenary: Make the baseboard a little bit wider to accommodate the mast mounting. I had to cut some scenery out so I could add some wood pieces to mount the mast to. Don't space the masts out to far on curves. If I had wanted to run with the pantographs up I would probably have some problems. Have all masts located (but not installed permanently) before starting scenery. Its really hard to get static grass close to the masts. Plus I used foam board for the scenery contours and I had to carve out underneath to get the nuts on the mast stud. Paint the overhead wire before mounting. (except the very ends that will be soldered) I had 3/4 for the wire installed before I thought of that. When I started this I did not plan on having overhead wire. I was just going to mount some wooden poles around the track to represent catenary. Maybe mount a horizontal arm and string a single wire. That plan didn't last long. Here is a quick cell phone picture. It gives you an idea of the poor lighting I am dealing with. I still have a lot of scenic material to add and the trees of course. I see I need to lighten the tunnel portal to closer match the color of the viaduct. Kevin

I'm still puttering away at my little layout. I am installing overheard wire now. It has been a new learning experience for me. It is probably a good thing that I was not planning on running with the pantographs up. Question: I want to paint the wire but am unsure what color it should be. From photos it appears to be a dark grey or black. Opinions please! Thank you, Kevin

Paul, what mast did you use to mount to the viaduct? And how did you mount it? I have pictures of the prototype but sommerfeldt doesn't seem to offer a bridge mast.

Thanks Paul. I didn't have any catenary on hand when I measured out the location of my mast. I assumed that the wire would fit without cutting it. It must be designed for standard gauge. Having to mail order everything makes planning more difficult. It took over two months to get everything I needed. Any way I'll make some adjustments and do as you did.

I have a feeling I should have asked a lot more questions before I ordered my overhead wire. I measured and ordered my overhead wire not realizing that the ends are so widely spaced at the masts. Would I be correct to cut out the vertical wire and lowering the support wire to the insulator? Or should I angle the horizontal wire from the mast down so the support wire touches the insulator? I used N scale cork roadbed so the horizontal wire is 71mm above the top of rail when mounted level. The white spacer in the second photo is 67mm high. How do you do it? Another lesson learned: My club wanted my to take my layout to our show last October so I had to do some quick scenery before I had the catenary. I'll never do that again. Thanks, Kevin

Thank you and yes I was aware of that. I am not one to stick to any era and tend to go with what catches my eye. Plus my wife likes it. Can't argue with that. :-)

I guess its about time I update this topic a bit. Andrew, thank you for the photos. Since my last post I was talked into taking my unfinished layout to our local train show/swap meet October 14-15 . With less than two weeks to get ready I had to do some very quick scenery work. None of the scenery is complete. The trees are temporary, the two stone bridges are set in temporarily and of course the cardboard viaduct is temporary until I carve a stone one. Construction is on hold now while I wait for the rest of my catenary order plus it is getting to cold in the garage to work. The skirting is recycled from a portable HOn3 layout that I built almost 40 years ago. The weekend went great. The only problem I had was the track cleaning fluid I use (CRC 2-26) leaves a bit of lubrication on the rail. It was not a problem until I tried to add more passenger wagons to the train and the drivers started to slip. Next time I'll use something non lubricating to clean the rail. There was also a group of guys from the Pacific Northwest chapter of the ETE with a Marklin layout next to me. I was lucky enough to purchase the ABe 4/4 and three passenger wagons from a gentleman that was thinning out is trains.

Thanks for the photo. I have a very slow high speed internet so google street view can be very slow for me. Most of the time its slow enough that I download videos at night while I'm asleep so I can watch them latter without the constant buffering.

Thank you Paul. I am slowly putting together a list of items I need to order. I want to try to get everything I need in one order. Hopefully the store I order from has it all in stock. Should I also order some Contact wire such as item 119? I have been watching a lot of Youtube cab ride videos trying to get a better idea how catenary is placed. I wish they would pan up at tunnel portals so I can see how the support wire is attached. Kevin

Next question. What lengths Overhead wire should I be using. Most of my curves are tight so I know I will have to keep those to 180mm. Or do I used longer wire and pull-offs in between mainline masts? (Pull-off masts are cheaper.) Do I use the same lengths on all my curves for use longer wire where possible? How about straight track? For this layout I will not be using multiple track catenary. I want to keep this as simple as possible. Thanks, Kevin

Thanks guys, I think i understand now. Kevin

I have a question about catenary. I am not sure where or if I should use a Mast for pull-offs on my track plan. I have the new Sommerfeldt instruction book and the answer is probably right in front of me but I am missing it. Thanks, Kevin

Thank you for the offer but I have the Sommerfeldt instructions on order. I agree that moving catenary does look nice. Maybe if I build another layout. My trains will be a bit mixed up. The set I have has Rhb, FO and BVZ passenger wagons in it.