Dennis HO

Hey folks, Topic has been quiet for a while due to circumstances, but hopefully that will change in the relatively short term. If all goes well, the garage here will be available again early next year, and we can start building. In the meantime, we are going to refine the layout design on a few points, and also think about dividing the layout into blocks for block detection afterwards, and see what stuff we will use for the digital control of the layout. Will shed some light on this here on the forum. And because we couldn't resist, we already bought a beautiful locomotive for Flanders Railways, a thoroughly Belgian Classic, a must-have on a Belgian layout ... a gem ... Grts Dennis & Co

Nice to see this Belgian layout taking shape ... making me really jealous ... Good work mate ... Grts Dennis & Co.

Eey folks, Since the effective construction of Flanders Railways has been postponed, we now have some more time to take a good look at other things. One important point is noise, and the sound insulation between the tracks and the baseboard. A lot has been written about this and a lot of discussion about it on how best to approach this. Recently we had seen a layout where a lot of insulation was used. And I must say, in terms of driving noises, very good. With most layouts, a cork layer of 3 or 4 mm is glued to the baseboard, which is then concealed in the ballast. The problem with this is that there is a "hard glued transition" via the ballast between the rails and the wooden baseboard, and that causes quite a bit of sound transfer. For the layout that we're building, the baseboard is first completely covered with an additional insulating underlayer, which is also used as underlayer under laminate flooring. At the places where the tracks are laid, a strip of cork is placed, which is slightly wider than the sleepers. If we then start ballasting, we get a nice sholder along the tracks. And the ballast will completely conceal the cork. And when the ballast is glued in, the "hard ballast" will not make contact with the wooden base plate, but with the insulation intermediate layer, and therefore transmit very little noise to the baseboard. It's a matter of avoiding "hard transitions" between the rails and the base plate. We think this is a good solution or way of working. Suggestions or comments are always welcome. Grts Dennis & Co

Thnx Neil for your sympathy mate. Everything in the basement of my uncles house is total loss, same as on the ground level: all furniture is lost, the kitchen is has been in the muddy water, and needs to be removed. Most of the electrics needs replacing also. Huge job ahead, but we will get it done. That's what family is all about, right. As for the layout, here is a small explanation about the point motors. The "real" point motor will be mounted underneath the base board. The "fake or decorative" point motor will be on top (of course ). So we need to be aware of this on the layout. A while back, we also went out for some "real life research. Very interesting ... Grts Dennis & Co.

Making good progress here on this layout ... looking good

hey folks, It's been a while with the progress for our new layout in the garage, but that doesn't mean we are no longer working behind the scenes. So ... time for an update. First of all, the start of constructions for the layout was planned for the autumn, but due to the recent flooding, we will have to postpone this. My uncle lives in Valkenburg and has had more than 1m of water in his house in the past week, causing a lot of damage. Since their house is currently no longer habitable, they have temporarily moved in with us. The garage now serves as extra storage space for their stuff that survived the disaster. In the coming period we will therefore be more concerned with making their house habitable again. As for the layout, we've already ordered some Tillig Elite track, and we have to say, it's really the best choice of track if you ask me to build a layout: nice and detailed points and it all looks very neat. Costs a little more, but in the end most of the money goes into the rolling stock with a layout. So those "slightly more expensive" tracks are definitely a good investment. In order to also have a better idea of the track progression and the size of the subframe we will need, I printed the main parts of the layout at full size. When placing some of the points on this plan, we have seen that in a number of places there will be problems with position of the point motors. So we will have to adjust that by moving the points motor to the other side, or by spreading the tracks a little further apart. For the rest we are still satisfied with the layout It is a pity that the construction of the track now has to be postponed, but it is no different at the moment. There are more important things in life... We keep you guys informed when more progress is made ... Grts Dennis & Co.

Hi there, No worries mate, no rush ... rebuilding houses is always top priority Grts Dennis & Co

Hey folks, I noticed a minor issue in the pointwork at the west end of the main station. Incoming trains on this side of the station will service the 2 top tracks (in orange), trains going the other way will be servicing the 2 bottom tracks (in blue). But trains going out from the blue section needed to pass the double slip that is also part of the top 2 tracks. So, I moved some points, added 2 single slips and ... taaadaaaaa ... problem solved. Now we don't need frequent point switching when trains are running on the layout ... way better ... Grts Dennis & Co.

Eey folks, Earlier we changed the track we will be using in the new to build layout from Peco Streamline Code 75 to Tillig Elite Code 83, mainly because it looks way better than Peco track, and also because of their moints being kinda flexible. Because of that change of track choice, we had to change our track plan. Here is what it will look like. The main station is completly redesigned, all pointwork on both sides of the station is redesigned to look more prototypical. In the north-west corner, the main line comes in and splits into the 4 station tracks. On the north-east side, there is a loc depot area (top corner of the layout). On this side of the layout, the branch line is connected to the main station, with a parking area for the trains that run on the branch line. The rest of the layout are all just tracks to see the trains running through some nice scenery. The fiddle yard will be added later, but we already have an idea on what track to put in there. Main goal is to have a top notch layout in top, fiddle yard is just storage ... If you folks have some ideas on improvement, or if we made some mistakes, please let us know. Grts Dennis & Co.

Eey folks, I came accross a really useful website with a full dimensional track database. Quite useful if you want to know the dimensions or the track radius of a point or double slip. Check it out >> https://www.enigon.com/raily/modules/de/index.html Grts Dennis & Co.

Yeah, Tillig is way more prototypical for a Belgian layout, and yeah, way nicer with the long pointwork. BTW, you mentioned earlier you had an idea about the layout for me? Grts Dennis & Co.

Hi there mate, Thnx for your reaction, but I don't quite get it .. max grades in our layout will be 1:40 (2.5%) at the steepest point, especially in the helix. But isn't a 1:30 or 1:33 even steeper? Or am I missing something here .. I'm confused ... Grts Dennis & Co.

Nice work on that fueling point there mate. And, love the 6255 loc ... a stunner grts Dennis

Eey folks, The Tillig track we ordered got delivered along with a first batch of cargo from Roco for one of the goods trains. Must say, that Tillig track looks amazing, so our choice for using Tillig Elite for the visible track in our layout is final. In the next week or 2 we will change our track plan with the Tillig track, so we have an idea on what stuff we need for our layout. Our goal is to start building at the end of this year, when the summer is gone ... Stay posted for more Grts Dennis & Co.

Have also seen this in a few online shops ... but, what is actually inside that package? Someone got a preview of what we can expect ? That slight flex in the pointwork is the second reason we're getting Tillig Elite track for our new layout. First reason is overall look and being prototypical for European layouts. Grts Dennis