Crofton - an N Gauge Modern Image layout

[DJTrains]

Having previously modelled a couple of basic layouts,   I had the intention of creating a larger 4 track mainline.  Having had the approval from management to take over our log cabin,  I hereby present Crofton -  a Modern Image layout in N Gauge which is very much a work in progress.   The baseboards fill an area of 15 feet by 9 feet and have been built from 9mm ply in a very modular design,  so that the whole thing is freestanding and can be dismantled if needed.

 

I hope to add the progress to date in the next couple of days and would welcome any comments.  questions or critique.

 

 

 

One end of the boards

 

 

Opposite end.    The station will be curved round from the left side of this end,  and on the right is a four foot lift out section across the door with a viaduct section to be fitted.

 

 

 

This will be a DCC layout (I'm using the NCE Powercab),  track is all Peco code 55 electrofrog in concrete sleeper (with points and some track in wooden sleeper).  Points will all be operated via Servos using the Megapoints Servo Controllers in 3 separate control panels.

 

Lift out bridge section.   I am scratch building a viaduct which is based on the Wharncliffe Viaduct with large eliptical arches.    The design and 'valley' is still to be finalised.

 

 

To allow for the power to the lift out bridge,  and the connections for servos,  lights and future signals I made my own 25 pin D-Sub cable and have wired this into the main boards on one side,  and the D-Sub plugs into a 25 way breakout board beneath the lift out bridge.

 

 

Overall Track plan -   will be subject to multiple changes ;

 

  

 

 

Edited August 11, 2017 by DJTrains

[PjKing1]

That bridge looks impressive!

 

Cheers

[gismorail]

To allow for the power to the lift out bridge,  and the connections for servos,  lights and future signals I made my own 25 pin D-Sub cable and have wired this into the main boards on one side,  and the D-Sub plugs into a 25 way breakout board beneath the lift out bridge.

 

 

Looking good nice and excellent carpentry skills sets a good foundation for successful modelling I believe . Where did you get that multi-connector I like that idea makes tracing any future faults a breeze.

[DJTrains]

 

Looking good nice and excellent carpentry skills sets a good foundation for successful modelling I believe . Where did you get that multi-connector I like that idea makes tracing any future faults a breeze.

 

 

Thanks for your comments.   The Connector is a standard  'D-Sub Breakout Board' which are readily available via ebay,  or multiple electrical websites.   They do make wiring a breeze,  although you do tend to have to make your own cables as things like Data cables are just too weak to carry a good signal.

[Revolution Mike B]

Glad you finally posted the shed on here!! 

[DJTrains]

So to the track laying ......   and what some might see as a totally unorthodox method.    First I've got to give great credit and thanks to Mr Mike Buick who has been my mentor and chief track technician (and keeping me prototypical).     We have decided to lay the track (Peco Code 55) direct onto the plywood,  and this is all stuck in place with superglue.  Each piece of track has its own set of droppers and so we are using NO fishplates and NO track pins at all.     The superglue is proving to hold the track solidly and it is still possible to take up any errant pieces without damage to track or baseboard.     Once ballasted the track will be as solid as anything.

 

There are a couple advantages in doing this ;  

1. Maintenance -  should a point or tiebar fail the point can be pulled up without disturbing any of the adjacent track as there are no fishplates to worry about (in the case of an issue in the middle of a double crossover this could be a godsend)    

2. Speed of track laying - with no fishplates to worry about there is no need to cut away sleepers,  so the track can be cut exactly as required,  with the original sleepers having correct spacing and there is no need to follow round with infill sleepers afterwards (as these never look as good as the track fitted ones)  

 

 

First Track laid !! -  double crossover after the bridge section

 

 

 

Second set of crossovers on the opposite side,  looking back towards where the station will be.    Again huge credit to Mike for his skills in setting the track with fantastic sweeping curves throughout,  and into 3 foot radius curves in the corners,   all of which have superelevation.   The Fast up/down are the two inner lines and HST's already look fantastic banking round the curves.

 

 

 

A pair of HSTs showing the superelevation

 

Edited August 8, 2017 by DJTrains

[gismorail]

Thanks for your comments.   The Connector is a standard  'D-Sub Breakout Board' which are readily available via ebay,  or multiple electrical websites.   They do make wiring a breeze,  although you do tend to have to make your own cables as things like Data cables are just too weak to carry a good signal.

Many thanks for that information they are a must purchase for Chumley End and a good price too! 

[Revolution Mike B]

Any updates??

[DJTrains]

I've been struggling with working out how best to resize photos -  and have managed to get nowhere so far,  so will continue with using photobucket for now until I can work it out -  but it has slowed down me posting updates.....      Anyway,    the next part of the build I wanted to address was the viaduct which sits in the lift out bridge section.    As there were no 4 track viaduct kits out these,   it was suggested I have a go at building Wharncliffe Viaduct.      Having never scratch built anything like this before I figured why not give it a go !!    Using foamboard,  brick card and paper and measurements scaled down from available photos this is what I came up with .....     Obviously I had to use some artistic licence,  and amongst other small changes I have added a slight curve  (as there is very little straight track in the whole layout).

 

Basic build in foamboard ;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And some final touches and weathering ;

 

 

 

 

 

 

I still have more weathering to add,  along with some vegetation which happily grows on the real version -  but for a first attempt I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

 

Picture taken from Google Images ;

 

 

Edited August 8, 2017 by DJTrains

[muddy water]

Great effort!

 

 

Looking at the photo are you going to add the real life non working overhead line? Or maybe it in progress of being fitted?

Edited February 20, 2017 by muddy water

[DJTrains]

Great effort!

 

 

Looking at the photo are you going to add the real life non working overhead line? Or maybe it in progress of being fitted?

 

Hi,    Yes,  there will be OHLE added -  I'm currently working on either adapting the Dapol masts or will be looking into portals.

 

Thanks,

[dj_crisp]

An excellent bridge!

 

If it's any help I use pixresizer for my photos... very simple piece of software. Hope that helps

 

Will

[DJTrains]

An excellent bridge!

 

If it's any help I use pixresizer for my photos... very simple piece of software. Hope that helps

 

Will

 

 

Thanks Will,    I think I've sussed it by sending pictures as email via Outlook and then just copying and pasting the resized images  ....  will give it a go.

[DJTrains]

Another mini project between the track laying ....  fitting a tail lamp to an IOA wagon.     This was done using a cut down version of the Train-Tech rear light flasher unit.   This takes a reduced size battery for N gauge and the battery holder needs to be cut down.     I would prefer track powered lighting but being such a tiny LED,   and with the built in timer and motion sensor,  the battery should last for months.

 

1)  Adjust the supplied LED and cut down the battery holder.  I also fitted a 0.75mm fibre optic to the LED to feed through the lamp

 

 

2)  Cut plasticard cover (I had to make a slot as the battery holder was too high and can't be cut down without risk of damaging the PCB)

 

 

3)  Cut a 1.5mm x 1mm piece of plasticard and drill 0.75mm hole for the lamp.  

 

 

 

4)  Cover top with filler and coat with ballast

 

[DJTrains]

The four mainline tracks have now been fitted to the Viaduct.   This is still temporarily fitted for now so it can be lifted out for cutting back the woodwork to its final position.   I've also started test fitting some Catenary poles  -  the jury is out on whether I will end up with 2 portals on the viaduct itself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Revolution Ben]

 

Hi there,

 

Wow - the viaduct is fabulous. And I really like the superelevation on the curves.

 

Thanks very much for posting.

 

Cheers

 

Ben A.

[Anthony566]

I second that ... the viaduct is looking excellent.

[Boco_D1]

This layout looks promising, I love the super elevation curves. Interesting method using super glue to lay the track, without fishplates how do you make sure the rails are lined up or do you do it by eye?

[DJTrains]

This layout looks promising, I love the super elevation curves. Interesting method using super glue to lay the track, without fishplates how do you make sure the rails are lined up or do you do it by eye?

 

Thanks.  It's all done by eye and everything is checked,  wired and tested as we go.   

[DJTrains]

Hi there,

 

Wow - the viaduct is fabulous. And I really like the superelevation on the curves.

 

Thanks very much for posting.

 

Cheers

 

Ben A.

 

Thanks Ben,    AM currently working on building a 2 metre long station for a certain Pendolino .....      .....   it's taking a while !!!

[sub39h]

Layout looking great. Love it!

[muddy water]

The four mainline tracks have now been fitted to the Viaduct. This is still temporarily fitted for now so it can be lifted out for cutting back the woodwork to its final position. I've also started test fitting some Catenary poles - the jury is out on whether I will end up with 2 portals on the viaduct itself.

 

20170220_114359.jpg

 

20170220_114427.jpg

 

20170220_114448.jpg

I have seen in most cases where an existing line has had OHLE fitted, portals have been used that are fixed to the outside of the viaduct/ bridge. This I am guessing is to maintain clearances for track side access.

[Revolution Mike B]

This layout looks promising, I love the super elevation curves. Interesting method using super glue to lay the track, without fishplates how do you make sure the rails are lined up or do you do it by eye?

 

It's really quite easy when you get going. To get the curves on Dave's layout, I got a piece of plastic edging strip and made a suitable curve, and with Dave holding one end and me holding the other, I used a marker pen to follow the shape. Once we'd done that, we worked out where the super elevation had to go and I worked out the transition from flat to maximum (I say worked out.....read that as guessed) and then Dave added (lots of) strips of paper to raise the track.

 

The track was then laid in place and holes marked out for the dropper wires and while Dave soldered those on, I drilled the corresponding holes in the board....and no matter what size drill bit I used, they'd still end up the size of a crater! With that done, I glued down one end of the track and then follow along until the whole piece is stuck down and then cut the ends square, and then lay the next one in the same method. (It's exactly the same way as I've laid Oak Road). Dave went around after me checking levels and because the Cyano glue is low shear, if we made any mistakes, a wallpaper scraper can remove the track easily and quickly - providing you haven't used half a ton of glue on one sleeper.

 

We've yet to see what happens when it gets baking hot in the summer but to be fair, we started laying the track back in July last year and we've had no problems with it at all.

 

I should also add that most of the points have also been reshaped to make them sit within the curves and there's probably only 3 feet in total length of straight track on the whole layout. Dave gave me pretty much a free rein with the track plan so it's mainly been built for allowing full length Pendos and HSTs to flow around the curves without tea being thrown up the inside of the windows   

[Revolution Mike B]

 

 

 

This is the latest version of the track plan -  although as ever this is subject to changes.

 

 

 

What you mean is, when I come round and say, I've had another idea.....  

[DJTrains]

What you mean is, when I come round and say, I've had another idea.....  

 

   Absolutely !!    Gave up printing this out long ago -  can't keep up !!