Dennis HO Posted June 3, 2021 Author Share Posted June 3, 2021 25 minutes ago, Allegheny1600 said: You must have some great planning software too, the top picture is impressive. I use AnyRail for the design work. Very good tool and easy to use also. 26 minutes ago, Allegheny1600 said: I also feel that is a rather tight radius helix though, not wanting to dampen your ideas but I suspect such a tight radius implies a steep gradient in order to gain clearance I have a 2.5% gradient in the helix, which should be ok. A friend of mine has a similar one and doesn't has any issue with it. Also, the "up-track" is on the outside so it has a smaller gradient than the inside "down-track". 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 Thanks for your reply, Dennis! I have Anyrail but I wouldn’t know how to create a picture like the first one in your previous post, you must be much better at it than me! Ah, okay, I believe a 2.5 percent grade is the same as 1 in 40 - this is what my friend now has and his grades are fine now, we can run ten coach trains uphill behind steam locomotives so your diesels will be fine. Cheers, John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis HO Posted June 3, 2021 Author Share Posted June 3, 2021 7 hours ago, Allegheny1600 said: I have Anyrail but I wouldn’t know how to create a picture like the first one in your previous post, you must be much better at it than me! That 3D view ain't rocket science .... just make your design as you normally do, and then get the 3D view ... easy ... Grts Dennis 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted June 4, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 4, 2021 (edited) 23 hours ago, Allegheny1600 said: Thanks for your reply, Dennis! Ah, okay, I believe a 2.5 percent grade is the same as 1 in 40 - this is what my friend now has and his grades are fine now, we can run ten coach trains uphill behind steam locomotives so your diesels will be fine. Cheers, John Not with most UK locos & rolling stock. I've got a good variety of steam outline Hornby/Bachmann/Dapol/etc. and not one would pull a ten coach train up a 1:40 gradient, they won't do it on my layout where it is 1:66 at the steepest. Where the radius comes down to 36", the tightest on the gradient, it is even worse. Edited June 4, 2021 by melmerby Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted June 4, 2021 Share Posted June 4, 2021 (edited) 3 hours ago, melmerby said: Not with most UK locos & rolling stock. I've got a good variety of steam outline Hornby/Bachmann/Dapol/etc. and not one would pull a ten coach train up a 1:40 gradient, they won't do it on my layout where it is 1:66 at the steepest. Where the radius comes down to 36", the tightest on the gradient, it is even worse. In line with the opening post and it’s title, we’re talking H0 scale European stock here. Sure, such locos usually have traction tyres but another enhancement that is often used is that both locomotive and tender have driven wheels. Cheers, John Edited June 4, 2021 by Allegheny1600 Syntax Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted June 4, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 4, 2021 11 minutes ago, Allegheny1600 said: In line with the opening post and it’s title, we’re talking H0 scale European stock here. Sure, such locos usually have traction tyres but another enhancement that is often used is that both locomotive and tender have driven wheels. Cheers, John Yes, I realise it's H0 but didn't appreciate that traction tyres were still the norm. As you presumably already know, in the UK they are considered to be something from the past and undesirable even though they enhance the traction of the motive power considerably. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis HO Posted June 6, 2021 Author Share Posted June 6, 2021 Eey folks, We have been working on the design of the fiddle yard this weekend. Main goal was to have enough storage, and be flexible in using it. We need storage for the passenger trains on the main line (6 coaches long), for the passenger trains on the branch line (2 coaches long), and long goods trains. Here is what we came up with. Storage for the 6 coaches trains (80inch of space) Storage for the 2 coaches trains (28inch of space) Space for possible longer trains Long goods trains and/or 2x a 6 coaches trains behind each other Storage for single locos Return track from the fiddle yard, back to the helix Looking good I think Grts Dennis Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted June 6, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 6, 2021 Wow! Are you sure that you really need all this? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis HO Posted June 6, 2021 Author Share Posted June 6, 2021 3 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said: Are you sure that you really need all this? we might throw out some of the track ... as you say ... we probably don't need all of this space really ... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted June 6, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 6, 2021 I am understanding better now your original drawing. What I just took as a rather strange spiral is in fact a helix, not on the scenic area. Should work OK but I think that I would still go for a simpler ramp down the lower right hand side of the layout. I have done a hand-drawn sketch (old computer struggling) but I made an error which I will correct tomorrow and then see if I can photograph it and put on here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis HO Posted June 6, 2021 Author Share Posted June 6, 2021 9 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said: I have done a hand-drawn sketch (old computer struggling) but I made an error which I will correct tomorrow and then see if I can photograph it and put on here. Looking forward to that mate. We could go for a slope down, instead of the helix ... just a matter of choice really ... We had the room to put in the helix ... but ... we also have the room for a slope down to the fiddle yard ... It's all about choices Dennis Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
4901 Posted June 6, 2021 Share Posted June 6, 2021 On 18/05/2021 at 03:32, Mike Buckner said: Mike said : I worked for 3 years in Flanders and enjoyed my time there immensely. I still miss the frituur, the mussels, chocolate, and of course the beer. That was 40 years ago. Mike, I worked in a hotel in Brussels in the 1960s and they served a green soup that I think was called waterzoii. I loved getting the moules et frites (French speaking part of Brussels) from the street vendors . What I didn't enjoy as much was the staff meal on Sundays - horse steak. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis HO Posted June 7, 2021 Author Share Posted June 7, 2021 On 04/06/2021 at 16:07, melmerby said: Yes, I realise it's H0 but didn't appreciate that traction tyres were still the norm. Indeed, most locs have traction tyres, so they get up a slope much easier. 12 hours ago, 4901 said: I worked for 3 years in Flanders and enjoyed my time there immensely. I still miss the frituur, the mussels, chocolate, and of course the beer. That was 40 years ago. Don't forget the insanely tastful waffles ... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis HO Posted June 10, 2021 Author Share Posted June 10, 2021 Howdy folks, We've been busy planning on the layout, mainly on what track to use yes, we're still not sure about that). At first we were thinking about using Peco Code 100 or Code 75 for the layout. But we also took a look at the Tillig Elite HO track earlier. Since we are going to build a European layout, Tillig track looks more prototypical, and also, the Tillig Elite track looks great. We've been reading about Tillig track here on the forum (lots of good info in here ). Comparing both Peco vs Tillig Elite, we see more benifit in using the Tillig track, rather than the Peco track. Although the track from Tillig is more delicate than Peco, it has the benifit to have slightly flex pointwork to make pointwork look more prototypical and smoother. Also, Tillig has DIY kits for building your own pointwork. This will give us an overall nicer layout. To make the correct choice, we ordered a few points and pieces of Tillig Elite track. We hope to get them in next week. If any of you uses the Tillig Elite track, please feel free to share your opinion or findings about it. Grts Dennis Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis HO Posted June 15, 2021 Author Share Posted June 15, 2021 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. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Neil Posted June 15, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 15, 2021 (edited) Hello Dennis, another fan of Belgian railways here. My layout is significantly smaller than yours though, and set earlier in time. A friend of mine uses Tillig track for his UK set layout. A word of advice if I may, be careful of the metal tags for connecting wires to the point frogs. We have had multiple failures where the tag has come loose from the point. We now turn the point upside down, clean the rail and the tag and reinforce the joint with solder before laying the point. I'm looking forward to seeing your layout develop; Belgium is a lovely country, the more models of it the better. Edited June 15, 2021 by Neil 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Railpassion Posted June 16, 2021 Share Posted June 16, 2021 I would be careful of the 1:40 gradient. Going up should be just about OK for powerful locos with traction tyres at speed, but coming down may present problems with couplings overriding especially on a helix. Many recommend 1:30 to 33 max. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis HO Posted June 16, 2021 Author Share Posted June 16, 2021 50 minutes ago, Railpassion said: I would be careful of the 1:40 gradient. Going up should be just about OK for powerful locos with traction tyres at speed, but coming down may present problems with couplings overriding especially on a helix. Many recommend 1:30 to 33 max. 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. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted June 16, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 16, 2021 On 15/06/2021 at 08:30, Dennis HO said: 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. Glad that you have gone for the Tillig. The bigger radius points will look much better with long, modern stock. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis HO Posted June 16, 2021 Author Share Posted June 16, 2021 3 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said: Glad that you have gone for the Tillig. The bigger radius points will look much better with long, modern stock. 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. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis HO Posted June 25, 2021 Author Share Posted June 25, 2021 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. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis HO Posted June 27, 2021 Author Share Posted June 27, 2021 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. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted June 27, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 27, 2021 On 16/06/2021 at 18:55, Dennis HO said: 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 Dennis, Not forgotten. Just that my IT facilities are rather limited by the rebuild at the house. No electric at the moment to the ground floor where the phone plugs for internet are. Hopefully sorted by tomorrow if my tendonitis allows me to do any work. Had to stop yesterday afternoon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis HO Posted June 30, 2021 Author Share Posted June 30, 2021 On 27/06/2021 at 13:54, Joseph_Pestell said: Not forgotten. Just that my IT facilities are rather limited by the rebuild at the house. No electric at the moment to the ground floor where the phone plugs for internet are. Hopefully sorted by tomorrow if my tendonitis allows me to do any work. Had to stop yesterday afternoon. Hi there, No worries mate, no rush ... rebuilding houses is always top priority Grts Dennis & Co Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis HO Posted July 28, 2021 Author Share Posted July 28, 2021 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. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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