N Gauge Plan B

[MikeTr]

Writing a forum topic about my embryonic layout seems like a bit of an ego trip but everyone seems to do it so here goes with my two penn’orth.  Constructive comments are most welcome especially if they help me improve this or future layouts.

 

I’m new to model railways and this is my second layout in 3 months.  The first was always going to be a learning exercise but I learned a few big lessons more quicky than expected so that’s now in pieces and I’ve started again.  Hopefully this one will last a little longer!

 

 

It’s N gauge, code 80 track on a 2.4x1.2m plywood and batten baseboard and will have a twin track main line going twice round the board for watching the trains go by (blue and red lines), a goods yard for playing at shunting and for storing rolling stock and locos (purple), and a branch line – maybe going to a quarry and a small halt (green).  It’s DC controlled, for now at least, and the green line is just to allow 3 trains to run at once as I have 3 grandsons! 

 

AnyRail’s 3D view nicely shows the upper and lower decks with tunnels and embankments for the ‘twice round the board' bit. 

 

 

I tried both AnyRail and Scarm but settled on AnyRail in the end.  I’m not going for ultimate realism (obviously) but for a compromise that will allow sections to look real enough to satisfy my modelling urges but with enough track to provide lots of ‘play value’ for the family – and for me if I’m honest.  I find it very relaxing, even hypnotic, to sit and watch the trains go round and round!  (I'm sure this must be a recognised medical syndrome!)

 

The plan is eventually to motorise the points, maybe with a Raspberry Pi doing interlocking and ensuring I don’t get short circuits on the sidings.  Maybe add signals too – again with the Pi doing some clever stuff based on the point settings.  I guess the signals, and other lighting, will be LEDs and I’ve seen some lovely stuff at exhibitions but is there a model railway standard for these things?  I mean do these little LED station lights and things run at a standard voltage?  (My background is electronics and software so deep, dark tech talk is welcome!)

 

Oh yes – and I need a name for the station!

 

Edited February 15, 2020 by MikeTr
terrible grammar

[MikeTr]

On a construction note, I'm going to try using laminate floor underlay as trackbed.  I tried Woodland Scenics trackbed strip last time but this underlay looks like just the same stuff only a little thinner, which is good as I thought the WS trackbed was too thick - even the N gauge version.  It didn't help with sound insulation either, at least not once the track was ballasted.

[Joseph_Pestell]

I'm going to say what we all say in these circumstances.

 

Since you have to get round at least three sides of the layout, it is effectively taking up 10' x 8'. Depending on where it is located, you might be better building round the edge of that 10' x 8' with a hole in the middle to operate from.

[Joseph_Pestell]

16 minutes ago, MikeTr said:

On a construction note, I'm going to try using laminate floor underlay as trackbed. 

 

The plastic foam sort or the softboard type. I would go for the latter.

[MikeTr]

It's plastic foam.  Looks and feels pretty much the same stuff as WS trackbed but at a tenth of the price - free, in fact, since I found a big bag of the stuff up in the loft.

 

The baseboard is free standing on some surprisingly rigid IKEA legs so, although it's likely to sit in a corner of the room most of the time, I can move it around if I need to get at the other edges.  I can reach (just) across to the back of the board to nudge stuck locos and the like so hopefully only serious mishaps in the tunnels will need it to be moved around.  Since she who must be accomodated also uses the room to raise seeds and I occasionally have my bike and turbo trainer in there too there isn't room to go permanently around the walls.  Mind you, the turbo is only for the winter and once the seeds are planted out... hmmm!

[MikeTr]

I started looking at how the SEEP point motors will fit - I bought a mounting template at Warley last year - and these points at the ends of the station platform seem to be a problem.  I can't fit a SEEP motor to both of them as they get in each other's way.

 

 

I guess I could fit a Peco surface mount point motor on one side but I'd rather keep all the motors under the board.  Is this a layout no-no or are there any cunning ways around the problem?  I guess I could stagger the platforms - move the red line right a bit - but the symmetry appeals.

[MikeTr]

One thing that got me with the first layout was how to start a gradient without getting lumps and bumps and sudden changes in gradient.  The top was fine - the top deck was 3.5mm ply and I cut a tongue into it and just gently bent that downwards to meet the up ramp from the lower deck.  This time I've routed a 3.5mm deep hole in the base board so I can start the up ramp flush with the baseboard and just gently bend it up.  The baseboard is 12mm ply so no problems losing 3.5mm.

 

 

 

Fits like a stocking on a chicken's lip but it's the first time I've used that router in about 20 years and it will be hidden inside a tunnel anyway!

 

[MikeTr]

Before I go too too mad drilling holes for SEEP point motors I figured I better try fitting one to see if I can get it to work.  My original 2 track controller (from Plan A) doesn't have enough outputs for stuff like CDUs so I've taken some time out from track building and warmed up the soldering iron to work on a new '4 track plus bells and whistles' controller.

 

 

 

This will sit under the baseboard, slung from the battens by its flanged top.  It has 4 variable track outputs based around the LM675 power op-amp and giving -12 to +12V, 4 fixed regulated outputs at +/-12V and +/-5V and 12-0-12V ac just in case!  Hand held controls plug in to the DIN sockets: conventional 0 to full speed with a direction switch for the main lines and forwards - off - backwards in one sweep for shunting in the sidings.

 

Not sure if 12Vac and a CDU is enough to drive point motors so I may feed out the unregulated DC at +/-18V instead.  In any case, with 1A available at each output and 6A total, this beast should be enough to drive anything I might add to the layout in future - I hope!

Edited February 22, 2020 by MikeTr

[jpendle]

Hi,

 

I've just seen this thread. Impressive box of tricks there.

 

BTW why  have you chosen code 80? Peco Code 55 is a better choice if you are using flexible track.

 

Regards,

 

John P

[MikeTr]

Hi John

 

Thanks for the comment.  I'm very much a newbie to model railways but much more at home with a box of electronics - I've been doing it most of my life - everything from military radios, to moisture meters to micro-computers.

 

Last year I knew nothing about model railways (still don't know much) but I started playing with layouts in SCARM and using set-track pieces seemed like the best way to avoid silly mistakes and unfeasible layouts.  I knew I'd make mistakes when I started actually building my first layout (Plan A?) so I didn't get too ambitious, but I still ended up with a station that was too short, 4% gradients, and points and a cross-over on one gradient too!  I ripped up the track and have now started again on a bigger baseboard but still have much of the original track.

 

I played with some code 55 track layouts in AnyRail but of course all the angles and radii are different and I couldn't fit the station and sidings I wanted into the space available.  Maybe by Plan C or D I'll be confident enough to go for my magnum opus and use code 55 track.   I got as far as weathering and ballasting a small section of track on Plan A and it looked OK - transformed it in fact - so I stuck to the familiar stuff again this time round.

 

 

[MikeTr]

Looking at other layout topics I'm seriously impressed by the modelling skills and wonder if it's worth carrying on with this thread.  I'll probably cringe when I look back over this lot in a year or three but we all have to start somewhere!

 

I fitted a point and SEEP motor to a plywood offcut and the drilling template I bought last year seems to do the trick so I've bought some more PM-1s and have now got stuck into the track.  The station area is where most of the points are so that's where I started.  Is track laying always as untidy as this or is it just me?

 

 

I was a bit concerned that all the points together would cause problems with locos sticking but everything from Thomas to the Mallard seems to cope well enough.  And while it was all hooked up with croc-clips I had a chance to check the inter-locking to avoid short-circuits between the loops.  Took a while to figure out why some combinations didn't work but drawing out which rails are permanently powered and which can be isolated by the points soon showed up the minimum amount of interlocking for safe running (ie. without smoke!). 

 

 

Another application for boolean logic - as long as I can drive at least 3 point motor coils from the CDU then all should be well. 

 

The power to the purple/sidings section will have to go thru a relay so it's powered up only when isolated from both the red and blue loops.  I also discovered that adopting a convention of powering the inside rail of each loop, with the outer being common 0V, gave me more flexibility in the sidings.  I can power the whole section from B thru E, G, H, J, M to R from sidings power while still running the blue loop main line.