Katier

Why 3mm ft? Sitting between N-gauge/2mm/ft and the various 4mm/ft gauges 3mm or TT can give the best of both worlds in many ways. Space wise it is ideal for that space where you can't quite fit a OO gauge model in while retaining a scale that is still reasonably substantial for those hamfisted people or those with fading eyesight. As such it gives a modeller the chance to keep the layout reasonably compact while still being fairly significant in size. As an example my railway, which is still under construction, easily fits a 6 coach station, significant length of station throat and substantial goods facilities in an 8ft running length (plus 3-4ft for fiddle yard), with a maximum width of 2ft for the first 4ft, then 1ft for the second. In 4mm such a layout would probably be limited to a BLT of some sort, while a 2mm/ft probably wouldn't add a lot in terms of functionality. What is available? Triang TT RTR is still around on ebay and such places but is fairly old these days. The range of locomotives is fairly limited but on the positive side you want work to the intermediate standards (more on them later) and still accomodate TT rolling stock. Continental TT RTR is still made and readily available. RTR track is available from Tilling ( continental ), Peco ( HOm range ) or from the 3mm society ( flexi track only ). 3smr also have a point building service at prices comparable to Peco's HOm points so is a viable alternative. Kit wise there is a HUGE range of kits available, easily comparable to any larger scale and probably more than 2mm/ft . Many of the etched brass kits are 'shot down' kits and generally go together no harder than their 7mm cousins, with the exception of the natural increase in difficulty due to the smaller scale. The entire Connoisseur 7mm range is available, for instance, and assembles very nicely ( my first kit was the TINY J79 which went together just fine ). There is also a wide range of white metal kits, usually ex-GEM or similar, which go together very quickly and make a good introduction. Full range of track and sleepers is available for hand built track. General accessories are well catered for (track side stuff, station facilities etc.) and of course Scale-scenes can be reduced from 4mm/ft to 3mm/ft easily enough. What standards are there? A full description can be found on the 3mm Society website ( see below ) but in summary there are three 'standard gauge' gauges which are roughly analogous to OO/P4 and EM. 12mm (the old TT gauge), 13.5 (which helps with tight clearances for outside valve gear and the like) and 14.2 which is the correct scale gauge. The Society publishes coarse, intermediate and fine standards for 12mm gauge, and fine standards for 13.5mm and 14.2mm gauges. What suppliers are there? The main suppliers are :- http://www.3mmsociety.org.uk/ They have a huge list of kits, parts, track, accessories, wheels and also a used/second hand store. Also a must join society with excellent advice from some dedicated modellers. http://www.3smr.co.uk/ Etched and WM Kits, Accessories, secondhand TT, motors/gearboxes and track including made to order/RTR pointwork. http://www.finneyandsmith.co.uk Etched brass kits ( the aforementioned Connoisseur and others) alongside motors/gearboxes and accessories. http://www.worsleyworks.co.uk Etched brass kits http://www.mouse.biz Bill Bedford does a large range of Etched Brass coaching and other stock available made to order for 3mm/ft. http://www.mousa.biz...e_to_order.html

I found on my track that curves can sometimes put too much lateral force in to hold it reliably.. but for getting alignments right it's great. Certainly once you've ballasted I see no reason it won't be 100% fine and any areas you think might be a little flakey I would just force a bit of glue under the sleepers before ballasting as a 'belt and braces' approach.

Not sure how you'd break copyright by altering the PDF for your own use. Bearing in mind with scalescenes you are allowed to reprint them, kit bash them and alter them to your hearts content.. for your own use.

3mm in the garden Bet there aren't (or havn't been) many of those, although it is a size where I can see its' viable. The extra 50% over n/2mm sure makes a difference.

Fortunately in 3mm there is no such thing as 'large' parts but still a handy tip or two - thankyou

Do you use solder paint at all Jazz? I did get some in the higher temperature but not had a great deal of success. I just use 145 for most stuff with low melt for white metal.

FWIW I love your updates Jazz. I'll never be anything like as good a modeller as you but lots of little useful snippets and lovely to see the work of an expert.

NER coal drop and/or other coaling facilities. Various port/dock buildings from turn of century. Mill style 'factory' building (basically a new factory/mill building to add variety to industrial scenes). Water powered mill?

Diagram is tricky because they can be more complex than words due to the amount of wiring but I'll try to explain the principles in laymens terms. What you need to be able to do is select which controllers control which parts of the layout via switches. These switches being wired so you can route a locomotive anywhere on the layout or have two ( or more - depending on the number of controllers ) locomotives under control at any one time. In other words, to answer your earlier question about bringing a locomotive from one loop to the other, you would set the switches so both loops were powered by one controller. If, on the other hand, you were running two trains round the loop you would have one loop switched to one controller and the other loop switched to the other controller. You mentioned two controllers so this makes things fairly simple. If you need to select between 3 or more controllers it can get much more complex due to the switch types needed. For two controllers you can use simple DPDT switches. DPDT means double pole, double throw. What that means is you are switching two poles ( i.e. the two wires that feed the rails ) between two throws ( i.e. two options - in this case the two controllers ). So a DPDT switch allows you to select, simply by flicking a switch, which controller controls part of a layout. When it comes to planning the wiring and breaks what you need to do is work out which sections of the layout you may need or want to operate independently. In this case you might want to shunt the sidings while a train runs around the oval. I suspect you might need to read a book on the subject. Ironically the O-gauge society do have a usefull section in their online manual, but that's a members only thing.

Really too simplistic with your power arrangements. With so many sidings it'll require more complexity. In reletavly simple terms :- Outer Loop Inner Loop These two would be isolated with plastic fishplates from the bay sidings AND the loop platform. The point between the loop and the sidings would also be isolated. You'd also probably have an isolator for the reverse siding at the top (cutting that headshunt/siding off from the fan.) Then each section ( outer/inner loop, bay sidings, runaround loop, two elements of the sidings ) would have a feed back to the center terminals of DPDT switches ( probably 6 ) then one pair of the other terminals on each switch goes to a controller and the other pair to the other controller. You can then power any section, with any controller, thus swapping inner to outer can be achieved simply by powering both loops from the same controller. You'd also probably have switches of some sort to allow you to isolate the different fiddle yard sidings plus the bays. It's not complex, but not as straightforward as you think

I agree with Kris, definitely doable. I would lose the left hand foot of display, using curved points to feed the upper loop. You may need to lose a TMD siding although, while the right side will be slightly cramped, I think it would be doable just with a rejig of the left side.

Or if you want to be really extravigant and are a student, pop over to Autodesk.. to my amazement I found anyone with a valid .ac.uk email address can DL all their software.. for free ( for student use only of course )

SWAG?

Well other than the competition deadline

Ahh I think that answers my next question... If I finish my first and am bored.. can I do a second (or even third) entry? :-D

I assume military narrow gauge temporary railways are fine? (probably given everything away now - lol)

Actually I lie.. I know EXACTLY what I'm doing!!! ( had a lightbulb moment).. now to decide which variety of Narrow Gauge to do!!

I'm in!!! no ideas right now... but hell yeah.. I'm in!!

Lovely layout, the picture of the canal bridge had me scratching my head trying to figure what wasn't right.. then realised.. Canal's VERY rarely have waves ( unless a boats going through ) they're usually dead calm. Ok bit nit picky on a layout well above the standards I can dream of achieving - but just made me smile when I realised.

LOVE IT!!! absolutely brilliant. You providing any passenger services and if so will the stock be customised dependent on clientelle, afterall a hobbit has substantially different stature to a dwarf, human or elf!!