MarshLane

Another vote for Sculptamold .. I would say water soaked bandage/plaster off Ama**n is the cheapest and easiest but that probably falls into your internet category! Rich

Evening all, I have a need to create a motorised turntable (think traverser but going 360 degrees rather than back and forth) for my layout, but with a couple of unusual features! Firstly this is an N gauge (well 2mm Finescale) layout that is portable. So the length of the table needs to be about 3ft long maximum, and around one foot wide, my plan is to use a stepper motor controlled ardunio board to handle the movement control. However, there is a need for two additional parts. Firstly, the DCC feed needs to be passed through to all all lines as well as a CBUS link so that the detection on the various sidings can be maintained. CBUS is four wires, DCC is two - so a total of six connections to be passed through in someway shape or form. In addition, I also want to either position electromagnets at each end (or standard magnets brought parallel with the track through a servo) to allow the locos to be uncoupled and changed - the trains themselves use DG couplings. The means that the table has to gain a bit of height as well. So does anyone have any thoughts / suggestion on how to pass six electrical connections from the base to the table .. and also given the slight increase in height (I estimate probably 2"-3" max) any thoughts on a cost effective option of ensuring the table doesn't flex or bow? I had thought of running some 3mm steel strip down the underside, but concluded there must be a better and lighter way. The layout is modular and movable so I am keen to keep the weight as low as possible - but durability (both long term and during movement/transport) is key. Id welcome ideas ... somebody must have attempted something similar before but I'm struggling to find anything that doesn't just have straight forward DC or DCC power passed through. Loosing track power when the table is turning is not a problem (and probably not a bad idea either) .. and there will be an automated barrier drop down through a CBUS controlled servo at each end, during movements, but ideally I need to keep the CBUS feed constant ( although there are options through relays of being able to present that effect to the system if not ). Rich

Hi Peter, hopefully, you’ve got access back again and will be continuing to update us with progress on Llanbourne? We can’t lose it! Rich

Hi Jeff / @AndrewP, I gather, from Andy's thread on there, that the server company previously used were also paid to take regular backups, but unfortunately they backed up onto the same storage system as the main site was on, hence when the system failed the backups were lost too. Anything prior to February 2021 I believe should return, as I think Andy has an earlier backup or something, if I have read the thread right, but anything posted after that has unfortunately been lost. Having been involved in a similar situation and disaster recovery, I think Andy has done a good job in a very short period of time. At least now the site is hosted by the company that provides the forum software so it should resolve the speed issues. It might be worth editing your first post on this thread to add a comment about the pictures, and putting a link on that first post, to the first post today where you have started to post pictures, so that people can easily find them in the future? Rich

Hi Jeff, I have been a bit quiet of late - pressure of work et all and the odd times I have dropped onto rmWeb its been a quick couple of minutes and not enough time to give KL the attention it deserves. Glad to see your progressing well, totally agree that the new stone wall looks superb and far more detailed - still amazes me what your doing. So I may be a bit quiet, but I am still here! Rich

Dave, That is superb, many thanks for the background information as well. Rich

Hi @Regularity, you can get both, but I am proposing flat bottom rail, which being Code 40 is 0.040" tall, so going off that table, I assume it is similar (or of no difference) to the ME. Rich

Does anyone happen to know if there is any difference between MicroEngineering Code 40 rail and the Code 40 available from the 2mm Association? I doubt there is much, and am thinking that the 2FS rail is easier to get hold of (I am member) than ME Code 40. Rich

Thanks Nick, As you say not many modern cars, but I have acquired two vehicles for the manifest fleet that are now sat in the Trunk! Thanks for the tip off. Rich

Rule of this post is never post when you are home from work and tired! Sorry I knew that, Centre Beam was what I was thinking when I typed centre spine!! But thanks I hadn't realised the Intermountain had done them, I'll keep my eyes peeled for that. As ever, thanks for the other info too. Very true - I should have said the layout will be based California way, hence my comment about coal being Rule #1 - I have seen the occasional train load at Barstow, enough to make it valid!, but it is few and far between there. However, we have gained a Norfolk Southern through working intermodal flow recently, so there is a reason for NS power to appear Rich

Hi, oh tell me about it I must admit I have concentrated on freight cars more than locos (now have 21 in the fleet) for the past couple of years and have been gradually building the fleet up. I am fortunate in some respects that I have been slowly selling my UK O Gauge fleet off, which has generated a good amount of funds for this project, and will shortly start selling my UK N gauge collection, so thankfully the funds are not coming out of savings ... I would not be popular I have enough Bethgon Coalporter hoppers now to put two 34 car trains together (around 11ft in length), and the first intermodal set is not far off a similar length, and the automotive tri-deck set about half way there (they are expensive wagons - thank god for the 2nd hand market!). As for various manifest vehicles my current total is around 52 cars, so I do have a fair way to go as the yard should have 15 sorting sidings, based on my current Templot drawing (which will need tweaking given the discussion about pointwork above). The siding lengths in the yard on the layout will be around 12ft - my actual length of the layout is 21ft, so there is the potential for them to end up a little longer. Total scenic run should be around 85ft, so plenty of space to keep me occupied on scenics for a while! The hidden sidings are all pencilled in at 15ft long to give room for lead locos as well as mid-train and rear DPUs - although the latter two will all be dependent on getting the various DCC values right so that everything runs smoothly together. I have tried small layouts in the past, UK based, and lost interest as I found that to keep it interesting for the operator during an afternoons running, the number of trains needed was not prototypical for that kind of branch, where as this layout will hopefully combine a few ideas, with the hidden sidings and main lines more on an auto control, which is another aspect I have wanted to play around with for a few years. The depot and yard will all be manually controlled. As for UK stockists, I am always happy to support them and try to do so where I can, but the past couple of years, I have tended to save up as much as I can, then have a spending spreed stateside, using a US dollar debit card. The packages are all collated at a shipping facility in the US over a two or three week period, where they repack and ship over to me in one bigger box using FedEx. Done that a few times now, and its worked really well - both in terms of shipping, import costs etc. Far more cost effective than individual packages coming over, and in many cases when all costs are included its worked out cheaper. Also if I time it right, transferring money to my US dollar card at the times when £1 GBP gets you maximum dollars, can give the ability to acquire an extra wagon at no extra cost!! Its an each to their own thing I suppose, but I want this layout to work, be fun to run and as accurate and realistic as I can make it, so I am in no rush - hence the thought of hand-built track. As well as keeping the costs down it means that the track work flows much better. Yes that's true - I am lucky at the moment in being able to steadily build up the fleet while the layout is being built. The one thing I am struggling to find in N is the centre spine wagons that are used for moving large quantities of wood and the like around. Thanks - I hadn't actually realised you could measure in Google Maps. I'll take a look at that. There is noway I have to space to get anything like Barstow (nor do I have the budget to fill it!!) but my aim is to give the impression that it is part of a bigger interchange yard. I have looked at a couple of the NS yards as well, that are much smaller for inspiration, so I might go and do some measuring. I have been playing about with ideas and track plans for several months as the possibility to move from a portable layout to a fixed space was an outside option that has now (to my surprise) become confirmed. So from those numerous bits of paper, I drew up a base plan in Templot to establish that I could get the siding lengths that I wanted, while still having space for the main line running length. One aim was to be able to run long freights and steady realistic speeds, as I commented I spend time with the Tehachapi cameras on in the background when at home and would love to be able to create a vision that is similar to what I see on the cameras - in terms of train formations. But no, I am not planning on trying to run prototypical 114 car freights! The coal workings will be a bit of a Rule #1 but they are a flow that is close to my heart (not PC in the modern world I know!) but having been involved in the UK rail industry focusing on coal there is a strong connection there. Many will probably think I am mad, maybe they are right, but as long as there is enjoyment in the hobby your doing, I dont think it matters! Thanks to @mdvle for keeping us up to date with new items being released - I do monitor that thread regularly. Rich

@mdvleThanks for that. Yes totally agree its always compromises, I am still learning with the US stuff - spending far too long watching the Tehachapi and Barstow cameras(!) but a recent video that a friend sent me of BNSF shunting in Barstow yard, I couldn't put into perspective the size of the pointwork that US railroads use in yards, compared to the UK, hence the question. I am fortunate in now having a large area for the layout, but also have something of a OTT fascination for trying to get it right! I have attached the video below if anyone else is interested and wants to take a look... Rich

Thanks - sorry I should have said I am modelling N gauge .. but still - the info should help, thank you! EDIT: Ah just noticed they do the drawings in various scales, including N - https://www.handlaidtrack.com/track-templates-n for anyone else looking!

Afternoon guys, I am about to start hand-building some pointwork for my US layout - the new version of which should feature quite a big wagon sorting yard area. Can anyone tell me what size turnouts companies like NS/BNSF/UP use in yards and can anyone give me any details about sleeper spacing for US pointwork? All help gratefully accepted.... Rich

Apparently there was a derailment at Cliff, north of the loop I think, on Thursday evening when a BNSF Z train sideswiped a UP manifest that was in the siding waiting for the BNSF chap to pass. One of the most in accessible parts of the line I am told, so might disrupt traffic for a bit - although knowing the US guys the route will be up and running again in no time!

HI Rod, Another options for your - although depending on the number you want it may be more expensive, is to use a permanent magnet attached to a servo arm beneath the base board. With an electromagnet you need to be careful not to leave power attached too long or it will burn the coil out, but with a servo, it works like your signals. So you activate the servo, which moves 45 degrees and brings the magnet parallel to the track, you can leave it in that position as long as you want, when you have finished, return the servo to normal and it flips the magnet back 45 degrees again so it doesn't uncouple. Depending on the strength of the magnet it also means that the servo idea can be implemented under the baseboard without needing to disturb the track - I believe (although I'll stand corrected) that the electro-magnets will need a pole/steel rod poking through the baseboard, at least level with the top of the board to get the magnet strength to a level where it will uncouple. Others will know better than me tho. Just a thought for you ... the shunt movements etc, seem to have provided some great interest for you ... and us!! Rich

Hi Andy, If it helps, I have just tried it on the iPhone as above and its still the same ... but on a Mac running Safari on MacOS 11.6, it takes about 14 seconds to come up - just timed it!! Nothing major of course, happy to wait a few seconds, but just so you know. Rich

Could be, I am sure @AY Mod will advise if it is ... it could just be that the database queries for compiling the Blog page are taking some time. I am not a database expert by any means but if it happens to have come about since an update it could be an issue surrounding the indexing of the tables relating to blogs. No doubt Andy is aware Good call on flagging it up tho Mikkel, at least it confirms the delay is not just your device. Rich

Really nice view that top one Dave. Glad to hear the little 'un is doing well and getting used to the trains too! Rich

If it helps, 'Browse > Blogs' off the hamburger menu is working here on a standard iPhone 13 with iOS 15.3. Very slow coming up - but does show after about 15-20 seconds Mikkel. Rich

Hi Jon, I was being tongue-in-cheek sarcastic hehe (me? never!) but I know the quality of your work, it will look superb. Hope you (and everyone else on here) weathers the storm ok tomorrow, I look forward to seeing the outcome Rich

Superb work as ever Jon - just confirmation I am getting the updates now! Dont get drawn in to that awful thing called FB! We can't lose you from here ... I have an account on there if I look at it once every two or three months I am doing well! Just too messy to use, at least here I can scroll back and see what I have missed or find something I want to look at! Can't wait to see what the lever frame looks like when its in the box ... I presume it will be fully working not just 'posable' Rich

Hi @Hal Nail Eastleigh should generally be fairly busy, but I suspect it is time of day dependent. As for movements in the yard and the test trains, they are as required but if you look at: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/detailed/gb-nr:ESL/2022-02-16/0800-1800?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt&toc=ZZ That will show all the freights for the day between 0800 and 1800 - just change the date and times either in the URL bar of your browser or in the date box when RTT comes up you should be ok looking up to 7-10 days ahead (although STP paths may not show more than 3-4 days ahead) and the info is available for 7 days after the date. Anything WTT is a standard path - may or may not run (most do), anything VAR/STP is likely to run (far more complicated, but that is the simple answer!). Anything showing (Q) in the actual departure time field is a 'runs as required' path generally very hit and miss, especially MoD traffic as it runs to the requirements of the MoD. Any queries, feel free to PM me. NO link to RTT myself, just a satisfied user! Rich

Hi all, New to the German model scene, so interested in this discussion. Myself and a friend are throwing ideas around for a small DB Rhein style layout in N or OO. May or may not reach fruition! Could you chaps help me out (via PM if you would rather) at which German model shops your looking at please? Any other shop/mail order recommendations (without wishing to deviate from the thread) or anything to watch out for when buying from the EU when it’s bound for Germany would be welcomed. Richie

Hi Jon, I was thinking you’ve been quiet recently then realised that rmWeb hadn’t been notifying me of your updates since around May!! Hope your keeping well. The signalling projects look as superb as ever! Rich