AllScales

@Horsten:

A great read! Like you I too am gearing up to start on Mark 2.

I see you're really taking on board the lessons you've learned from Mk 1.

Keep up the good work!

Hi Dutch Master,

Many thanks for your comments. They are very appreciated. Allow me to explain further why I have arranged things in the way that I have.

It's unlikely scenario, the original RhB line onwards from Scuol/Tarasp was meant to continue all the way to Landeck... However, this is where another bit of reality sets in: I have a large selection of OBB, ZB and other HOe rolling stock that I have collected over the last 8 years and I am determined I'm going to use it! Even with this largish trackplan I have more than enough rolling stock...

I might make passive provision for overhead wiring, but as I currently don't have any of the Mariazeller electrics its not really a priority... Although my local train shop has one in stock... Danger! Danger!

The reason for choosing a different town as the interchange between the two railways is that there is no way I can squash even a reduced version of Scuol into the space available. I have even demoted the cross-border line into the secondary branch so that I can make the interchange station as small as possible. I might need to find a different place to Nauders though... Maybe a side valley might be needed...

A second consideration was that I would like to be able to run it single handedly, hence the "mainline" on both sides ending at a station built into a reverse loop, this reduces the amount of shunting required. The stub track you can see in the reverse loops allows me to run push-pull workings more realistically.

The fiddle yard at the bottom of both sides will also be a reverse loop (with some stubs for push-pull workings).... They will have more than just a simple passing loops (5 loops planned on the HOe side and two stubs).

You can be assured that there will be plenty of tunnels, turns and twists, bridges and fun and games! I love rabbit warren layouts...

There's a faller kit (well two actually) that makes a Wiesner viaduct look-alike (close enough for me), so that's likely to put in an appearance somewhere. Perhaps in a Landwasser viaduct setting: Straight into the side of the mountain!

I notice that Tarasp has a castle, and Scuol has ski lifts, so both of those are on the list as well....

Hi Justin,

It would be nice if the sizes were also given in metric, especially as that is now the standard.

It really shouldn't be a wooden crossing anyway, that's only used for barrow crossings (if that) in Austria. For a proper road crossing it would be as here a combination of check rails and slabs, with rubber joins. But in this case it's only a service road that is used by cars and the occasional truck.

I've got some spare sections of track so I'll have another bash this time with better light.... I also discovered that one of my stake wagons doesn't really like it, it looks like the flanges are catching on the ballast... The other appear to be fine!

A yes! It's the Mark 1 trainshed, it's being used to correctly align the track so the engines will fit through the doors.

It is an Auhagen kit made for narrow gauge...

The next version will have white walls with the grooves filled in so it looks whitewashed, however it will still have the wood framing. The idea is to make it look a bit like the Mayrhofen shed...

Hi Dave,

If you don't want to do electrics then DCC is actually the way to go....

No isolating sections to hold locos, you can stop them wherever you want.

There are a few rules:

1. Every piece of track must be live at all times

Well that's it.... I'm not going back....

Cheers,

Friso

Hi Rhys,

Welcome!

Do you have a train shop nearby?

If so I recommend you pop down there and get a track planning book. Have a good look and see what you can fit in the space you've got and the size of trains you want (and what you've got!)

Also have a think about what you want to do? Run trains round and round?

Shunt goods trains?

Have a terminus with loco shed?

I guess you'll want the first so look in the track plan book for a good layout...

I have now retrofitted the points in the main station with a wire to the frog, I wish I had done this from the outset!

Hi Jock,

I noticed your post and I thought I'd reply.

There are several ways of handling frogs and it depends on the type of track.

With the track I'm using the frog is completely isolated, the point blades and tracks leading from frog to the diverging rails are bonded to the side rails. In this case you can ignore the frog if the locos are long enough and have good contact.

However some track has completely plastic frogs, I'd avoid this... In this case some of the tracks are bonded, other parts may rely on contact to the outer rails. It depends...

The third type relies on contact to power the frog, the diverging rails and point blades.

So for the first case: just leave it initially but solder a wire to the bottom of the frog, so you can always add frog polarity switching later.

Type 2: Avoid!

Type 3: As for 1, but you might get into trouble if you're using very old rolling stock with massive play on the wheels, in that case you can cause shorts as the wheels touch both sides. Not usually a problem on analogue, but can pose a problem with DCC and the short circuit cut outs on some control stations.

Does that help? My general reccomendation is to always allow you to add something later, if the time/financial cost at the outset isn't huge...

Hi Jock,

I'm using one now, thanks for the tip! I had spotted one one ebay, but that's

Hi Tim,

That has crossed my mind, but as long as the password is sufficiently strong the inconvenience of turning it off doesn't seem worth it.

As I'm currently forced to switch between networks to use the Z21, I'm willing to take the risk. Especially as the Z21 router is not connected the rest of the network....

Obvisoulsy the first photo was taken before the show opened!

That corner of the arena was decidedly crowded...

Again a good show, nice spread of layouts.

I finished off the weekend by popping round to my local show in Pratts Bottom hosted by the ODMRS, again a good show.

The January show overdose begins!

I have not had a problem with these (I have 5 of them), but one did break very shortly after I got it home.

Taking it back to the shop they said that some batches had a less than reliable gear train, a bit like old Grafar models, in that the gears split.

Their slow running is superb and they actually run even slower if used with DCC....

My cats never seem to jump on my layout even though it's been on the dining table since I started in March!

But then they are well behaved moggies, that seem to have a degree in English (from the CCL: Cat College London)

Good luck!

Another way to create one is to click on the arrow right of your user name in the top right corner.

A little menu pops down, click on "Manage Blogs"... Bob's your auntie!

Cheers,

Friso

Hi Lisa,

How many tracks/platforms did it have? I'm planning a 4 platform/6 track terminus station and wonder if that's about the right size of building.

Not being a scratch builder (I lack the precise coordination) I might end up using the Metcalfe card kit for their mainline station: PN130. That looks roughly the same size as this (possibly a bit bigger).

Thanks,

Friso

Yes, deliberately badly translated into German!

Hi Peter,

That sounds really dreadful! Point motors shouldn't blow up like that... Having said that, maybe it's actually something the switches are causing, so have you tried Peco ones instead maybe they don't cause the same problem?

What kind of DCC controller is that? It must be a very basic model! I can see that there could be a problem if you wire one DCC controller to the main track and a second one to the programming track.

My current setup is a Roco multi-Maus (with wires), which works well. As it does Programming on the Main, it also almost completely removes the need for a separate programming track. The one restriction is when you add a new loco to the fleet. But it's simple enough to lift all the others off so you can program it. I can reccomend this, if you later decide to get something even more fancy (e.g. the Z21), the maus will work with it...

A friend of mine has his layout wired such that power can go to the programming track only or the whole layout, which in hindsight I probably should have done. Maybe I'll change one of the tracks in engine shed to be insulated... Hmmm, if it rains this weekend, a nice job to do....

I think you trick will work, but then the levers will stick out quite a way, so this may cause other problems, e.g. clothing snagging on them as you walk past?

Good luck!

Friso

Hi Peter,

From reading some of your earlier posts, you blew a couple when you had a wiring problem. But I can't for the life of me work out how a point motor can blow if all you're doing is changing the wrong one! What kind of point motors are you using?

You'll find that with DCC that you have more crashes because it's that you're more likely to have two things running at once. In my case I have reprogrammed most of the locos to have a more realisitic stopping distance as well and regularly end up crashing them into each other, the rolling stock or the buffers!

It is much more fun though! I've wired my points upto the DCC bus, using decoders from Lenz (for my main layout) and Train Tech for my little layout, the latter have a CDU built in which seems to work quite well. Good enough to throw two SEEPs in one go. Maybe consider a slow but steady switchover at some point?

Cheers,

Friso

Ah that brings back memories! Although the trains and trams were a whole lot cheaper back in '88!

Artizen - If you're going to Auckland, check out the Glenbrook Vintage Railway just south of town. It's great...

I'd say version 4 is my favourite!

It's electricity innit? Not magic!

Having done some electrical/electronic courses at uni, I can't even imagine why you would need to, unless you wanted to make your life difficult!

DCC makes life easier in my humble opinion...

Hi Peter,

They are possibility, al though I shouldn't need for a wee while now!

Thanks,

Friso

Thanks Lisa, I'll take a look next time I'm in one, my nearest is fairly small but there is a Warehouse version not too far away.

I drilled the holes out last night and used my standard 3.5mm x 9mm screws to fix them on. It actually was easier then I had first thought but with the price of the decoders being

The decoders are being fitted to the underside of the MDF board, and normally I drill a 1 mm diameter pilot hole, to make it easier (and not knacker the screw head).

What I have been using are pretty bog standard 3.5 mm wood screws with a length just under 10 mm. These work on the Seeps, but only just as the thread catches on the board, meaning you need to hold it tightly in position to prevent it moving out of position. It does have the advantage of meaning there is absolutely no play on the point motor once it's screwed down.

These decoders seem to have holes which are just a tiny bit smaller, and the board is quite a bit thinner than those on the Seeps so my concern is that the board might crack.

Another suggestion is simply to drill out the holes a fraction and there is probably just enough room to do this, but space is quite tight....

Thanks,

Friso