What's going on with trains, March 2025

-

My sister, Annie, asked what was up with trains? Here's some status.

I love my current layout. It has two loops. A siding. An inner loop with a crossing, or, essentially, a figure 8 within a loop. The 2 loops are interconnected by a double crossover. It has an elevated section that crosses the lower in two places, with the longer via a trestle bridge. All this goodness on a 30" x 60" Ikea desk that cranks up and down. 


My command station supports wireless and I typically run trains from my phone or, as shown in the pic, from a tablet using Engine Driver. Both locos' throttles and all 6 turnout controls are displayed on one screen without toggling.


There can be a lot of action with this layout. It's easy to run two trains. In the same direction, chasing each other. 




Or in opposite directions - on the two loops, inner and outer. The train on the inner loop can simply traverse the loop or can visit the station while making a figure 8. The decoupler at the station allows the train to drop cars for servicing. 


My plans for this layout were to add more buildings, people, sidings and maybe figure out how to simultaneously run a third loco.




Ok, so if I love this layout, what's wrong with it? I hate the wires. 

The main way MRRers hide wires is with benchwork. Benchwork means building a supporting frame with legs for a surface, typically foam or plywood. Track and scenery are then attached to the surface. 

I thought I'd do this. But I decided not to because benchwork typically means permanent layouts. And inflexibility. As much as I love this layout, I already want to try something new. 

Is there another way to hide wires? 

I think so. One way to do it is to build really small decoders that fit within the cavities of the molded roadbed of the turnouts and track. (Decoders are devices that electrically throw the turnouts.)

There is a commercial product that does this today. But I'm interested in designing my own. Again you ask why? Well, that's a subject for another blog post. 



But it's this quest that's absorbing all my train time at the moment. Until next time.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Learning about turnouts

-
Image
NY Central #1906 steaming down the mainline I have two #6 turnouts and a double crossover in my first layout. I thought the #6 turnouts we're non-power routing based on my reading. But the first attempt layout proved that wrong.  With a power routing turnout, the track in the direction of the turnout's setting is powered, and in the other branch, non-powered. When the turnout is toggled, power is moved to the other branch, and the previously powered branch is now non-powered. I learned this multiple ways. First, I thought my dual loop layout could be powered by a single piece of terminal track powering the entire layout. The layout is small, so I thought that would be good enough. However, the power routing turnouts and crossover break current in the non-powered direction. So, initially only one of my loops worked. Second, the initial layout had a second spur leading off the first. But without a power connection on that spur, it would always be dead.  Third, attempting to r...
Read more

Train status

-
Image
I think a lot of you thought I had lost my mind when I mentioned I was interested in model trains. Perhaps. But it's been a great stress reliever. Here's status.  One can spend a bundle on model trains. So, I've tried to pace myself and be judicious. Since we don't have a lot of room, I've selected N scale, half of HO size and 2nd most popular scale behind HO. I've only spent half a bundle. : /  I'm going to try and keep the train to an era from the 1880s to the 1940s. Pretty wide range, but it's hard to find everything at a reasonable price in one narrow era. I've also decided to go digital. I'm interested in control more than scenery. The model train digital control standard is called DCC. It's much different than the DC my dad and I played around with in the '60s. It's very cool, allowing levels of control that weren't possible earlier. While I bought a DCC starter set, I hope to build my own. I've purchased track from...
Read more