N Gauge Model Railway - Episode 8 - Viaduct and Archway Shops

Documenting my journey into model railways.

Building a model railway layout in any scale is a challenge.  If you are not an experienced railway modeller and are coming at this without the benefit of many layouts under your belt it can seem a bit daunting.

What are the challenges when building a model railway

1. Buying Your Track - This is a key barrier to progress, as track layout and more importantly what track you need to purchase, is going to determine how quickly you can build your layout. 
   
   Fortunately, I had a few scraps of secondhand flexitrack which meant I could get a rough idea of how many loops of continuous running track I would need and how many points.  This created a shopping list for eBay and Aliexpress and I could get on with some other critical elements of the build whilst I awaited delivery.
   
   
2. Track goes on top of some things - Where my particular layout is concerned I have two items which need to be built before I can lay any of the 2nd and 3rd loop track.  This comes in the form of a viaduct whihc pulls double duty as a tunnel.  Fortunately, I have access to a 3D printer and so after a few hours searching I was able to locate an STL file which met my needs... somewhat.
   
   
3. Building to a Budget can delay a Project - Model railways are expensive things and if you are not made of money then assembling your critical items might need to be spread over many weeks depending on your budget.  This can be a challenge when you are buying lots of points or turntables which can cost a fortune.  This can introduce delays which slow the process down and can suck all the fun out of the room. 
   
   We can all fall into the trap of prevarication but keeping up the momentum is key and there are lots of smaller projects which you can bring forward at little to no risk to the project as a whole.  Smaller scenic items which can be dropped into a layout at the right time are a godsend.

3D Printed Viaduct and Archway Shops - Cults 3D - £3

Whilst I waited for all my track components to arrive, I needed to build the elevated section of my layout (loop 3) and I had enough track to test the incline and build the up and down ramps.  The layout is intended to be viewed from the front and I wanted something a bit more visually interesting than a grassy hill.  This meant I needed to set the height of the tunnel so I could determine the height of my track and then put in place the loop 3 roadbed.

I found the perfect STL file on Cults 3D and shelled out the princely sum of £3.  I then set about  printing out a couple of these sections on my Photon Mono M5 to test on the layout.  They are huge chunky models which benefitted from hollowing out and adding some drain holes.  However, even after doing this I ended up with quite a lot of trapped resin which leaked out slowly... very slowly. 

Without realising that the designer had created a Low Relief version of the viaduct, I sliced the fronts off in Meshmixer to create fascias for all my arches.

Over the course of a week or two I printed off several fascias and infills to create a curved section of viaduct which hides the tunnel.

Archway Shops and Real World Inspiration

Ottley's Coffee & Catan - Inspired by my colleague and fellow boardgame fan Stephen Ottley.  Stephen is our resident coffee afficianado and also runs the tiktok channel TableTok Games.  

Sam's Sounds - Sam Buckley is our resident muso and part time punk. He will of course now be referred to as the punk pickle.

Lejava Journeys - Tom Lejava is one of my longest serving colleagues and is never happier than when he is on holiday in some exotic destination.  A travel agent was the obvious choice and Tom has the dubious honour of having a name which is super easy to cut out.

Just A Girl - Impeccably attired Elena is honoured on this layout with a fashion boutique specialising in the latest street fashions.  "Just A Girl" is her catchphrase and fits this shop front like a glove. 

Neale's Yard - Sales Director David Neale got a discount warehouse on this layout.  If you look very closely through the open door you will see the man himself pushing the Ark of the Covenant into the back of the warehouse. 

Anisha's Snack King - Anisha's snack drawer is legendary and so having an international snack store was a perfect addition.  If you are the King you need your sign made out of gold... real gold.  I knew I would find a use for that gold leaf I bought from Aliexpress all those months ago.

Loop 3 

Determining the height of Loop 3 was a simple case of tracing between a couple of sections on all three sides of the baseboard scribing a horizontal datum to work to.  On the left of the layout loop 3 climbs up to meet this datum, tracks level across the back of the layout and then falls down more steeply on the right.  The road bed was superglued in place with some MDF supports.

I threw in some track and tested that my engine would fit and with a small amount of support trimming it did.  I then tested that the same fully engine could climb the incline easily with a rake of wagons behind it.  It passed the test sufficiently well for me to continue. 

Using a wooden curve template I drew on the rough arc that the loop 2 tunnel track would take avoiding any of the vertical supports which will form the retaining walls for the loop 3 track. 

Magnetised Scenery

This entire section of scenery needs to be removable yet tie into the layout at each end where the tunnel mouths (portals) are.  This would seem like a perfect task for those tiny but incredibly strong neodymium magnets.   The ones I have are about 10mm diameter by 1mm thick.

The magnets were glued onto small offcuts of MDF on the back of the viaduct facias and matched to magnets on the viaduct supports.

As you can imagine this was a fiddly exercise and I broke the viaduct several times.  I used some car body plastic bumper filler to strengthen the combined fascia structure.

Obligatory Running Video

N Gauge Model Railway - Episode 6 - It's Alive!!

Documenting my journey into model railways.

As I mentioned in an earlier episode of this series, I actually have another loco in the shape of a very battered Minitrix No 201 0-6-0T Dock Tank Loco in British Railways black which I found in a £3 grab bag of toys in a charity shop.

It did work, but not very well, so I had a go at blindly repairing it.  I'm a man, I don't need instructions... how hard can it be?

I killed it...

...or at least I thought I had.  I disassembled the running gear and could clearly see that there was nothing stopping the motor from moving about in the chassis and consequently the worm gear from becoming unmeshed with the drive gear.  Two tiny countersunk screws were missing from the motor plate.

Thanks to the information found on the marvellous site Classic Minitrix I was able completely strip down the chassis and to put it back together with the wheels in the right configuration.  I don't know if this is normal but this little engine uses the wheels and chassis as pickups from one rail and isolators on the axle allow other side of the wheelset to pick up from the other rail.  

As soon as I applied power the motor sputtered into life.

It's not out of the woods yet as it is missing some bits like a buffer, the two tiny countersunk screws which hold the motor in place and both couplers, springs and the plates which hold the whole shebang together.

I'm sure that these are readily available on the internet somewhere like Lendons of Cardiff.

It really does need a lick of paint as it currently looks like a very well played with matchbox car. Fortunately the decals are in great condition so at bit of black enamel and a protective coat of matt varnish should see it back in good cosmetic order.

The Tale of 1,600 Machine Screws

Sourcing the screws to retain the motor was not difficult as there are plenty of eBay sellers offering tiny watch screws.  The challenge is discovering what size screw Minitrix used back in the day when they designed this little loco.  

The answer is M1.6 x 3mm.  I know, because I bought 1,600 countersunk machine screws to try to find two which were the right size.

How does it Run?

Like the clappers.  It's not great at very slow scale speeds but as you can see it flies around the small loop on my layout.  My choice of electrofrog points is causing it to get stuck (hence the speed) but it runs.

Not to worry, there are big changes coming to Upper Carrom so tune in next week.

N Gauge Model Railway - Episode 3 - Loops, Points and Elevation

Documenting my journey into model railways.

As I mentioned in the first episode of this series, my wishlist includes 3 loops of track which requires a significant number of points if one is to return a train to any one of the loops.

The largest radius I can realistically run on this board without the whole layout  turning into a helix is going to be 12".  I printed out some tracksetta style gauges to help me lay the random collection of secondhand flexitrack.  I also made a rudimentary  curve compass out of a strip of hardboard to help scribe the radii on the baseboard and also to cut sections of track bed which will be elevated.

Where we're going we don't need... plans

I am not following any plan with this layout.  It's a case of design on the fly based on what track I can scrounge together.  In fact the layout has changed and will continue to change based on the age old philosophy of do I really need 11 sets of points!!

At this very moment the plan looks something like this:

Notice the addition of the first scenic items in the form of the viaduct fascias.  All will b e revealed in the fullness of time or when the 3D Printer has finished printing them off.

3 Continuous Running Loops

What is the point of a coffee table layout if it doesn't have continuous running.  My 3 Loops are loosely defined as follows:

Loop 1 (Purple) - A 9" radius (1st radius?) with the smallest points I have turning this into an oval.  I could really do with replacing these points for a matched pair of 1st radius curved points so that I can properly form the fiddle yard.  At the moment I am not confident that the southern tank engine can make a tighter radius curve.  Fingers crossed I can get the little black shunter working as it has a set of tiny little wheels in an 0-6-0 configuration.  Being a diecast body it's got some weight to it unlike the Southern which is made of plastic. 

Loop 2 (Green) - A mix of radii from 10" to 12" and traverses the entire layout from the staging area at the bottom up the left side and into a tunnel which runs underneath the viaduct and then emerges on the right side of the layout.  This is essentially a branch line and will be running a mix of small 4 wheel coaches (when I buy or make them) and goods wagons.  This will be the preserve of the Southern Tank Engine unless something better comes along.

Loop 3 (Yellow) - The largest loop (but not by much) and is a squared off 12" radius circle.  It takes you all around the layout rising on the left to the viaduct and falling back down on the right to rejoin the staging area bottom left (blue).  I have tested the gradient with the only working loco I have and it can pull a full rake of 6 wagons weighed down with nuts and bolts.  This will be the main line and hopefully I will be able to run larger coaches and goods wagons with articulated bogies.

Power to the People

With all this going on and the potential of having 3 simultaneous running loops and accessories, I am going to need to get some more controllers and isolate each loop with those isolating fish plates all the cool kids use.  This of course is going to be a whole other ball game, but I am going to stay DC rather than go DCC as I just can't justify the complexity at this stage.  However, there is nothing to say I won't change my mind further down the line.

Talking about Tracks but specifically making a point about Points

There are a lot of joblot auctions on eBay for collections of track and it is somewhat daunting to a beginner to try to find exactly what you want to fit in a given space.  Flexitrack is your friend as you can essentially lay track from point to point.  Track is so goddam expensive and I'm trying to keep the cost to a minimum, I'm not a Rothschild you know (only when I'm Bunty), so I buy what looks right, even if in the end it might not be.  False economy I know.  Especially when you don't know that PIKO track is a completely different connection standard to PECO... fortunately this only cost me £10 to learn.

However, when we get down to the tight transitions between the curves I think I might need to bite the bullet and buy specific radii turnouts.  Wouldn't it be awesome if each manufacturer published a set of photocopiable templates of their set track and turnouts so you could literally try before you buy.  If you know of any please do pop a comment in the section below.

Points Theory

Finally, there is some points theory to consider (which I am also slowly learning) behind designing a three loop continuous running layout.  I will cover this in a future episode as it is driving me insane trying to visualise what I need to buy compared to what I want for the layout and my available space.

Obligatory Running Video