“Here’s a few of our S & L garden RR in Keller, Texas 15 miles northwest of the DFW airport.
Louis”
And this in from Tom:
“Very early stages of a small N gauge layout.
Having to down size from a large N gauge layout with it’s realistic sweeping curves and long straights I decided, not being a lover of end to end layouts, the best compromise was to make a very comprehensive continuous circuit with an elevated section and a large yard area for shunting operations and steam/diesel loco servicing.
With the space available and to avoid a wiring nightmare with DC it was only possible with DCC and full computer control.
The 6ft X 3ft base board is constructed of 6mm exterior grade plywood including the legs, to keep the weight to a minimum and give some portability.
The elevated circuit will traverse a valley between 2 hill areas with a viaduct, to a height of 12cms, to allow under board fitting of cobalt point motors. With the restricted space a spiral is used under the larger right side hill giving a reasonable gradient of 1 in 36.
The hill area will have a level top for a farm and rural landscape harking back to my childhood days.
The track, ( laid todate 15 metres) is Peco 80 streamline mainly flexible, laid on Track Bed. I find this easier to lay than code 55 used previously and find the points are more robust, which will total 26. I have found the recently available Peco ready wired rail joiners making the job of wiring the large number of drop wires to N track, an easier task, especially for us of advanced years.
The elevated circuit is accessed from the inner main line and requires reverse loops and auto reverse to enable the train to return on the spiral forward and join the main line again in the same direction as leaving. This makes for some very interesting action in the fiddle yard and under the two hills.
The steam servicing yard area is accessed by a turntable, again because of the small space and to leave an area for goods, coal and weighbridge facilities.
The Diesels will have a single shed behind the carriage sidings adjacent to the station.
DCC control is by NCE( I consider the best), with DCC Concepts Cobalt
Point motors with decoders.
A monitoring panel for all points and track installed in front of the back scenery will be mounted behind the back panel having LED indication and manual override only.
All points installed behind the back scenery will have override pushbuttons and indicator LEDs mounted in the track.
This still involves a large wiring job, having used todate over 20 metres of 6 core signal cable to the monitoring panel.
Still requiring the bus, track position, signals, building lighting, etc wiring to be installed. Who says DCC makes wiring simple, just 2 wires to the track is all that is required. They forget the frog switching, the reverse polarity modules, the drop wiring, the extra power areas, the track and point isolations, etc. all very necessary outside a simple circuit with a few sidings.
As the photos show it is very much in the early stages and will certainly provide an interesting task to landscape.
Most people will probably think it is too much in such a small space, but I am enjoying the logic,electronic and planning challenge and is certainly keeping my aging brain active.
Tom”
And lastly, it looks like Dave has been on the sherry again:
Please keep ’em coming.
Just hit reply to any of my emails and send in your videos, pics and tips.
And if today is the day you decide to get busy on your layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here.
Best
Al
