Stage 3

Ok Stage 3. Now it's getting serious!! Time to lay the track. This is one of the hardest things to do to get right, especially when you are 'playing with' gradients, undulation and curves. Trains as a general rule like to run on flat surfaces. They do not like to go up and down hills and inclines. This goes for both actual and scale models. So with my 'ambitious' plan to put all the 5 tracks on elevated sections going up and down, acutally laying the track without issues is the biggest challenge to the layout.

Generally from my past experiences, obtaining a smooth track on an undulation is extremely difficult. It's the challenge of obtaining that gradient where the trains will go up and down without derailing. A train will derail with the slightest imperfection with the track in this instance and therefore continuous testing retesting and retesting again is required.

For this layout i'm predominantly using flexitrack, made by a company called Peco in England. This track does what the desicripiton indicates, it allows you to be flexible with the layout, in that your not fully stuck to a standard radius curve and straight, it allows you to have gradual curves, or large straights with slight bends to work around landscaping and scenery elements if necessary. This is imperative for this layout as I will have 5 tracks running under and over each other.

For the sake of the blog and describing the tracks I've numbered them from a controller sense too. Track 1 will be the far outer loop scaling down to track 5, which will be the inner loop

As I began to lay my first couple of tracks it was becoming increasingly evident that what I had done was potentially not going to work - Just to prove that this blog is not all lollipops and rainbows!!! This day was proving to be a touch frustrating.

I proceeded to lay the first three outside tracks (tracks 1-3) anyway to see the extent of the problems that had arisen, and commenced running the trains in a test sense.

It was a nice milestone to achieve, sending power through the tracks, however the trains did not run well at all. The gradients on the outer track (Track 1) was far too steep for most of the engines to climb and this was before I had even loaded any of them up with carriages! The result of this was a total rethink of the track design and as you can see from below, the first casualties were the 2 inner tracks (4 & 5) as these were at a steeper gradient than the outer track! So I proceeded to tear up the rise and falls and go away and reassess.

The outer track (Track 1) after a few adjustments began to run well with 5 of my engines, and in particular the Flying Scotsman, which after a few cobwebs were blown out, (It was her first run in about 10 years) she began running really well. However the gradient still gave her troubles - especially on the climb up. So this track would have to be revised also.

Tracks 2 and 3 were ok apart from a couple of join issues. As discussed above, it is extremely vital to ensure the joins in the track are spot on as a variance of 1mm can have a massive effect on the running of the locos and for the most part can easily cause a derailment. After a few tinkers these tracks began to run really well.

After thinking about it for the best part of two weeks, I decided to keep a slight rise and fall in track 1 by elevating the front straight, so this would take out the excessive variations and result in the trains running much better and negotiating the rise and falls easier. In regards to tracks 4 & 5, I decided to elevate them at the same level as the rear. This reasoning will become a little clearer as the landscaping and scenery takes shape.

But for now it's back to the drawing board!!!

Stage 2

The next step was to complete the rest of the elevated sections of the track, which meant checking radius' of the respective curves to make sure the trains would actually turn around them. 

The radius for a curve for a HO train set should be no less than 380mm. This is approximately a Hornby Radius 1 curve that is a section of track you can purchase at any hobby shop - This minimum allows for large locomotives and in particular passenger carriages to negotiate the turns. Smaller 2 axle 'tank' engines or shunters will obviously be able to get around a tighter curve but this is the minimum for anything larger. 

I own many larger locomotives which struggle to negotiate even 380mm, so i decided to make the radius considerably larger at 600mm which in old school terms is about 20 inches. This radius is a super safe turn which will allow all my locos to negotiate the turns without any issues like derailing. It also makes the locos travel better around the track as a more consistent speed can be taken around the curves. 

The other testing issue when laying the elevated sections for any layout is managing to get the trains up and down a gradient. In this situation a model railway is not that much different to a full size railway. If the up gradient is too steep, the wheels slip on the track and the train goes no where. If the gradient is too steep on the down slope, the train will gather too much speed and derail at the bottom. 

It is because of these reasons that careful thought has to go into the rise and fall of track. You will see by the photos that the initial gradient I adopted was approximately a 1:16 or 6.25%. Now before I go on, I must describe that this is a steep gradient for railway, both full size and model. Due to the constraints of brief -  ie to manage to build a large 'compact' model railway it was an experiment that I have to try to see if it works. Normally on a layout you would take nothing more than a 1:25 or 4% gradient, so to achieve the 100mm rise I would need 2.5m of track and this at this current stage is just not feasible for what i want this to be. 

Once the gradient had been sorted it was time to start placing the track underlay down. Again through that wonderful entity that is eBay, i managed to come across some felt underlay for a very cheap price. Track underlay serves two purposes for a layout. 

Firstly it serves as a great insulator between the track and the base board, which creates a much quieter and smoother base for which the trains can run. The little electric engines in the locos can be quite loud and coupled with the vibration on an MDF or chipboard base board, this can become quite a noisy past-time! 

The second reason for using underlay is simply an aesthetic reason. The underlay provides the look of ballast (the rocks and stones between and around the tracks you see on railway lines) without actually having to use ballast. With my layout needing to fold vertically, the use of ballast is impractical as the second I turn the layout vertical the stones will obviously fly off into a great big pile of rock. The underlay solves this issue by giving the impression of this ballast without actually providing rocks.

Track underlay usually comes in either polyfoam felt (which i am using) or cork strips, which is easier to work with as you can pin the track down to it before you fix it - which allows you to test the track before nailing. Cork is unfortunately a fair bit more expensive than the polyfoam felt. 


Below are some photos of the felt underlay. When the underlay is down you can now start to see the track layout 

 

 

I thought I would include these below photos as promised in my last entry. The below photos show how the layout folds vertically for storage. The wheels on the base of the table tennis table also allow the layout to be rolled and moved around easily without the need to lift. 

Next one soon..........

Stage 1

I haven't posted for a while but thought as i'm getting through the construction - i'd start uploading the photos. These are from day one.

The very first step was to fix the board to the folding table tennis table (which incidentally worked extremely well to achieve exactly what I wanted to!!).

The table tennis table I had purchased was one of those 'olympic' ones that they sell at Rebel Sport for extraordinary amounts of money - ie $1000 upwards. I managed to purchase the table (and bats and balls for that matter) for just over $150 on that wonderful internet site that is eBay. The table is designed to be split into to halves and then can be folded vertically to slip into a small vertical space or placed conveniently up against the wall of a garage or rumpus room for storage.

It is the second reason in which I chose this method as the layout will fold up vertically, be no more than about 400mm in width and will easily fit up against a garage wall when not in use. To satisfy the wife, this had to happen!!

The base board for the layout was simply 3 sheets of 15mm MDF bolted using M10 bolts to the two table tennis table halves. For the fold to work it was imperative that both the table halves had to be aligned or fold the same way (not opposite like the table had been designed). Once this had been achieved it was simply a matter of attaching the MDF base board to the tables. The Photo below shows the bolts used to fix the MDF to the table tennis table. In future blogs I will show the fold and how the layout will be able to be stored easily away

Now the board was down it was time to create the track bases and the elevated rail sections. To keep the relative light weight of the layout for the folding mechanism, I used 19mm, 140mm wide model pine. This would provide the adequate strength I needed without the weight. I fixed these to the base board using a combination of nails and PVC glue or Aquadere! When dry this would provide a more than adequate fixing to the base board.

At this stage I had roughly drawn the track layout from the the plans that I had drawn up over the last week or so. (See below)

The Layout Plan had consisted of 5 tracks on an undulating layout that would encompass bridges, tunnels, towns, freight yard and a coal mine (my favourite). This vision hopefully will be realised as it is extremely difficult to see from the drawing! It will make more sense upon completion!!

The next step was to begin glueing down the bridging boards between the pine upstands. The bridging boards I used were 3mm mdf sheeting which I cut into the desired widths. The mdf was used as it would be strong and stable enough to bridge the spans of the pine without warping and also satisfy the lightweight requirement. I had purchased a HO scale water sheet off eBay which will eventally be treated with some clear putty, paint and nail polish to give it a very realistic water impression. At the moment it is just imperative to place the sheet down, so my bridge elements can be placed over the top. (See below)

With the correct radius for each of the corners the 3mm MDF was cut to size using my ban saw and fixed to the pine. The 3 tracks on the outside are approximately 100mm above the base board with the 2 main line tracks being only 30mm above the baseboard. This will create hopefully a killer landscape and allow the train to run through, over and under, the landscape that i'm aiming to create.

More to Come............

Great Scott!

No, this not an entry about Doc Brown or the Delorian from Back to the Future.... Sorry to disappoint!


This little 30cm x 7cm piece of Nickel and plastic has been my most treasured possession for the best part of 15 years. As I stare at her as I write this, such a small thing can evoke many a memory. 


I actually still remember when I brought her. I was 15 and had been saving my Christmas and birthday money and my allowance for ages. She still pretty much is the only thing I have ever saved up for in my life. Everything else I've ever owned was either given to me, brought outright or via a bank loan or credit card!!! 


I can remember finally saving enough money for the purchase price which was around $200. In 1995, that was steep! Dad took me to my favourite hobby shop - the Hobby Place on Lonsdale street in the city, which is still there today, but unfortunately they don't sell trains anymore, only slot cars and Taminya models. 


There was only 1 of her left and she was locked away in a glass case so people could look and stare, but not touch. She was in a carefully packaged red box with a perspex front with the famous Hornby logo in the bottom right hand corner. She was tucked away cosy in the box covered in the custom made polystyrene foam underlay. I remember having butterflies from the excitement and staring at her for the entire trip home in the car. 


My first layout was still a work in progress at this stage, but I had 2 working tracks. I had saved the outside for her - I always did - It was the longest track so in some way I thought I would get to see her whizz around for longer that way. 


She is nearly mesmerising when I see her flying around a track, hypnotic nearly. She was back then, and still is today. 


4 weeks ago I set up a temporary track in the garage of my parents place. Unlike my layout back when I was 15/16, she wasn't the first loco I put on the track this time. I think i've come to appreciate her more as i'm older. I wanted to make sure the track worked first, it was clean, no gaps and running perfectly. In fact this time she was the last engine I tried......  


If a fairly simple item meant that much to someone I'm guessing most people would leave it in the box, not open it, and put it on a shelf in a lounge room or dining room, that you only go into when it's time for Christmas lunch. I'm different. Model trains are made to run and run with rolling stock attached. Although I love the feeling of building the layout and the sense of accomplishment when it's done, the satisfaction I get from seeing the trains work their way around a track is the reason you build these things! You cannot get that same satisfaction from staring at them behind glass. 


As I sit here in front of the computer, she is no more than arms length away on my stereo, and quite dusty! It's weird I guess. I've just finished 2 hours of CAD work and every couple of minutes I find myself looking at her. I don't know why, I can't explain it. I think it's just my sub-concience. I want to see her run on a track, not sitting here, still, staring back at me!!! 


She is and will always be one of my most treasured possessions, my Flying Scotsman....

First Entry

This blog... Well, I've set it up to basically document the design and construction of my HO Scale model railway. 


I'm doing this, I guess, first and foremost, so I can look back at my own steps and maybe, if anyone ever reads this, help them through the trials and tribulations of building your own model railway.


Let me start by telling you a little about me and I guess why i'm doing this! 


I'm 30 years old, happily married and work as an architect. I love to travel, enjoy most sports, allot of socialising, catching up with friends and eating out. I basically love life! However, it has become apparent to me in the last couple of years that my down time has become limited, and my 'hobbies and extra-curricular' activities........... Well I now tick 'none' on my many profiles that you tend to fill out nowadays on social networking sites, competition entry forms, surveys etc. I figure now is the time I need something to take my mind off work as well as the fast paced life that my wife and I lead. 


So, i've decided to rekindle an old love of mine!


My love of model railroading was pretty much hereditary! My father, my uncle and my grandfather have basically been into model railways since they were kids and I have been fiddling with train sets since I was born! My first train set, was given to me by my parents for Christmas, when I was 5. It was a little Hornby circular freight set, comprising of a little 4 wheeled (0-4-0) GWR green steam loco and 4 freight carriages. All of which I still have. The engine however no longer runs, with the little electric motor having burnt out years ago. So now I usually couple her with another steam engine to pull her around. 


Throughout my life, I have inherited a number of other sets from my grand father, my father and just recently from the sad departure of my great uncle-in-law (who had an extremely impressive layout himself - Of which I'll include some photos in this blog also). His love of trains surpassed anyone I have ever met. He was a wonderful, knowledgeable man, who I attribute to rekindling my passion of model railroading, after going through my 'ratbag late teens and early twenties.' I'd like to think that this layout i'm about to build has spawned from his and in a way I hope a little tribute to him also. 


In total my collection consists of around 20 locomotives and countless rolling stock which vary from passenger to freight and everything in between. My pride and joy out of my whole collection is my Hornby 4-6-2 LNER Flying Scotsman Loco. I have had this loco since I was 15 and saved up for it for 2 years. The Flying Scotsman has long been my favourite loco since I saw it in the flesh in Adelaide when it was on a tour of Australia back in the late 80's. I must have been about 8 or 9! It is such a majestic feat of engineering and as most know held the world steam speed record for a number of years until the Mallard (Another beautiful loco) took the record off the Scotsman in 1935. 


With the rest of the layout in boxes after our move of house (Which I'll explain later), my model Scotsman has always taken pride of place in my bedroom, study, living room or dining room and it is truly one of my most treasured possessions. It is a loco which is widely available in the UK, but very difficult to get in Australia. 


Since I moved out of home with my now beautiful wife about 4 and a half years ago it has been extremely hard to do anything with my train set. 


My parents, my sister and I moved to Melbourne from Adelaide in 1992 and I was 11.  We had a large triple storey house in the outer Melbourne suburb of Eltham with a large cellar underneath it. As my parents did not drink or store wine for that matter, the cellar became a workshop/storage area for the family. It also allowed me to build my first permanent layout. It wasn't large only 7ft x 4ft and started with 2 tracks in an oval layout. 


It was my first attempt at building a layout and I was 13, I think from memory. It was my first paper mache attempt, my first 12v wiring attempt and basically my first model making attempt. As you can imagine the layout was... Well it was done by a 13 year old. Although looking back on it, I am fairly proud of the achievement as I kept working on it for about 2 years on and off, added a third track, more landscaping, roads, a town, tunnels and bridges. By the time I was 16 it looked pretty impressive. 


Although, when we moved house, when I was about 20, the sad reality came that the layout could not survive the move as the house was considerably smaller and with no shed or under house area there was no where to store it and it was eventually smashed up and taken to the tip with the set put away in boxes. At the time, from memory, I was pretty heart broken and I look back now regretting not having taken any photos of it!!! 


Anyway 10 years on My parents are still in that same house and my wife and I are in a considerably smaller single fronted 2 bedroom with no shed or backyard. However, we are currently in the process of building a 3 storey townhouse with garage and storage in North Melbourne so, time to get my trains running around on my tracks again!


The proposal is simple - Build a medium to large sized model railroad layout with landscaping, in the double garage of my parent's place, which can be folded up to allow cars to be parked beside it. Then eventually the whole layout can be moved to our new place in North Melbourne for my continued enjoyment!! 


In my travels and extensive searches on the net over the last few months, I can't see this has been done anywhere before, so for those of you interested - here we go!!!!!!


Cheers


Matt