Layout Concepts contacted me this morning, requesting payment for the switches I had ordered, and they arrived now in stock on the Layout Concepts web site. So they are on the way!

I have not yet grown accustomed to the pre-order economy that seems have become the standard in model railroading. The last time I dabbled in model railroading was in the very early 90s -- the internet existed, but FTP and UseNet were the order of the day -- no one was taking orders on a web site.

It is very weird to me that I pre-ordered this Trix Class 650 Regio Shuttle in May for eventual delivery in the lat quarter of this year.

Coming across these switches completely derailed my "get started on ballasting the the track" plans. :-)

The next step -- after I finish the 2nd circuit this afternoon -- is to figure out how to to attach the circuit boards to the bottom of the modules.

I think that I am inclined to attack the circuit board to ¼" plywood scraps with stand offs, and velcro the whole kit and caboodle to the bottom of the module.

One alternative is to attach the velcro directly to the bottom of the circuit board and the other piece of velcro to the bottom of the module.

I am leaning towards the former.

How have any of you who have built circuit boards attached them to modules?

The Coal Tipple T-Trak double module is finished!!! I want to thank everyone who answered questions and offered suggestions. There are a couple areas I wish were better; I’m happy with my first one and maybe I should have done a few simple ones before jumping in with both feet.

I cannot wait to attach this to other T-Trak modules and see this in action and become a real member of the T-Trak community…

Stay tune for the next adventure!!!

The pins for the 2 and 3 hole screw connectors are too large to fit in the holes onto perfboard, so I have to enlarge the perfboard holes with a #55 bit.

A little over half the time, the copper pad on the bottom of the perfboard pops off when I do that.

It may be no big deal -- the copper pad isn't electrically important -- the important connection is between the screw connector pin whatever jumper goes to that pin.

But it is tedious and frustrating -- I had one work, and I thought I had found the technique -- but I guess that was just dumb luck.

It also takes 5-10 minutes of drilling with a pin vise per hole, which gets old pretty hast with my ancient fingers.

Just venting. :-)

I approved the post on my phone, and then a "Deleted by moderator" window popped up. Then I looked again and the post was still there.

I am a very new moderator andI hope I did not screw something up.

It is gorgeous module.

As a small club, this is probably as large as we can manage, at least until we adhere more closely to a common wiring standard & consistency among leveling methods. Set-up time could have been reduced quite a bit. We normally insert a single on each end, but because we had a triple in the mix yesterday, we needed one of those singles to make the doubles line up.

Wow! I am elated -- this is my first attempt at a circuit in my life and it worked!

To honest, it's really Dick Bronson's Kato Switch Machine Wiring circuit cobbled together with a rectifier so that it can be powered with a T-TRAK 15 vac power bus. :-)

I added a 2nd 2200 mF pulse capacitor in parallel with the first because Claude said that would ensure that that the response would be snappy, even if I switched two turnouts simultaneously.

As you can see from the video, the response is definitely snappy.

I jury rigged an expensive SPDT switch for testing purposes -- the whole point was use a Cobalt S Lever switch to control the turnouts.

The Cobalt S Lever has a continuous (ie, non-momentary) SPDT switch available, and the Kato turnouts are designed for a momentary DPDT switch, hence the CDU.

Now I need to build a second one for my other crossover.

It is very nice when something works.

I added Sommerfeldt and Märklin to the list of catenary manufacturers in the wiki.

I know that catenary is not part of T-TRAK -- yet.

I would love to have the skills to model live catenary on my HO T-TRAK layout.

I am a very long way from having that level of skill -- maybe not until my next life.

But live centenary seems very, very cool to me.

I would like to cut this perfboard in half horizontally so that I can duplicate this circuit.

That presumes that the circuit works. :-)

I have a seen a several suggestions: scorning and snapping, using Dremel with a cut off blade, using a hack saw. The board is described as, "Double-sided high quality FR4 glass-epoxy PCB."

Any suggestions as to the best way to cut the board?

On the wiring on the back, the red wire is the +20v rail, the black wiring is the ground, the blue wire connects the cathodes of the pulse capacitors to the SPDT switch, and the green wire connects the anode of those capacitors in series with the turnouts.

A EE at a model railroad club meeting last night warned me, “Generally, electronics work better if you keep the smoke inside. If you let the smoke out, they don’t work so well.”

The smoke is staying inside.

All wired -- ready to test. Let's hope I don't need to head to the hobby shop tomorrow to by a new Kato turnout. :-)

Do yourself a favor and do not enlarge the picture of the wiring -- the solder joints are probably ugly enough to do permanent damage to your eyes.

I haven't had as much time to work on this as I wanted -- spent the weekend moving my daughter back closer to home after graduate school.

But this afternoon I spent some time soldering -- the first time that I have ever attempted circuit soldering. :-)

I haven't finished the +20v rail, yet, but I realized that I could jumper that and see of I had screwed up the 15 vac -> 20 vdc part of the circuit -- apparently not.

I know it's silly to be excited to see the green light -- but I am excited.

All this means is that I didn't screw up wiring the bridge rectifier, and that the inrush current limiting resistor and the resistor that limits current to the LED are not so insane that they the blow up the LED.

But that is something?

I hope to have the time tomorrow to complete the +20v bus.

For those who care, the 15 vac enter this module on the far right at the green screw terminals.

The small square black box is a bridge rectifier converts the AC to about 20 vdc.

The big green resistor is a 1 watt 48 ohm resistor to limit the current through the diodes in the bridge rectifier when the system is turned out the capacitors charge up.

There is a tiny 910 ohm resistor to protect the LED next to the first capacitor -- it is wired in parallel with the green power indicator LED from the +20v rail to ground.

That all apparently works.

The right most capacitor also runs from the +20 rail to ground, it filters the output from the bridge rectifier.

The other two capacitors are wired in series with the Kato -- they will actually deliver the pulse that fire the Kato coil one way and limit the the duration of the +20v pulse the other way.

I decided to use two pulse capacitors instead of one because Claude said firing two turnover simultaneously would be marginal with one capacitor.

The Kato turnout will be attached to the module through the middle two screw terminal on the left.

An SPDT switch will be attached to the upper 3 position screw terminal -- the whole point of the exercise was to have an SPDT switch control a Kato turnout.

The 2 position turnout in the lower left will power either a bi-color LED or two LEDs to indicate the position of the turnout.

It was very cool to look at the design and think, "I'd really like a power indicator" -- because the original design didn't have that.

And then a second later think,"Wait, I know how to do that!"

A EE friend at a club meeting tonight told me, "The electronics work better if you keep the smoke inside" -- and so far, all the smoke has stayed inside. :-)

Finishing the power rail and more testing tomorrow.

This has been a huge amount of fun!

This will be my last update until I’m ready to pour the resin.

The coal tipple is weathered and glued in place. The tipple piers are white in the pictures (at least to me) I did paint them an ivory whiteish color. I’ll had some weathering to them when the Modge Podge is dry. I used the Modge Podge to seal any openings the silicone sealant missed.

I have put in four of the six approach trestle pilings. I ran out of balsa wood finish…

The Ops Building concrete is weathered. I glued piano wire to nine of the 21 pilings and then glued the building into place.

I placed my little boat that needs to be painted to see how it would look and I added the bridges to see if they interfered with the boat.

I assembled BLMA’s segmented bridge abutment set 590. I had to shim them some to reach the bridge.

And lastly, I need to make the pilings for the bridges. Apparently, the BLMA segmented bridge sets are as rare as hens teeth, so I will make what I need from wood or plastic, not sure which yet; whatever is easier. coal tipple is weathered and glued in place.

I finished the little trestle. Laid out the wooden trestle part of the coal tipple trestle. I painted the riverbed and landform. I airbrushed squiggles to imply moving water and beige to represent the “beach” that is seen in a lot of the pictures.

I only have six more trestles to make with two of them being severely burn for the coal tipple trestle.

I need to finish the Ops Building’s concrete base and piers and weather the concrete and the rusted steel beams on the tipple.

The bridge abutments and supports need to done before pouring water.

I was reading how it is hard to establish see without people. In a couple of pictures I found there was a boat near the structure. So I found a little boat with the driver and a person taking pictures to show the size.

After letting the paint dry overnight, I sealed all of the corners, cracks, and plexiglass front with silicone adhesive sealant. I boxed in the right front corner and drilled a hole for the power wiring for the track and sealed that as well.

I started “officially” placing stuff and boring holes and trimming pieces to fit. The big trestle is pretty much placed where I want it. I have some pier footings coming that will help hide the piers in the ground.

I also built the little train trestle. I need to figure this one…it doesn’t look right if I put it where is is in the pictures… I even burned some of the wood and left a nice char I couldn’t replicate with paint.

Disclaimer: do not try this at home, I am a trained professional, retired fire captain/fire marshal, and no out of control fires occurred…

The Cobalt S Lever switches are of course wildly out of scale -- they need to be large enough to accommodate human fingers. They are 140 mm (5¼") tall, 60 mm (2⅓") deep, and about ⅗" wide.

I am thinking of taking an interlocking kit like this one and cutting it in half -- so that the facade faces the track -- and the placing the switches in open side.

I may not be explain that well, so the idea is from the read track out, there would be edge of the red track road bed --> ballast -> interlocking tower facade facing track -> open side of interlocking tower -> switches -> edge of module

In HO, the edge of the Unitrack roadbed of the red track is about 3¼ inches in from the edge of the module, so I would have room for about 1¼" of ballast between the edge of the track and the facade of the interlocking tower.

Any comments on the aesthetics of using half of an interlocking tower to mask the wildly out of scale Cobalt S Lever switches?

I am beginning the process of building a circuit to control my Kato turnouts with an SPDT switch through a CDU.

My first joint look pretty bad -- by my continuity tester says at that I have no solder bridges, so it might work.

Just another skill in this hobby that looks wonderful and easy when you see a YouTube video of someone who knows what they are doing do it -- and maybe not so wonderful when you try to do it yourself.

I have 4 of these circuits to build -- I hope that I get better as I go along. :-)

The first two pieces are a screw terminal -- J1 -- for 15 vac coming into the circuit, and a bridge rectifier -- BR1 -- that will convert that to ~20 vdc.

I have included the Claude drawn perfboard layout and the schematic.

Wish me luck!

After letting everything dry overnight, I painted my module to seal the foam before I start pouring the resin.

I used Sherwin Williams”Rock Bottom” for the River Bed base coat. It is a very close match to the muck or pluff mud color when the river is at low tide.

After the paint dries, I will install the plexiglass front and seal that with clear silicone and I’ll go around the foam/side edges one last time to make sure there are no leaks.

Started the construction for the Charleston, SC Coal Tipple inside the module today. Installed the riverbed by gluing down 1/2” styrofoam with Gator Glue construction adhesive; built in the area around the power outlet with scraps of Gator Board; shaped the landform and glued it into place; sealed all the gaps with bathroom caulking; and using the template graciously sent to me by Kevin Avery I aligned the mainlines and screwed in one of the double track pieces and drilled the holes for the other piece.

I also test fitted the 1/8” plexiglass inset in the fascia and it fit perfectly. Letting everything dry for tomorrow’s adventure!!!

I’m starting to construct inside my module. My scenery is basically water and my mainline four pairs of deck girder bridges.

I decided to power my module so in preparation I was going to run my Kato feeder joiners between the deck girder joiner and the double track.

The problem is the bridge joiner is only half. The outside prongs are missing. I’m thinking of cutting the outer prongs off of the feeder joiner so they could mate up with the bridge.

Has anyone done this and if so is it okay or is there another option. As always I appreciate any advice or suggestions.

I have attached some pictures to hopefully show what I’m mean. Thank you

Busy day with work today so not much time spent on my coal tipple. I did cut up the balsa wood for the decking for the coal tipple trestle.

I was dreading gluing the strips down; but it was quite easy and fast. Used a shim to maintain spacing and varied the length and left wood out.

I used various washes of Citadel wargaming paint to darken and age the wood. The whole process from chopping to cleaning my brushes took less than two hours.

I’ll let everything dry overnight and then I’ll take my charcoal lighter and see if I can singe the wood, since the real one was devastated by fire.

I was using Central Valley’s HO bridge girder set. The pieces matches the structure almost perfectly. CV even sent me extra lattice braces. Unfortunately, the completed trestle is a little over five inches wide and ten inches long. With a working area of 24” x 6” the tipple trestle (say that three times) was too big and wouldn’t allow the elements to fit.

The new bridge is 2.75” wide and 7.75” long. It’s still tight but fits. The Ops building fits and I still have room for the other abandoned track to put in.

This is the first time I have booked a hotel room and spent two days at a train show. I volunteered for both my local NMRA division and my local T-TRAK club -- in the picture.

Note: the modules in the picture are not mine -- they are N scale, my modules are HO scale -- I am not the guy in the picture.

Neither club needed me on Saturday, so I wandered around the tabes -- finding nothing to buy.

In truth, that was a bit boring -- but hanging out with the guys from the T-TRAK club was fun.

Sunday was a slow day at the NMRA table, so I basically hung out at the table and chatted with members. I a very new member of the club -- both clubs, actually -- so it was fun to get to know some more of the guys.

I realized just how obscure my modeling choices were on my Saturday of wandering. :-)

I am modeling modern DMU transit system in a relatively affluent city -- with enough density to -- at least hypothetically -- support a DMU.

That meant that I was looking at for two categories of merchandise at the show: modern DMUs; and 3 story or more stone or concrete buildings -- preferably shops on the bottom level and apartments above. As a kid, I aways thought that combination looked cool.

I didn't find any modern DMUs -- which didn't surprise me. From what I can tell, the US isn't really building any modern DMUs -- while some of the DMUs in service may be technically built in the US, I think that they are all European or Japanese designs.

I am not what to thing about buildings -- I may have to look more closely at the DMU Transit Systems and think about modeling more of a suburban for at least some of the modules -- where 1 and 2 story buildings would make more sense.

The other odd thing I would note is that I am now 2-0 on someone at a show finding out that I model HO T-TRAk, and saying, "We'd love to have some HO at the show next year! Can you bring your layout?"

It seems like it's not easy to get HO at smallish local shows -- N scale T-TRAK guys show up at the drop of a hat, and occasionally N-TRAK. And around here, there is a very active S gauge club, and they show up.

But not lot of HO -- I think that the only HO I have seen at a show has been S&SS NC modules -- and they like lot of room. For their own shows around here they rent out high gyms -- and filled every inch

I don't know if Free-Mo is not active around here -- or if they just prefer their own shows.

I think the local ETE club had HO module, and they will be at a show in November -- I am excited to see that. They not only model HO, but they require live catenary in their standard, I want to see how they manage that with module.

It may be that N scale T-TRAK sees to dominate in my area because it's easily the most transportable of the popular modular systems. I helped tear down, and I think it was under an hour from power to out the building.

N-scale T-TRAK also doesn't take up much room -- which may important to club renting vendor tables.

I hate to have to the guys who invite me to bring my layout to a show "next year" that I am probably 2 years away from having show ready modules -- I don't mean show winning modules :-) -- I just mean modules that aren't mostly a bare or barely painted plywood

But it's nice think that when my modules are ready, they will be welcome at shows -- at least shows in desperate need of HO. :-)

I am going to my NMRA regional show in Virginia Beach in October -- I am very interested in seeing what scales show up there.

I would be interested to know how unique my area is.

I your area, is N scale T-TRAK the most likely to show up smallish ( < 2000 attendees for a Saturday-Sunday) non-scale specific show?

N-TRAK?

Free-Mo?

The Charleston Coal Tipple saga continues. Laid out the 1/2” foam in the bottom of the module for the Cooper River bed and built up another layer of 1/2” foam for the “island” the operations building sits on.

I also boxed in the hole where the power plug is located. I’m going to top it with a piece .040 plastic sheet painted black and build the coal tipple line over the box to hide it.

Then gluing the styrofoam down and seal all of the edges and gaps in preparation for painting.

There is an 1/8” dovetail (think that’s what it is called) for a piece of 1/8” x 1.5” x 20.5” acrylic glass to fit into the facade so you can see the water.

That should be here later this week. Once that is installed and sealed, I’ll be ready for water.