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Track location vs Scenery vs Buildings - a Layout Design Question

Mon, 2012-02-06 08:45 — Highlandsoft

This question is about a design aspect I haven’t seen discussed much.

Question: to how much detail did you plan the location of scenic features (ie, rivers, canyons, etc) and structure placement before starting to cut roadbed for a mainline?

PECO curved Code 83 turnout spring

Sun, 2012-02-05 16:24 — johndrgw

I have several PECO code 83 turnouts, mostly the curved ones that are DCC friendly. These turnouts have a spring in the throwbar which keeps the points in place whichever way the turnout was last thrown. I plan to use Tortoise turnout motors. Should I remove the throwbar spring or is the Tortoise motor strong enough at 12 V to override the spring?

John

2 comments

Soldering Problem

Fri, 2012-02-03 12:02 — stevestab

Has anyone experienced this problem when soldering: The solder is not flowing onto the rail. It just seems to "ball up" as soon as it heats up. I'm using a dab of flux on the side of the rail, but the solder will not flow. In fact, the solder will not stick to the tip of the soldering iron either. The solder is rosin core and I used it successfully the other day with no problems at all. Help please!!

19 comments

Turnouts on Gradients

Mon, 2012-01-30 07:52 — Old Goat

Hi,

Can someone please explain why turnouts should not be install at an angle with the gradient? Do they always have to be level?

My proposed layout has a 1.8% gradient on the left hand side from the sweep around the back of the Engine House up past the platform and on to the cross-over bridge at top. There are five turnouts in this section. If it were feasible to include the turnouts in-line with the gradient I could reduce that climb to about 1%.

Gauntlet Track Help

Mon, 2012-01-30 07:21 — CN6401

I am curious about the use of and the application of a Gauntlet Track in my layout.

Has anyone installed on of these Gauntlet systems on there layout?

I'm looking for helpful hints on how to make a Gauntlet Track on my layout.

This would be a good How To for the magazine.

Ralph

4 comments

Digital switch control without DCC

Mon, 2012-01-30 04:42 — Charipio

Colleagues,

For my layout (swiss style), I'm looking for a system allowing to control all swiches, signals, etc, by PC. I know that it's possible by using any digital system (DCC or similar), but I don't want to install DCC on my layout, as:

- The central units are very expensive

- I have a very extensive engine collection, and I would not like to have to install a decoder in about 450 engines

Making Curved Crossovers

Sun, 2012-01-29 13:49 — proto87stores

Following on from the "22 stories up" topic, I thought I'd break out the curved crossover issue, using curvable turnout bases, so we could expand on it a bit. It's definitely a complex piece of trackwork that needs a certain amount of planning ahead and really detailed "drawing out" on the roadbed, to make flow right. But I'm believe I can develop a simple method here that anyone can use to get good results first time.

Up the Creek - Peninsula pt 2, Finishing the Helix

Rail Colour (color)

Sat, 2012-01-28 11:58 — mikeruby

I've watched many videos and it looks like modern mainline rail is a grey colour, is this because of the type of steel? Other rail is brown, rust colour.

My question is are mainlines grey and older track brown?

Mike Ruby

2 comments

Reversing section help

Thu, 2012-01-26 13:53 — stevestab

Can someone please clear up the confusion I have regarding length of a reversing section? Some have said it should be at least as long as the longest train. Others have said it only has to be as long as the length of locos/cars with power pickup. Does it have to be the full length of the train if metal wheels are used on all the cars? Getting ready to design and lay the track in this section. Thanks.

8 comments

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