New to the scene
Hello everyone
I'm new to the Forum, although I have visited often and admired the astounding work of many members. I am working on a modest N-scale layout of 4.5' by 8' due to space constraints. I've also made it portable for possible eventual moves, and doing the early stages of scenery a the moment. I am following "Bauen wie Brandl" instructions which are fabulous. Being Swiss-Canadian, my rolling stock is SBB, of course.
I designed an analog remote control system a while back before DCC came on the scene, and it allows me to control 8 locomotives independently. Of course, no such niceties as sound and other features that DCC now embodies.
I also designed a magnetically activated barrier system that works well. Mechanical activation of N-scale barriers becomes pretty delicate. The barriers are each fitted with a small neodymium magnet in the counterweight, and underneath the track are two servos , each also fitted with a stronger neodymium magnet. When the servo rotates the magnet, it attracts or repels the small magnet in the barrier counterweight, thus opening or closing the barrier. I control the barrier and flashing signals with an Arduino Uno board with 3 infrared sensor inputs, in- and outbound some distance away from the barriers to lower them, and a barrier sensor to indicate when the train has passed. I chose optical sensing rather than magnetic because I don't have to fit each locomotive and rolling stock with a magnet. If anyone is interested in more details of this, I'd be happy to elaborate more.
Cheers everyone!
Comments
Hello to the Other Uli in the Forum!
Welcome to our group. The projects sound very interesting, and I would definitely like to hear and see more about them. 2.40m x 1.35m is quite a big size layout in N-scale. In my experience, anything bigger is hard to maintain and to keep clean!
Ulrich (Uli)
Thanks for the welcome, Ulrich! I've looked at your work in awe, the detail is breathtaking.
As soon as I figure out a way to post pictures efficiently, I'll do so. Any hints would be appreciated.
Uli
Dear Uli:
Thanks for your nice comments. I model mostly Deutsche Bundebahn, but have 5 Swiss locomotives that operate on my layout:
SBB Ae 3/6, SBB E 3/3, SBB Ae 6/6, BLS Ae 4/4 and BLS Ae 6/8. My Austrian 1189 class is very similar to the Swiss crocodiles.
Ulrich
Welcome Uli.
I model German, but also run SBB and ÖBB in cross-border operations.
I also model Swiss Rhätishe Bahn on a separate HOm line.
Viele späß!
Thank you Michael. The RhB on HOm is another one of my dreams, but first things first with my N-layout. I did sneak in an orange Austrian E94 into my collection of 10 SBB and BLS locomotives (no duplicates). Since my layout is alpine, it could be in Austria or Switzerland.
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The Spass always comes "gratis" with railway modelling
Uli
Uli,
A German or Austrian loco can run in Switzerland, the converse is slightly more different. All three countries use the same electric system (15 kV, 16 2/3 Hz - 17 Hz), but the zig-zag of the Swiss catenary is smaller than in Austria and Germany. This the pantographs of Swiss locos are narrower. On the other hand, German and Austrian catenary is functionally identical.
Ulrich
Thanks Ulrich. I knew that the power was the same, but didn't know the zig-zag geometry is different.
Here finally some pictures of my modest layout in progress. I hope it will entice some forum members to jump into the fray.
The initial track plan on a 8' x 4.5' table with folding legs for possible moving.
Track supports cut from 1/8" hardboard added. They are cut wide enough to accommodate catenaries later.
Grades in place. Supports are cut from the same styrofoam that will be used for scenery. The roadbeds are also cut from 1/8" hardboard, glued to the track supports. Inclines vary between 2% and 3% maximum. N-scale can handle somewhat steeper inclines than HO. I've had no problems with slippage.
Following "Bauen wie Brandl", the rough scenery is in place.
Scenery taking shape.
To be continued... Long winter days will help!
Uli
Uli:
Looks nice. Are you planning to run it using DCC?
Ulrich
Thanks Ulrich. As I say, it's modest but will keep me busy with scenery detail for a good while, aside from all the other hobbies
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No, I won't be using DCC this time around. As mentioned in the intro, I designed an analog control system before DCC came on the scene, and since I had already gone that route, I bought all new locs just in DC version. I can run 8 locs independently, so two of my assortment of 10 share a channel with another loc. They could run together, but not independently, of course. DCC is very nice with all the available features and a big temptation for sure, but as I had invested rather a lot of time designing and building my own system, and a bit of owner's pride on top of it too of course, I am sticking with analog for this project. The track is powered all the time with a square wave, similar to DCC, so the loc headlights are always full on, and passenger car lighting is also feasible. But that's where the many additional features of DCC end with my system.
Uli
Great looking layout. Very neat.
Thank you, Michael. I appreciate the comments from you and Ulrich all the more as you are both fantastic builders.
On another topic, I've read all the comments on Forum Issues and was a bit disappointed by the glum outlook of quite a few members about the forum's future. As I only joined recently, I don't know what the forum looked like before an apparent shutdown a while back. I think a lot of forum readers don't realize that ALL OF US are the forum, and we make it what it should be, but only if we contribute. I will write a short article in the Forum Issues to encourage other readers to contribute, however small. Perhaps there is a bit of false intimidation when looking at projects like yours and Ulrich's, and other's I might not have seen yet. Anyway, let's see whether a bit of encouragement livens up this forum once again.
Uli