Tree and house scene looks great. Oxford diecast makes the flying car from Harry Potter. If you could find one, it would look perfect in that tree.
LOL, maybe but not this time! I have plans in the works for an out of scale but fun holiday module that will prolly make an appearance next season. My kids are on board with it, my wife gave me the idea as she is a HUGE fan of this movie, and since it is a usual favorite from this time of year I figured why not have some fun! More on that later.
So I randomly glued my pumpkins to the dirt patch on my module. I have them and the vine just laying all over the place as they wouldn’t be growing in rows if they are not attended to. I will get pics later I don’t feel like getting up right now.
Arch is roughly 1:630. I had the buildings printed at 1:900 (cost me only $15.. ). I’ve asked the 3D guy if he can print them again for me at 1:630 ratio
With the arch that big, and the buildings small like that, if you were to put it on a deep module in the back, it would really show forced perspective and look good. That's kinda the same philosophy I took with my containership module.
OK so this morning I ordered 3 more modules (like I need more of them) so I will be making my home layout out of these modules and now I will have enough for a whole loop to include my Rte 66 inspired modules. I wanted more than trains just going around in circles but in reality I don't have any room for anything else. The new modules are 2 front to back doubles and another single. The singles are not going to be displayed on the home layout as they are a seasonal thing, where everything else is year round.
Nice! I’m envious. I still need to get a couple triples, a couple doubles, and some wide radius end caps so I can at least have a loop... hopefully by having an 8 equivalent per side it will be big enough to not have the Daylight chasing it’s own tail!
OK I bought a 96" table and I set up as many of my modules as I could... basically all but 1. My wiring harness worked flawlessly and I have had the trains running all day with no derailments or disconnects. Watch now that I said that something will derail! The only module with finished scenery is the haunted house, and the rest are either not touched or a work in progress. Here is a quick video of the modules and some trains running. Hope you all enjoy!
Forgive the question, but I haven’t been able to find documentation to confirm, just videos that seem to imply, inner loop is anticlockwise, while outer is clockwise... normally, correct? Like US auto traffic? also here’s a pic of the progress on San Medina.
You got the US auto traffic right but the other loop is anti-clockwise for that to be true. <------ inside loop ------> outside loop BUT(!) it's whatever direction you want as long as they are opposite. N-Trak typically runs them like the "picture" I drew above. We call that "right hand running". If you are facing a module, stick your right hand out and that's the direction of the outer loop.
I worded that poorly, or brain was on the goofy watch, but thanks for the clarification! Makes it easier to plan where things go when you know the normal traffic flow.
IN any of the clubs I have been a part of we have always ran the same direction on both loops at shows. This is to prevent collisions during switching moves from one loop to the other and also while switching industries, and prevents collisions from us operators trying to follow trains going opposite directions. My video showed the 2 trains going the same direction because I was only running a single power pack. Due to the double slip I had to wire my modules in a BWBW configuration, or there would be a short any time a train moves from the inner to outer loops. This then means that if I use a loopback module then I would have to put an AR1 or the like in the loopback to prevent issues.
A fouled switch will cause a collision no matter which directions the trains run. And in a show environment you have to watch out in BOTH directions as you can also get rear ended! I've run on so many layouts of other clubs' at shows and they all run opposite directions on twin track loops like N-Trak and T-Trak. The way it was explained to me is that it's more prototypical and spreads the trains out in a show environment especially if people run their trains at similar speed. What you don't want is two trains running side by side next to each on at similar speeds going in the same directions.
Well I have once again modified the trolley line. Now I’m going to need a DC autoreverser, but after Massey’s experience with the circuitron ar1 and its photo sensors, I’m looking at a board a guy in France makes that relies on reed switches instead. But that means I now need aux power. I have a rectifier so I can steal from track leads and was going to do so for illumination as well, but was considering also provisioning a 12v dc plug-in supply as well. there seems to be no standard I have found for aux power bus, so would a standard barrel connector jack on back of module be ok? Also trying to be good neighbor, looks like I would need to either space up the water tower or make it removable to accommodate folk running double stacks. Spigot is at 1.5” above rails. Brain storming here, Maybe turn it 30-45 degrees to clear track when/if running in a group? im going to put a master switch for it on the rear of module to cut the connection so it can be triggered by kids up front, but be “safed” against someone dropping it in front of or atop a moving train.
The Circuitron AR1 is not for changing track polarity over a switch for a loop, it is designed to automate a tran,train, or trolly on a line that goes from A to B and over and over again. I'm not sure if NCE has anything handy for an AR device but the Digitrax AR1 will not be happy in a DC environment. Personally I liked the double track on the trolley line. It said here is the feed for the street on the left and here is the feed for the street on the right. It would look kinda like many trolley lines did back in the 20's and 30's with cars going both directions down a city street. It would also solve the reversing loop problem. Oh and the tracks were laid right in the middle of the roads so it would work with your module having a street in the middle. Just my $.02