If there is a solution to the sudden scenery breaks, between various modules, I would be curious to learn more. In a single club setting, I can see where that could be minimized. But when you get a bunch of loose-knit folks together, that is a really tough one.
The scenery break can be dealt with by knowing before hand what modules are coming. For my club's Ohio N-scale Weekend, we have one person, Thom, who puts together the plan based upon pictures and descriptions of the modules. There is always a break, but, the impact can be minimized by good planning. One way to help is to not have roads go off the sides of the modules. I think that the toughest break to cancel is the road ending at another module. If the road runs from front to back, no problem. Also, be flexible when setting up, do not hesitate to move modules as needed to cancel the breaks as much as possible. Place all modules in place and move as necessary before leveling and joining the modules. I hope that this helps some. later, Craig
Below are several pictures of the t-trak layout at the Central Ohio N-trak's club location. I hope that you enjoy looking at the layout. The curves are 15" and 13 3/4" radius.
I really don't enjoy working on these 'en masse', but, as I said, the local show is approaching and I'd like to have most of the scenery on...most have these WILL have similar scenery, so I guess working on them like this guarantees some continuity... I've sanded the spackle shoulders everywhere, painted the chipboard broad, and the rest of the module surface my generic 'earth' color (matte interior latex paint, mixed at Home Depot from a Pollyscale color[I dilute it with water 50%. so it goes a long way)...I'll stripe the roads, then I can start adding ground cover-gravel shoulders and parking areas first.... BTW, the modules here are not necessarily connected, here, in the order they may be in a setup...I do want to stripe the roads as evenly as possible so the common features will line up as well as they can, no matter where they may end up relative to each other... Bruce
??? the previous page has a few pics of the bridge module...simple T-Kits single with the top are jigsawed out and dropped. Bruce
The museum wanted to hold another two sessions of Rail Camp in July. As I was going to be out of town most of the month I recruited some folks to take over in my absence. I even got Terry "T-Kits" Nathan to come down for a week and help run a camp. He had a blast. Here is a shot from the last camp that I ran in June .
This is why I don't worry over the future of our hobby. The interest instilled will surely carry forward in many of these kids coming years.
Russell, love the 'rail camp'!!!! right now, seeing the 'plywood plains' state of the next 13-15 ' of modules, reminds me that the first 7' of 'Mother Road' modules started out the same way, this time last year... so, I took a moment to go back and 'railfan' the existing 7' of SWARMTrak T-Trak modules for just a little inspiration and motivation...
Today, Saturday, July 25, the Tri-Village Lions Club held their annual pancake breakfast. Central Ohio N-trak was invited for the 3rd year to display a model railroad, an N scale t-trak layout. In exchange, the 4 of us were given a free pancake breakfast, cannot be better than pancakes, sausage and eggs and running trains. Below are pictures of the layout, enjoy.
Love those Fall colors. The easy, sweeping curves which takes those two tracks away from the front edge is nicely done.
Hello Bruce I like this nice layout. I'm just planning a layout in the way of yours. Could you explain me how you build your streets and what materials you use? Thanks Christian
Looks like you have a fairly standardized process for constructing those modules, and they come out looking very neat. Do you have plans that you follow? Are they kits? Inquiring minds want to know...
we've built a few of them from scratch...but, now, I've relied on constructing them from Terry Nathan's excellent T-Kits...makes things so much simpler and allows me/us to get going on track, scenery, and everything else... Bruce
@Bruce Looks like the tracks are directly screwed onto the module, without any noise-insulating measures. If so, would you recommend this for other layouts?
these are T-Trak standard modules, so they must comply with the Kato Unitrack standard (that being Kato Unitrack at the end of each module, at a minimum...Kato Unitrack is preferred throughout)...so the track is screwed directly to the plywood, or foam top... however, on modules that use flextrack between the sides/ends, I definitely lay it on cork roadbed, except to depict siding or industrial trackage... The Unitrack on plywood is not noisy at all... Bruce
I also screw the unitrack to the plywood top and do not notice any excessive noise from the train/track.