N Scale T-Trak

billmtx Oct 28, 2010

  1. casmmr

    casmmr TrainBoard Member

    241
    60
    12
    Randgust, the back drop looks really nice, can not wait to see the completed modules (scene).

    On the update front, Central Ohio N-Trak purchased the TEE Layout modules by MasterPiece Modules, the 8 19R corner, 2 quad, 2 triple, 1 double and 2 single are assembled and waiting for the weather to get warm so that we can paint them outside my house. Scenery has been planned for the modules and hopefully the modules will be completed by Altoona, PA N-scale Weekend in August. I am hoping to have 4 of the corners completed by the 9th Ohio N-scale Weekend, May 19/20/21 of this year. later, Craig
     
  2. PMOC

    PMOC New Member

    5
    1
    2
    Looking good randgust!


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
     
  3. arbomambo

    arbomambo TrainBoard Member

    1,473
    713
    32
    a little montage of running on my latest T-TRAK module-"Arbo Canyon"



    ~Bruce
     
    SD35, JoeTodd, casmmr and 1 other person like this.
  4. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

    67,560
    22,735
    653
    Nice video. And great music!
     
  5. arbomambo

    arbomambo TrainBoard Member

    1,473
    713
    32
  6. casmmr

    casmmr TrainBoard Member

    241
    60
    12
    Some pictures of the Central Ohio N-Trak T-trak layout at the Buckeye Train Show this date:
     

    Attached Files:

    arbomambo, BoxcabE50 and Grantha like this.
  7. jwb3

    jwb3 TrainBoard Member

    153
    167
    12
    [​IMG]

    I'm still working on the idea of T-Trak for exclusively home layout use. I like a lot of things about it -- modules easy to remove from the layout, with the ability to work on the wiring from above, layout easy to relocate and easy to reconfigure. I see on the Central Ohio layout that DCC is in use, but this raises a bunch of questions -- whose DCC, and what do you do with members that don't use it? In addition, as has been covered here already, DCC really isn't compatible with the BWWB wiring standard.

    For home use, I'm using an NCE PowerCab with a BWBW wiring standard. All track segments on each module are interconnected via a terminal strip.

    [​IMG]
    I'm seeing more and more advantages to DCC. The DCC bus is the track. A terminal strip on each module allows stationary decoders to control switches with each module being self-contained. As shown here, I can hook an Atlas snap relay to a decoder to control signals connected to switches. I see now that NCE has an Illuminator decoder that allows the JustPlug lighting system to run from the DCC bus. This means that a lot of features can be run on different modules with no extra wiring.

    But each extra feature challenges the ability of group politics to standardize, for example on things like stationary decoder addresses.
     
    Rocket Jones and BoxcabE50 like this.
  8. casmmr

    casmmr TrainBoard Member

    241
    60
    12
    jwb3, on the show layouts of Central Ohio N-trak, the members determine whether or not DCC or DC will be on any given line. In the t-trak layout shown, both inner and outer tracks were DCC using a Kato 3 to 1 cord to wire both tracks to the power supply. The wiring is BWWB, no problem if you do not have cross overs between the inner and outer tracks. If you have cross overs, the BWWB wiring is a problem with either DCC or DC. The DCC is Digitrax Super Empire Builder we picked up recently on sale due to its replacement by a newer model. Just about everyone in our club has DCC engines and we discuss the DCC -vs- DC on the tracks before the shows. Our club t-trak layout can be either DCC or DC ( both power sources are there, just plug in what you want to run) while the club N layout is DCC only. Our N-trak layout usually operates with blue/blue option on DCC and red/yellow on DC unless DCC is requested by a member, we just throw a switch and now the red or yellow can be DCC. Again for easier wiring none of the 3 lines have crossovers, even in the yard. I have a t-trak home layout on 2 HCD and a part of a third, I cut 2' off an HCD to give me a little extra room. I will change the layout around whenever the mood strikes me. I believe that I have posted pics of my home layout earlier in this topic. I hope that this has answered your questions. later, Craig
     
    Grantha likes this.
  9. jwb3

    jwb3 TrainBoard Member

    153
    167
    12
    Another factor is the problem of "escaping the oval", which is a bigger issue with home layouts. In my case, I've used the space for an extra track at the edge of the T-Trak standard to create a mainline that can leave the oval configuration with a double crossover:
    [​IMG]
    The eventual configuration here will add a single module to the left of the double crossover that will have a righthand crossover on the inner two tracks to allow a train to move from any one track to any other though this control point. But as Craig said above, this would be problematic in a BWWB or club type setup.

    I'm also starting to add signals, for the time being controlled by Atlas snap relays controlled from DS52 decoders running in concert with the switches.
    [​IMG]

    For the time being, the signal LED power comes off the terminal strips connected to the track. Eventually I could add Logic Rail Technologies block animators to make the signals activate in sequence, but this would involve adding a separate filtered DC circuit. I don't want to add that complexity until things are farther along and the configuration is semi-permanent.
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2017
  10. randgust

    randgust TrainBoard Member

    3,493
    502
    56
    One of the things I did on my modules was to take all the track wiring for the mains down to screw terminal strips, and from there to the external power source plugs. It's pretty easy to flip a module over and rapidly change from BWWB to BWBW or whatever suits your fancy that way.

    I also have the complication that at least on the West Hickory module, the interchange track has to be run from the other layout or the inside main, so that track has a DPDT to change the input over to the third power source. I put the micro-DPDT's on the back so that it's pretty easy to change power inputs. I can also do the same trick with the inside main, so there are two DPDT's back there.

    I 'think' the 2016 Altoona show module was being run with DC on one track and DCC on the other, all I know is that it worked an my stuff didn't give anybody any headaches with the exception of the slight vertical dip at the 60-degree crossing that gave a BLI Baldwin Centipede a dead stall a couple times.
     
  11. randgust

    randgust TrainBoard Member

    3,493
    502
    56
    OK, so in the last month and a half I've actually roughed out three more T-trak modules. I figured out how to use the "West Hickory Bridge" in a regular T-track setup by developing two split modules that can take the inner main and put it on a single track module running behind the bridge module.

    [​IMG]

    So now I have two of these single-track modules - the single track West Hickory Bridge (which is triple length) and the other single track module that is behind it - which will basically be track on a hillside sloping into the 'river'. I can use the doubles with the original West Hickory modules on both ends, or use them to adapt the bridge to conventional T-trak.

    The double module shown below splits the inside main back to 1 1/2" away from the top edge. This one is called 'Trunkeyville' and that will be an oil loading spur that also plugs into the RH side of West Hickory to close the interchange track (3rd track). The cutout is for the creek that runs under a culvert under the tracks - this is modeling after an actual location.

    As long as I figured out a way so that both still fit in the 14" width, and 1 1/2" front offset, I can use them in a variety of ways, including off the front of the West Hickory module to get a 6' offset away from a T-trak setup.

    So I've been busy. This stuff should at least be operational for the Altoona show if still a long way from 'finished'.
     
    BoxcabE50 likes this.
  12. jwb3

    jwb3 TrainBoard Member

    153
    167
    12
    This is an interesting idea, but it raises another question for me. It looks like, if you are using it as an oil loading spur, you would be using it to run a unit oil tank train that would be switched on and off the main during operation of the modules during a meet. It seems like this would require some type of dispatcher to coordinate this during group operation. How does a T-Trak group coordinate this function?

    Beyond that, it seems like a dispatcher could also coordinate operation of switches on all modules if each module had DS52s or DS64s, and in fact they could even be ganged with signals. Is this too complex for a T-Trak group to do?
     
  13. randgust

    randgust TrainBoard Member

    3,493
    502
    56
    My T-trak modules have multiple personalities. This all started out as wanting to build the other end interchange of my prototype logging railroad at West Hickory, PA. It was finally a breakthrough when I discovered I could do it nicely on T-trak geometry where I couldn't fit in in N-trak (curve radii).

    So that operational module was at Altoona last year.

    But the real interchange crossed the two mains and launched out across an epic 640' four-span truss bridge across the Allegheny River that survived until 2007. On a model side, that lets me put my entire modular logging railroad on its own set of independent tables off of a T-trak layout. I went ahead and designed the "West Hickory Bridge" module, and decided to built it as T-trak compliant as I could - but it is still one track. Same height, half-width, triple length. Always wanted to build that anyway. Bridges now done, working on water.

    Which is great if there's room to put a branch line off a T-trak module. I was warned by Dave F. that it 'probably' wouldn't fit with the space constraints in Altoona this year but now I'd already built it.... so, now what? It's half-width, so maybe I could use it as a regular module if I put the other track in behind it.... no standards, so I'll invent my own. That is one sweet bridge no matter how it gets used and will be a crowd-pleaser.

    Well, the other problem on the West Hickory interchange module is that my PRR interchange siding (3rd track) doesn't connect. So I needed to build another module just to connect that in. Thought a single would do it, too short. Had to be a double. And there was a little town just upstream from West Hickory called "Trunkeyville" that had a sweetheart little flagstop station, and also happens to be the historic site of the rail loading dock for the worlds first oil pipeline in Pennsylvania and a huge oil tank beside the track. OK, so now I have an excuse for a siding as well as closing the third track to West Hickory. And that siding can work as a diverging main line, too. But this is 1920's, so the oil loading spur is rough wood round tanks - nothing like what it is done today. That spur will only hold about 4 of the Intermountain 10,000 gallon cars appropriate to the era when it is stand-alone.

    Now if I put the siding far enough back... I could also combine it with the bridge to tuck the second main behind it.... OK, I'm on to something... now I need a second triple single-track module behind the bridge. That's easy, this area had miles of single-track running up the river, AND I can 'end-to-end' that with the West Hickory Bridge module to get a SIX foot separation off of West Hickory for a potential logging setup. Wow, this is getting versatile.

    OK, now I'm up to four modules. Last one is 'closing the spread' which is essentially a mirror-image of Trunkeyville without the third track closing. And, as luck would have it, that was the actual track layout at West Hickory south of the tannery anyway. So now I have five T-trak modules that can be used together or separately, in regular T-trak layouts or used to bridge my Hickory Valley Railroad into T-trak. And I may have come up with a workable way to do single-track T-trak modules here in absence of any real standards - by developing a 'back to back' idea combined with these two split modules.

    I'll have these operational, if not sceniced, at Altoona in August. On regular T-trak, it's continuous running, not operations, and the only real challenge is to make your trackwork good enough not to cause a problem.

    I was astounded by the T-trak activity last year, and admit to having fun pushing the design envelope and still stay within prototype scene limits. Oh, and in my PRR 1920's world, this was all timetable and train order country, no signals. I've seen some interesting signals on the Ntrak guys, but nothing on the T-trak world, at least not yet.
     
    Last edited: Jun 2, 2017
  14. fifer

    fifer TrainBoard Supporter Advertiser

    3,016
    316
    53
    Those look great Randy.
    Mike
     
  15. spyder62

    spyder62 TrainBoard Member

    425
    211
    23
    Randy are you going to be at the N scale convention in a few week?
    rich
    www.rslaserkits.com
     
  16. gatrhumpy

    gatrhumpy TrainBoard Member

    735
    131
    20
    I will be!
     
  17. fifer

    fifer TrainBoard Supporter Advertiser

    3,016
    316
    53
    Rich Gatr and Randy. Robin and I will be there.
    Mike & Robin
     
    gatrhumpy likes this.
  18. MK

    MK TrainBoard Member

    3,496
    4,798
    82
    Wow! I'm going to finally meet the great Randy at Altoona in August. My first time at Altoona. My hotel has been reserved for that weekend!
     
  19. gatrhumpy

    gatrhumpy TrainBoard Member

    735
    131
    20
    Mike, you and Robin are minor celebrities there! I look forward to seeing you there!
     
  20. fifer

    fifer TrainBoard Supporter Advertiser

    3,016
    316
    53
    Thanks , We hope so.
    Mike
     

Share This Page