This is my first Z scale layout. I would appreciate any input you guys have to offer. I am modeling the West Virginia and southern Ohio regions of the n&w and b&o railroad. There will be mountains, tunnels, a train yard with roundhouse and turntable, a coal mine, a small town and of course the ohio river i have a YouTube video of the first trial run. [video=youtube_share;F2f5ueGEUS0]http://youtu.be/F2f5ueGEUS0[/video]
Thanks everyone. I've done a little more to the layout. I'm trying to decide how I want to finish the upper section. I want to be able to move the set so I can take it to the train show.
Here us an update and final outer loop design. [video=youtube_share;fpSk4mA0CdM]http://youtu.be/fpSk4mA0CdM[/video]
Over all, it looks pretty good. But I would slow that train down a bit. It looks like its on steroids! LOL
Yes. I have the mountain made so the track isn't covered in the back. It isn't visible because I have a piece of Masonite as a back drop so if I ever need to get in there it's as simple as a couple screws.
Yes, they haven't arrived from Anthony yet. There will be several total going to the mine, train yard and a siding on the upper section.
Sounds like you have a power pack that is not designed for Z scale locos. Make sure you don't apply more power than about 9 volts to the locos or you will burn them out.
Thanks. I wasn't aware of that! I did some research and ordered a mrc voltage reducer. That should make for safe operation. I use a mrc tech 2 transformer. Do you think 1 reducer is enough? It drops it by 4 volts.
I dug out my old mrc tech 2 that has a variable throttle. Starts at 0 and goes to 14vdc. I put a multimeter on the it and measured up to 10 volts. The train runs much slower and looks 10x better going around the track.
It still could fry your locomotives, because of the low frequency pulse, that works with larger scales, but kills Z-scale motors, especially coreless types. There are Z friendly controllers with high frequency pulses, similar to DCC.