Now that the move is complete, time to start working with trains again. Today is paint day and I will be painting the T-TRAK-Z modules. I will start with the 245/270mm corners and then do the quintuplet modules. Feels great to return to modeling again.
It's raining here today, but the people I hired to haul off all the debris from my yard are actually at it in the rain this morning. They want to get paid so they can feed their family, so are working in the rain today and tomorrow. What we had is an outbreak of Bronchitis type cold, with a bad cough go around this winter. I am recovering from it, but the doctor said I will have the cough for about 6 weeks. No Coronavirus cases in our state yet, but I heard all the toilet paper is sold out at Walmart and Winco. I went to Lowes and bought 4 Blueberry bushes yesterday, and the place was bumpin'. Our state issued warnings to avoid big crowds and bump elbows instead of shaking hands. Nobody seemed to be hunkering down. I also bought a 2' tall ceramic vase planter from someone on Craigslist for $20, where it should have sold for $120 used, because it is an expensive, heavy and nice one. Anyways that guy is the one that told me about people buying up all the toilet paper, and he was laughing about it because he said Coronavirus infections are a respiratory infection, and don't cause you gastrointestinal problems. Haha! He was upset the local car show was canceled, because it brings lots of people from Oregon and Washington state here, and Idaho don't want people from Oregon and Washington to come here and infect us with their nasty diseases. Haha! I said it all over the world, not just Oregon and Washington! We laughed, and bumped elbows goodbuy. I have a bunch of TTZ modules under construction, but have such a bad case of Springitis, that I don't want to work on trains, I want to work on my yard. It's been cold for 5 months, and rain instead of cold and snow is a welcome change. I will try to set aside some time to work on my modules a bit this weekend, as it's supposed to rain for 5 days here.
Thanks Robert I know the feeling about wanting to get outside. I'm sticking here because I have some really old folks that I care about. We gotta stop (or slow) the spread to them. Coronavirus is just awful for aged individuals. It doesn't make big cuts just thousands of really, really small cuts. ...very infectious. The difference aging makes is it reduces access to repair (and immune) components. This beats down the very old and they just can't recover. Younger folks easily stop it! On topic: I'm gonna use atlas track and long passenger train yards. Still working out how.
I went to three different grocery stores this afternoon trying to find bottled water and noticed all of the paper products were gone, did find some water at the last store. It's crazy out there, the stones were packed. Joe
I'll second that. On first glance I thought it was flex track! Very "organic" layout which I might like to copy It also looks expansive, probably due to your use of wider curves on the end models.
It is tough getting away from the arrow straight track on modules. Nice job on the town. I see you have a couple of crossovers. I assume you have them insulated. http://t-trakhandbook.com has a circuit to change the track wiring and flip back and forth from DC to DCC that may be of interest.
The skyboard is attached to this quint module and feeders in place and wires ran down through the deck to underneath the module. Wiring for the turnouts also fed to underneath. I took an unpainted caboose and manually pushed it through all of the track and turnouts in both directions to ensure that there would be smooth rolling along the track and through the turnouts. The real test will be when I finish the wiring underneath and hook up power to test live with a loco and rolling stock.
Hope everybody is weathering the covid-19 storm well. Not to letting the opportunity of extra time going to waste, I am undertaking two projects. First, I have started "enhancing" my modules. Specifically I am adding working signals. There are a few technical detail that may turn out to be show stoppers. I just ordered the last parts and it should be sorted out in a week or so. Each module (or 90 degrees of curve) is a block. In the attached picture all the LEDs are lighted as part of a component test. The signal at the other end of the module is barely visible in the background clutter. Second, I want to put a data base together of the Rokuhan track components and I need some help from all of you. The goal is to have .pdf and .dxf files available to ease module construction by percisely drilling holes to screw track to the module top. The .pdf can be used to print, cut with scissors and lay down on the module top. The .dxf can be used by folks with access to laser cutters to mark track outline and hole locations while cutting the module tops just like commercially available products. What do I need from you? Please scan the bottom of your Rokuhan track components and save as a .pdf. Print the scan and check to make sure the roadbed outline and screw holes show and superimpose the track on print out to assure accuracy. After the quality check, send the file(s) to me as an attachment in a Trainboard conservation. Once I get the information organized, I will make it available free as I did for the track location jigs. I have 110 mm and 220 mm straight sections. So do not waste time on that. I had other components but there are all fixed and soldered to my modules. (Some ideas come to mind after the fact.) Hope to hear from you soon.
Since you already know the track radii and arc, I don't think you need pictures of all, just how many under-track mounting holes (e.g. 1,2, 3 or 4) and I guess if at each end of the track, how far from the end (likely under the 1st, 2nd or third tie, as it is thicker there? You can ask Tony at Rokuhan to provide the .dxf or even .pdf (as it is vector) of specific pieces (likely <25 pieces) for the T-Track-Z "Layout Design group". Make sure you 'need the mounting holes' so layout foundation can be pre-drilled to mount from underneath. If you can get this, let us know as I will ask SCARM (www.scarm.info) can enhance their Rokuhan track database to also allow this feature.
Jeff, You are right about building outline and center line drawings from the listed radii. If fact, I did that for my modules and the Rokuhan track is so accurately made that everything came together with no observable error. The exact placement of the screw holes are the mystery. I should have done scans my self but, due to a novice's excitement to finish and ignorance, that opportunity has been lost. A simple scans fo the bottom will will allow me to add the hole detail quickly. I will contact Rokuhan and see what happens as an alternative but if I got the scans last night, I would already be done. So folks, take a few minutes to send me a scan. Finally, I linked to SCARM. At first glance, it seems to be windows based. No help for me.
Let us know if you can get the information from Rokuhan. I pulled out some random pieces of track I have and I could not see any pattern or convention to where the holes are placed for screwing down the track. I only drill them out when laying track and not all are drilled out. Note that they are always between ties and could be any number of tie spaces from the end depending on the piece of track. Another issue would be that if the holes in the track are not drilled out with a drill press they could be slightly crooked and then there will be problems.
