Joe The modules really look great! I like the Bessemer & Lake Erie ore train. The B&LE (now CN) runs just down the hill from my home!!
Thanks Mark and welcome to TrainBoard. The B&LE train belongs to my friend Jeff. I’m all contemporary Florida East Coast Railway. Concentrating on the FEC keeps me from buying everything I see.
Joe, yes I thought you were focusing on FEC. Good choice. Please let Jeff know I appreciate the train. Now CN is running rapid discharge cars on those tracks. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Arbomambo, I’m new here but not new to model railroading. Your modules look fantastic. Excellent attention to detail, even power drops to each building! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
In the 1980s and early '90s I modeled in N scale. After attending an N scale show in Altoona, Pennsylvania this past September, I was intrigued by the N scale T-Trak layouts on display. I had seen them the last couple years at the Monroeville Greenberg shows, but passed them by without much notice. When I attended the November 3rd show, I spent a good bit of time looking and asking questions of the Iron City N Scale group. I had already joined their Facebook group, so I had an idea of what was going on. Having more physical struggles with my O gauge Blackwater Canyon Line layout than I had expected when I planned and started construction, the small T-Trak modules setting on banquet tables caught my eye. Easy to move, setup, and build, I thought I would give it a try. I bought a couple module kits to build the "benchwork" and said I would at least get the track and some basic scenery going so I could participate. Here is a photographs of the module I took to Sharon last weekend with the Iron City N Scale group. The buildings had been salvaged from my last N scale layout I disposed of when we moved back to Butler, Penna from West Virginia in 1996. I have a station kit for the empty spot trackside and think I have room for one more house beside the two story. I need to improve the gravel, add more foliage, and get a few vehicles and people as well. It is a start.
Is that a truck dump at the far end of the module? Nice! I'm always intrigued by the T-Track layouts at the shows, and the creative variety of module scenes they have.
Thank you, Big Jake! Yes it is a truck dump. The first vehicle I need to get on this module is a dump truck at the dump.
It’s a brand New Year and we’re even closer to our exciting world record breaking event - the Chattanooga 2026 National T-TRAK Layout, at the Scenic City Express NMRA 2026 National Convention’s National Train Show!!! There is no charge to register and participate in this record breaking event, and we’re making this a memorable event for all participants. All participants will receive a commemorative module plaque, ‘goody’ swag bag, one free raffle ticket for raffle item of their choice (there will be many awesome raffles!), elegible for numerous contest and award prizes (including the ScaleTrains ‘Best in Show’ module contest), and be elegible to purchase a commemorative Chattanooga 2026 tumbler, as well as purchase a ticket for the official ScaleTrains sponsored Awards breakfast Banquet, where the first 150 purchased ticket holders will receive a special ScaleTrains commemorative car! Your support helps us keep the event free to all participants AND helps us provide the 160+ tables needed for this record breaking layout, so that participants need only bring themselves, their modules, and their trains! Also, you can also participate in this incredible event, with full participant benefits, even if you don’t have a T-TRAK module! We welcome all railroad modelers to assist us and be a participant in whatever will surely be a memorable event! Fill out, complete, and submit your participation for by visiting us at www.nationalt-traklayout.com
I'll at least make the Train Show and hopefully see the layout since it's less than 2 hours from the house. Doubt I could have a module ready in time to sign up.
When setting up at a show, do you adjust the modules to a specific height first or do you adjust as you go? Brendan
We usually start with a corner module and set it high enough to allow the wiring harness to fit underneath. Then its a matter of leveling each direction from that single point and meet in the middle somewhere. This usually works pretty OK, sometimes there needs to be some "fudging" to get everything lined up but it's not usually that bad.
I usually start with the bottom of all at roughly 1 cm or a little over 1/4 inch blow the bottom of the modules. That gives me plenty of room to go up or down. Edited
I hope you meant "10 mm" rather than "10 cm", since the latter is ~4 inches. But 1/4" ~= 6mm. 10mm ~= 0.4" The plywood from which the modules are made is metric thickness anyway: nominally 1/4, 1/2, & 3/4" thick plywood is actually 6/12/18 mm thick. Damned imperial measurements... even their mother abandoned them!
