New N gauge roundy roundy :D

[Memran]

Hello everyone!

I'm finally back to railways after an enforced hiatus due to working away, and after dusting off my previous (unfinished) layout, I came to realise that I didn't like it very much. So I spent some time yesterday lifting the track, and cleaning various point-work.

Other layouts I had done (but never finished because of excuses) always seemed to have too much track all over the available space, and didn't really look too good, so this time my plan is to trim that down a lot, and allow my 80" x 30" space to remain uncluttered.

Here's what I've come up with in Scarm:



Three platform station, off-scene "fiddle yard" / storage sidings, and a turntable should add a lot of operational interest. (I hope!)
Also I tried to avoid having many long perfectly straight runs. Even the platforms are a bit curved. I think this will look better.

And so it begins...


Lets see if I can persevere this time and actually finish a layout! (No promises though!)

[glencairn]

An interesting looking plan Memran.

Glencairn

[Mountain]

Nice. Is lovely to see a nice start. I like the gist of the plan.

[Memran]

Thank you both

Planning to do more track laying tonight after work.

[Memran]

Well, we all got told to work from home because of this virus sweeping the world, but this enabled me to use my lunch hour to lay a bit more track!

I have the back straight and the start of the right-side curves down now. More to do later on after I finish work...



It's not much, but I can't think of a better way to spend my lunch break right now!

[glencairn]

Well, we all got told to work from home because of this virus sweeping the world, but this enabled me to use my lunch hour to lay a bit more track!

A silver cloud on the horizon.

Glencairn

[heda]

I quite like the look of this plan, keep up the track laying while you have the time. Looking forward to seeing it progress.
Dave

[Memran]

Got some more track down!



But instead of laying more, there was a slight change of plan this evening.

I decided to learn from my mistakes and get my point motors installed while the board is still relatively mobile! Also decided not to power the frogs from the silly little spring and washer on the seeps, as they require far, far too much accuracy in set up, and historically I found them to be supremely unreliable for use with N gauge. (Although that was most likely my poor alignment last time).



Each point motor is tested as soon as it is fitted to ensure that it throws the points correctly. Some of the more eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed the little botched-up board on the table:



All it is is my homemade CDU, a switch and a terminal block crudely screwed onto a small piece of ply. This enables me to very quickly and easily active each motor as I go along.

From now on, each no point I lay will have it's motor installed immediately. This way I don't have to do them all together at the end.

Still it is progress!

[Memran]

So much for learning from my mistakes...

Those two points are too close to the edge of the board so I can't fit the point motors.

However, I put my engineering hat on, and ...



That little aluminium bar effectively offsets the point motor, then I just need to space it from the board enough to give some clearance:



Now back to some track laying!



Two loops complete! Onwards!

[heda]

Top marks for that your not the first person to make that mistake but you worked out a solution that will help other modellers, give some more detail.
Track laying is progressing well and lookibg good stay with it.
Dave

[Memran]

Thank you
I've passed on a bit more information about the point motors in the other thread. Hopefully he can make it work too.

[Memran]

Some progress!



Reversing loop in place.

There's been a small alteration to the plan. I added a double slip instead of the normal point leading to the reversing loop. This allows there to be a trap point / head shunt at the end of the inner platform road.



Sure, it's not a big change, but I do think it is more realistic, and actually should be very useful during operation.

I also added the three storage / fiddle sidings.

Here are two trains, to give an idea of the length of platforms I'll be able to use.



Lastly, all point motors are in place! Woo!

[glencairn]

Coming along nicely, Memran. Well done.

Glencairn

[Memran]

Some progress today! I've got my bus wire installed, and all of my droppers connected, except for the area next to the turntable because I don't have a turntable yet. I've also wired the reversing loop.



This is enough to enable me to run some trains and see if it all works. Apart from a couple of points which are not making good contact, everything seems to be working. The points are not a concern because I haven't powered the frogs on any yet. Once I do that, I'm sure they'll be just fine. The trains seem to run over all of the trackwork without derailment, so overall I'm happy!

[glencairn]

Coming along nicely, Memran. Well done.

Glencairn