The advent of the consumer-grade 3D printer in the mid-2010s has been a boon for model railway enthusiasts. Now we are limited only by our imagination.
Club member Marcus (see also Filling in the details) was an early adopter of 3D printing and continues to print beautiful models and details. Today, he brought to the Club several signal equipment sheds that he had recently printed. The detail is exquisite.
The lifting lugs are so fine as to be practically invisible. Yet there they are, a reminder that these buildings are pre-fabricated and then hoisted into place by crane.
And each shed has an interior race for running an electrical connection to a light source positioned on the corner of the shed.
A tiny bulb, a little bit of paint, and these sheds will be ready for installation. Amazing!
Some model railway enthusiasts like their locomotives and rolling stock to have the appearance of being used. Effort is invested to not keep everything looking out-of-the-box new. (As an aside, count how many other places in our lives we want things to look old and used? Go on. Less than two probably. Blue jeans being the exception that comes to mind.)
At the Club we have several members, like Charles, that are artists in their approach to weathering trains. In this project, a 100-ton G scale hopper is the canvas (remember, We love all scales!)
An airbrush is *almost* essential, as are fine tip paint brushes, water (for dilution and cleanup), paper towel or rag, and of course paint, in this case…
A+ to the marketing person that assigned that name to that paint.
Watching Charles it becomes clear that a light touch is essential. Apply a little weathering everywhere. Then apply a little more weathering everywhere again. Rinse and repeat. It is so interesting to literally see the dirt building up with each pass. Resist the temptation to do it all in one application.
A wet fine tip brush can be used to pull the dirt down from the top edge, giving the very convincing appearance of dirt streaks. Again, a little bit with each pass.
And finally some details can be “cleaned up”. In this example, Charles is applying light touches of silver paint to show where regular use has actually kept the dirt at bay and worn through the (black) factory paint. And it does not need to be the entire detail part – random sections give a far more convincing appearance.
Magic. Artistry.
Thank you so much Charles. Only another 50ish to go…
What is going on here? Of course this G scale locomotive will not run on our N scale layout.
Nor will it run on our HO scale layout.
Even if we could get power to the trucks, it clearly will not fit under the signal gantry!
So what are we doing here? Well, we have a few members, and growing, that also like G scale. While we are unable to run our G scale trains on the Club layouts, we still have a great time sharing tips and learning from each other. And this summer we had our Club picnic at the layout of member Eric who does have a G scale railway.
At the end of the day, we all love trains, small and big. And that shared love makes for a great Club. Are you a G scale modeller looking for fellow enthusiasts? Check out the Club and we’ll connect you with the right people.
Every model railway club has a few members that are essential fountains of knowledge, fixers, goto resources. You have a question or problem, you know who to talk to.
Marcus is one such member at our Club. Your Kadee coupler no longer functions correctly? No problem, bring your rolling stock for a quick check. Often times, Marcus will have an extra whatever that you might need to fix the problem.
DCC is a boon for the model railway hobby. Programming or customizing DCC? Mmmm, not so much. Programming requires a solid understanding of the details and the tools to implement settings, and possibly debug them.
In addition to deep knowledge, those tools can include laptop, communications cable, programming track, and of course, coffee!
Who at your club is a train whisperer? We are fortunate to have Marcus and several other members. Do you need help and don’t know where to turn? Drop by our Club on a run night and speak with any of our members – they’ll be happy to connect you with one of our train whisperers. You’ll be glad that you visited.
The Club’s current HO layout comprises 12 modules and can be set up and running trains reliably, or taken down, in about 10 minutes, by 3 people. Several key decisions and features in their construction make this possible.
The 12 modules can be stored, 4 to a cart, on 3 wheeled carts making it easy to retrieve the modules from storage. Each module has a rear background wooden board that is as tall as the front fascia, allowing the modules to be neatly stacked. Here we see 4 of the 8 “straight” modules.
The legs and modules are stored together on the cart, each module having one leg (except for the first module which gets two). The 8 straight modules are stacked on 2 carts and the 4 corner modules are stacked together on the same cart.
The end detail of each module is key to success. Solid hinges and pins ensure that everything stays aligned and that the pull/push/twist forces stay separate. A serial-like connector passes along power and DCC encoding between modules. Some modules pass light along fibre optic cables (the two black circular connectors in the photo).
Scenery is constructed on foam board. In addition to being easily sculpted this also helps to keep down the weight of each module.
We are applying all of these design ideas, and more, to the planning and construction of the Club’s new N scale layout (beginning, middle, end).
If you are interested in seeing this in action, visit the Club on any operating night and stay until the end. It will be worth the 10 minutes to witness the choreography of the layout being dismantled for storage.
Introduction of the plans for the left and right end modules of the layout can be found here and here.
Modules two through six are the “meat” of the layout.
Module 3 introduces a port, creating a scene for the Club’s shipbuilding modellers. Module 4 has a tricky crossover for interlocking, and possibly signalling, operations. Module 5 shows that our thinking about some features is still in-progress and module 6 closes off the run-around/double-ended track that is present on Module 7.
The track work is also designed so that Modules 2, 3 and 4 can be omitted. The Club can travel to shows with Modules 1, 5, 6, 7 and still have a complete running setup.
There you have it: 7 modules, 28′ in total length and 34″ wide, creating 3 “mostly” independent tracks for running trains. Let the construction begin!
Club member Gerry remembers the introduction of the LRC into active service on the Windsor – Quebec City corridor in the early 1980s. He was always fascinated by the concept, active tilt to manage the forces in corners, the locos and the passenger cars. Construction of the LRC trainsets was a collaborative effort of MLW (Montreal Locomotive Works) for the diesel-electric motive power, Dofasco for the trucks and active suspension, and Alcan for the loco shell and passenger cars.
Gerry was able to acquire his first LRC trainset, in HO scale, about 10 years ago. As Gerry says, running his LRC on the Club layout allows him to feel like a kid again. The trainset runs amazing well. There does not however appear to be an active tilt suspension – hopefully the passengers are able to enjoy their HO scale coffee without any spilling.
Looking at the photo, did your mind wander and think that there was an earthquake in the layout? The loco is shaking, the ground is cracking, it sure looks like something is amiss.
And then you remember that our railway runs on a modular layout and the modules are assembled to build the layout. Where the modules meet there is a “crack” in the scenery and a <5mm gap in the rails. The modules have durable hinges and connection points so they can reliably be assembled and disassembled for each running session. The loco is moving at a good clip, hence the blur, and crosses the gap safely and with nothing more than a familiar “click clack”.
Mert was a “larger than life” figure, there was nothing that he couldn’t do and there was nothing that he wouldn’t give, often without being asked. Truly one of a kind.
It has taken us a little time and now we have a beautifully crafted bridge on the HO scale layout that honours Mert.
After another successful work and running session, we now have lights in the gantry. This follows from the earlier installation of the gantry.
First task was to route fibre optic cable down from the signal masts to underneath the layout.
The cable then needed to be routed to the correct light source on the logic board.
Flip everything right-side up again and perform a successful test run. Two green tracks (one main, one siding), one red main track, and one amber for the work track.
If you look carefully, you can see the clear fibre optic cables running through the gantry. One green dwarf lamp is also visible in the distance.
Please drop by the Club on a run night to learn more about fibre optics and track signalling.
