Re: Beginner questions

"michael" wrote

The Scalefour Society flagship event, Scaleforum 2003 is being held in Leatherhead on 27/28th September

The central dogma of the society is that scale flanges work fine on iffy trackwork as long as the wheels are either sprung or compensated and even have an annual competition for the best performance of models on specified sections of poor trackwork.

RTR models tend to be designed on the assumption that enormous flanges or perfect trackwork is the way to go.

As a result, the society has persuaded various traders to provide a wide range of wheels and other components to build or convert existing models.

A continuous run in 0 gauge is a moderately comfortable fit in this space and for 4mm most would regard this as luxurious.

=>Am I wanting too much here, or is this possible ??

No, it's possible, and it's not nearly as expensive as it used to be.

I have two pieces of advice:

a) Don't skimp on quality. It's better to buy one good piece for a given price than two or three lower priced and lower quality pieces. How do I know? Just take a look at my shelves of someday-I'll-fix-it junk. :-)

b) By all means go DCC, and add sound -- I saw some layouts with sound recently, and the effect is awesome! More and more locos are being offered "DCC ready", wh/ means that at worst you have to do some soldering. I figure that within 5 years or so, most if not all ready to run locos will come in DCC-installed versions, and the new models will all be DCC installed w/ a switch for analog operation.

The current state of computer interfaces and software for DCC is rather kludgy, but it's improving/ Only drawback: unless you have a small, take-it-all-in-at-a-glance sized layout, computer control deprives you one of the great pleasures -- seing the train you're controlling. I saw a computer interface in action recently, and the computer operator had his back to most of the layout - he did _not_ like that, but as it was a test setup, he was tolerating it.

BTW, DCC is _digital_ command control - the whole system is a dedicated computer with peripherals.

Enjoy!

In message , Terry O'Brien writes

This competition is currently inactive.

"Roderic Cameron" wrote

I must have missed some fine print in the new members pack issued in the last couple of months, it seemed like an interesting challenge.

I'm envious! I am squeezing a 00 layout into 8'x6', with a double-track loop, 3 tracks through the station, and a 6-track yard with turntable and engine shed! It uses 16 curved turnouts from Peco and Hornby to save space. The rest is mostly Peco flex track, although I have recently found that Atlas in the USA (without any apparent announcement) is upgrading its Snap Track and Superflex track to come closer to Peco standards and appearance. This includes a proper 16.5mm gauge instead of

My rolling stock is Hornby of various ages (post-1980), except for a J72 and a set of suburban coaches from Bachmann, a Lima Class 101 DMU, and assorted goods wagons. I have a Flying Scotsman in 1920s livery and a Fowler 2-6-4 as well as the DMU in early BR, but what the hell?

=> The rest is mostly Peco flex track, although I have recently =>found that Atlas in the USA (without any apparent announcement) is =>upgrading its Snap Track and Superflex track to come closer to Peco =>standards and appearance. This includes a proper 16.5mm gauge instead of =>17mm,

Atlas flex has in my experience always conformed to NMRA standards, as evidenced by use of The Gauge. I found Peco flex too tight in gauge, esp. when curved. Gauge should be eased a bit on curves, to permit properly gauged wheels on long wheel base locos to pass without binding. Oh, sorry, I forgot

-- Hornby has used non-standard wheels for decades - haven't even adhered to their own standards. Bah!

Turnouts are a similar story. I haven't used Peco turnouts for years, as the ones I got back then all had to have their check-rail spacing changed to suit NMRA wheels. (I found that by slicing off the plastic flash along the inside of the check rail, down to the bare metal, the Peco turnouts would get reasonably close to NMRA standards - well, nothing derailed after I did that.)

What we really need is Hornby and other UK manufacturers to conform to NMRA/NEM wheel standards. I am by no means the only one who has avoided buying Hornby because of their wheels - well, I can replace wheels in the rolling stock, but it's too much trouble to change wheels in the engines. Rivarossi and other European manufacturers (even Marklin, finally! with their Big Boy) have seen the wisdom of abandoning proprietary wheel standards and adopting the NMRA/NEM ones. It's long past time for Hornby to do the same.

MRR for October has a chart showing all the key dimensions of turnouts available in N. America, as compared to the NMRA standards. Very interesting reading.

=>I'm envious! I am squeezing a 00 layout into 8'x6', with a double-track =>loop, 3 tracks through the station, and a 6-track yard with turntable =>and engine shed!

Is this the size of the room, or the size of the layout?

I'm asking because I've found recently that a lot of people don't realise that a "small" 4x8ft layout table actually requires something like 8x10ft minimum if you want access from (only) three sides. That's about the size of a typical spare room -- and building an around the wall layout makes far better sense if you have that much space -- or even a smaller space, althougnb I agree that 8x6 would be a tad tight even for around the wall. :-)

One needs to _add_ material to Peco turnouts to match NMRA standards!?! What can one remove to tighten flangeways?

Märklin make their US rolling stock wheels to three different standards: Märklin, NEM and NMRA RP 25. If you buy your Trix Big Boy from Europe without specifying the correct catalogue number you will get NEM standard wheels.

"MRR" equals "Model Railroader"?

Regards, Greg.P.

We've had these discussions before, but this is something new. Since I choose to model British late steam era and don't want to get into finescale kit building, I'm more or less stuck with Hornby RTR, and the odd Bachmann or Lima. For this reason, I have stuck with Hornby and Peco track, since the stock doesn't always run well on Atlas.

My point is that Atlas has apparently changed its specifications, although I have not found mention of this on their website or elsewhere. The flextrack and straight Snap Track I bought a couple of weeks ago in Toronto and Whitby has finer ties and fasteners and is more like Peco in appearance, even down to the slight gold tint of the rail. They give no trouble with running Hornby or Bachmann wheels, old or new. By contrast, some 22 inch radius curves I also bought (and now have to return) are to the old design and have a gauge that is too wide for newer Hornby coach wheelsets (with narrower treads), as is the old Atlas Superflex.

I'm not arguing with anything you say about NMRA/NEM standards, but the fact remains that Atlas, for some reason or other, has changed its specs on plain track. As I said, I have not seen any redesigned turnouts, so cannot comment on them. It says something to me that the majority of North American HO layouts I see at shows in Ontario use Peco rather than Atlas turnouts, at least on the main line. Incidentally, with Hornby curved turnouts, I have the opposite problem to you - I have to shim the check rail by 0.02" to prevent wheelsets from fouling the crossing nose.

"Gregory Procter"

The accepted abbreviation or "Model Railroader" magazine is "MR".

-- Cheers Roger T.

=>> MRR for October has a chart showing all the key dimensions of turnouts =>> available in N. America, as compared to the NMRA standards. Very interesting =>> reading. =>

=>"MRR" equals "Model Railroader"? =>

=>Regards, =>Greg.P.

Yes.

And you're right about the Peco check gauge - I'd forgotten what I did, exactly. I did remove flash from the checkrail on some brand of turnout many years ago, but I've obviously forgotten what it was. :-) I remember filling frog and checkrail space with epoxy and cutting new flangeways - maybe that's what I did on the Peco turnouts.

"MartinS"

The latest are Micro Engineering code 70 or 83(?) flex track.

Excellent detailing, as on their switches/points/turnouts but at over Can$30 each, far to expensive for me and, even at American prices, for too expensive for many people who require in excess of 100 of them for the average layout.

I choose to handlay because of price. Can$30, plus 14.5% taxes, for a Peco or better quality Atlas switch???

I'm not sure how many I have on the GER but it's around 50 handlaid switches, plus about 10 Atlas snap switches in the staging yards.

While Micro Engineering flex track goes for around US$5.00/yd, it's over Can$10/yd locally. So the next GER will also feature handlaid track.

-- Cheers Roger T.

====== A bit cheaper in ON (plus 15%) but the Peco motors are another $10. ======

Atlas (new and improved) flextrack is about $4.75, Peco $5.75/yd. for Code 100.

Hence my question! Should I order a copy now and be annoyed when it doesn't have the article, or hope that there is a spare copy next time I get to the model shop?

Regards, Greg.P.

I tend to araldite in strips of brass strip. The frog flangeways are tricky as one ends up with a sharp end to be filed back. (I was hoping you'd come up with a method of filing to fill a too big gap ;-)

Regards, Greg.P.

Hi Martin.

I'd love to see a rough track layout, if you're willing to share. It sounds very much as if you're doing the sort of thing I'm after.

Although my room is around 14'x9', I'm hoping to keep a work desk at one end, near the door, and then have a layout around the other 3 walls.

My main concern is whether (and how) I can get a loop within the layout, as I'd like to be able to have a continuous run from one end to the other and back, without intervention. I'm guessing it's possible, especially as you're planning double track.

Any advice would be graciously received.

Michael.

"Gregory Procter" <

Sorry Greg, what was the question?

-- Cheers Roger T.

I have commonly seen MRR used instead of MR for Model Railroader. The article in question is in the October issue that arrived last week. Not worth buying for that, IMHO, unless you really need a very brief summary of the various track ranges and a table comparing measurements to the NMRA standard. The table includes Atlas, Bachmann, Custom Trax, Fleischmann, Kato, Life Like, Maerklin, Micro Engineering, Peco, Roco, Shinohara, Tillig and Walthers. But I think it is worth buying for the latest installment of Iain Rice's project and for three on detailing diesels.

Keith

Make friends in the hobby. Visit Garratt photos for the big steam lovers.

"Roger T." wrote

Not in the UK it isn't - MR is the accepted abbreviation for *Model Rail*.

John.