It’s been cold, dark, wet and ‘orible nearly all week, so very little done on the layout in the garage. With a taste of what’s to come over the next few months fresh in my mind, I thought how about a little shunting plank/puzzle I could work on indoors. After much searching across forums and a lot of time reading the late Carl Arendt’s website, I came up with this. ‘Sort of’ based on the Piano Line, which I know a lot of theses puzzles/planks are. This is version …………. dunno, lost count. But it has shrunk from 6’ x 2’ to a more manageable 4‘ x 12” to enable me to carry it from the garage and set it up on the kitchen table. All the track is left overs from previous incarnations of the garage layout, apart from one right hand Setrack point which I’ll have to purchase along with some rail joiners. Having changed my main layouts theme/era I have a number of Hornby Pugs and a Bachmann J72 to run on the puzzle plank, along with some swb PO open wagons and vans. Power is a Gaugemaster Model D, which is currently only used to power two point motors and the turntable (now almost redundant) on the main garage layout. Point control will be wire in tube or similar, but may be hand from the sky initially. I know I’ll get stalling over the Insulfrog points, but that’s not really a problem as the idea of the puzzle is to shunt specific wagons into designated sidings, with or without a slight nudge from a finger. The Insulfrogs also help keep the size of the plank down. After lots of estimating I think a 3 wagon train will fit in the loop, the Coal and Warehouse sidings will each hold two wagons, and the Yard with Crane, one. ‘M’ denotes where magnets will be for uncoupling if I use Kadees. I’ll need extra magnets on the Yard with Crane siding, if I use small T/L with paper clip couplings (no Kadee shuffle). Apologies for the long post but my question is, before I go cutting up some wood for a baseboard, have I missed anything? Ed
Hi Ed, You say you may use the hand of God to change your points initially. If you intending to use the wire in the tube method later, I take it that it would be installed under the baseboard when you decide to do it? The plan looks good.
Looks good Ed, You know Hand Of God would actually be prototypical......I reckon points in that yard would be thrown by hand by the shunting crew. With a track plan that size you could print it out full size and lay it on your table to check clearances and train movements before making a start on the actual plank. http://www.clickGormo
Daft as it sounds, I forgotten that I can turn this board on it's side and work on the underneath Not used to it Thanks Toto I was going to print the track plan and put it on the board after I had cut it. Good idea to print it first before I cut the board Gormo Been thinking about making the board a bit deeper, which would make the storage line a bit longer and straighter and might allow me to put the Gaugemaster controller on the board. Ed
No worries Ed, I did that with the inside curve on my station. Just printed it out full size and sat it on my table and placed some trains on it to see if I had calculated it all correctly. Fortunately I had and it`s a handy way to check how you`re going before you take saw to wood. http://www.clickGormo
Right first time Ian, playing Should be good for testing things though. Kadee couplings, bits of scenery etc. If I use a plug type chocblock connector for the controller, I can plug the DCC command station in for testing DCC stuff as well. Ed
Nice track plan Ed. If you are going to use the larger baseboard and wire in tube, why not lay the track on 3mm cork bed and run the wire tube on top of the baseboard. I have chosen this method on Industry Lane... In regards to the placement of magnets, you could possibly get away with two magnets only, situated in the positions marked with a red M in the pic below. This would work ok with Kadees as you can loose shunt (Kadee shuffle !) You mention of using the loop as a run around. if so, where do you uncouple your wagons from the loco in the loops ?? Below I have drawn in 3 wagons (green, burgandy, blue) and the red X's mark where magnets would need to be placed if a run-around was to take place. Now the magnet placement is getting more critical ! The diagram below shows the placement if the top loop was used to store wagons for a run around. Ok, that is more food for thought ! Cheers, Gary.
Thanks Gary, all good stuff I was thinking (if using Kadees) pull the wagons into the middle road on the left, uncouple at 'M' and do a shuffle to get them into the bottom of the loop. Top of the loop is another option Wary of Kadees needing to be uncoupled on a straight, didn't think I'd get away with where you've marked them (X), but certainly worth a try. That's what this puzzle plank is all about, playing around and testing. Ed
I printed the track plan and put a few wagons on to check clearances around the loop as Gormo suggested, look ok. I've also altered the plan to make the board a bit deeper, which allows me to get the controller on the board and straighten out the entry road. I've got to build the baseboard in the garage as there's no room indoors. Wood's cut, just got to screw/glue everything together and get it all painted before it gets too cold again at the end of the week. Meanwhile, I've taken most of the locos and rolling stock off the garage layout and packed them away in boxes. We've had a couple of mild winters, but last week was more like mid-Winter than late Autumn (or perhaps I'm just getting old). Roll on April Ed
G`day Ed, Lookin` good there. It will be nice to be able to continue playing trains through the winter in the comfort of your home. We of course are at the other end of the spectrum here in Oz. I`m currently planning my household jobs to avoid the predicted heat that`s supposed to hit us at the end of the week. I know you guys might think the heat would be great, but sometimes over here it`s ridiculous. I fear we are in for a very hot, dry summer which means bush fires and lives at risk. Sorry....I digress Your railway is going to be a bit of fun to operate....... a puzzle in effect which is good for the grey matter. I look forward to seeing it develop. http://www.clickGormo
Forgot how hot it gets there in your Summer Gormo when we're here shivering. My eldest son might be heading your way next month, so I'll warn him. Anyway, baseboard done. Plan stuck on, and ............. good grief, it fits. Only problem is, one of the old points fell apart so I've had to order a replacement. C'est la vie. Ed
Coming on well Ed. It's amazing how big it looks. What are you going to do with the land to the front ? A nice space to work with. Cheers Toto
Not sure yet Toto. I was going to just use it as somehow to put the controller. I've since cut some slots in the board to allow the points to be controlled from underneath, as you suggested. Just set it up and I think I've cut one in the wrong place Ed
No worries Ed, I'm sure it will be recoverable. Bang up a picture, I'm sure the ideas will soon start to flow. I'll hopefully be doing a bit myself tomorrow so we can compare bloomers. Carry on Sir, your doing admirably. Toto
Just got to take the board back out to the garage and cut another slot in the right place Still, on a positive note, the replacement point I ordered yesterday has turned up already Ed
Nope, they've been getting a bad press recently as their normally excellent service has slipped a bit. Partly my problem, the broken point was a Peco and I ordered a Hornby replacement. Just checked, and I had cut the slot in the right place for the Peco point, but the Hornby has the tie bar slightly nearer the toe. (bit out of focus, but you should be able to see the difference from the Peco above the Hornby). You can see the slot I cut in the top right hand corner of the picture and the new one marked. Still my fault, I should have waited for the new point to arrive instead of rushing off yesterday afternoon and cutting the slots. Ed
Moving along at a good pace now Ed. The eyes are on you ! Rather than cutting holes, have you considered drilling a 1/4" hole instead ? Only need about 4mm movement for the tie bar. Cheers, Gary.