Tohelenbak Progress

I have completed the track plan for Tohelenbak. I'm happy with it on paper and using Anyrail gives me some confidence that it will work when I actually lay track. I expect there may be some minor adjustments but I hope no major ones. I have not used the KISS principle as I have a lot of track to use and a lot of trains to run. Things are less cluttered around the main peninsular. You will notice that the town there is called Helen. The idea being when you leave the city area on the left hand side of the layout you will end up at Helen and then head back to the city (hence Tohelenbak) - yeah, I know . A full runaround the mainline (shown in black) comes in at 49 meters (161 ft).




The large turntable is the Walthers 130' diameter version which is needed to turn my Big Boy locomotive. The few structures shown are notional - just added to enhance the drawing. The large yard at the top serves as both a fiddle and working yard. I have kept the elevations low - the highest point being the curved viaduct (right hand side) at 140mm above the track running under it. Most of the layout is at zero height.

Just started working out the benchwork framing and timber requirements - it ain't going to be cheap (I suppose I could build it on the floor ).
So ... expect my next installment will be after Christmas - have a great one

Chris

 

To all - Happy New Year.

The timber for Tohelenbak's benchwork arrived on New Years Day (from Bunnings in Australia). Amazing to get a delivery on a public holiday. Consists of 170m of 70x35mm treated pine, 11 sheets of 12mm plywood 2400x1200 and 2 sheets of 3mm MDF 2400x1200 (fascia). Why treated pine?? - it was the cheapest option. In fact I originally ordered 42x35mm framing but Bunnings rang me to say all their stock was badly warped (which I could have had at half price). I asked if they could do me a deal on the 70x35mm. They did - AND - supplied it at NO extra cost (yay Bunnings). The pine came in 5.4m lengths which were too long to get into the house so I had to cut them at 3m.



Prior to getting the timber delivered I did at lot of work in Anyrail working out the framing and sheeting I needed and the quantities. Anyrail allows you to plan all this very accurately so that I could get the quantities to where hopefully there will be little wastage (we'll see). Below - working out plywood sheet requirements.



I expect there will to odd adjustment to the framing as I build it. I have taken the time to work out where the framing needs to be positioned so as not foul where any point switch machines will be located.



Even though I will be running DCC I do not intend to use it to throw points. I am also looking at ways to manually throw points in some locations. In areas like fiddle yards or roundhouses where you have lots of points I don't see why you would want to remotely control them. Having used Gormo's manual lever frame throws on Great Chesterford I found that way of controlling locomotive movements very satisfying (interested to know what other members think).

Whilst I was designing the framing I noticed that Anyrail was showing many tight spots on my curves. If you haven't used it Anyrail allows you to specify 3 minimum point radii settings. When you lay down a section of flex track the curve will show a colour in any place where the curvature exceeds your minimums (yellow, orange or red). I have found even a small connection adjustment can introduce a tight curve within a section of flex. This could be a real problem. If you lay your track by eye you may not be able to see what the computer will calculate.



So ... I then went around the would layout and checked all curves in detail. In correcting any tight spots I also was able to increase the overall curvature in many places so that my minimum radius on the mainline is now 25". I added 3 more sidings in the yard in the city area. I also increased the space between the outer track and the edge of the benchwork in many places to help prevent any derailment ending on the floor and improve the overall visual look.



Anyrail also identified a reverse loop which I will have to deal with when i build it (see the track coloured in red above). I know I am starting to sound like a broken record about Anyrail BUT it is identifying many issues before I find them out the hard way which is great .

So ... this is where it's at. Next will be the benchwork starting at the fiddle yard and working clockwise around the big room (wish me luck).

Chris

 

Hi Tony,
All the timber (as you can see) is very straight (and not twisted). The girl I dealt with at Bunnings was great and I think they made sure all the timber was straight because they couldn't supply my original order due to warping. This was all done by phone. I have already moved all the timber into the house and have started some cutting. Well observed regarding the mulch, it is from a large gum tree that we had trimmed before Christmas. I kept it to use around the garden and yes it will be a big job, but I will do it bit by bit.
Chris

 

Bench work started ... yard. Also a fiddle yard I guess but definitely designed as a working yard. As you can see I am able to make use of the whole length of the room and even come out into the first room which provides a head shunt area. I am painting all the legs black before installation as it would be a hell of a job to do once installed.



I also designed and 3D printed end caps for each leg (see below) which is kinder for the carpet and hard floor (easy to do and why not).



I printed out the whole yard track diagram from Anyrail and temporarily laid it out on the bench to check fit. Interestingly, Anyrail divided the whole layout into over 1100 A4 sheets ... however ... there is an option when to produce the print file to not include any blank areas. This brought it down to 725 sheets (still too many). I was able to reduce it even further by creating the print file as a PDF. I have Adobe Acrobat software and in that program you can easily organise all the pages. By discarding pages which just had some bench work edges, bits of track clipping the edge of a page or other unnecessary details I was able to reduce the number much more. I have only printed out the yard area so far and I will print out other sections when I get to those areas. This is probably good practice because if your ideas change as the work progresses you won't have a huge pile of redundant prints which you will need to reprint.


The dog's name is Shunderson (comes from a classic old movie ... does anyone know it?)

One other thing I discovered when using Anyrail trackwork prints. I made the prints borderless BUT when sticking them together I noticed there was a small gap between each page (about 3mm). Lucky I caught it because a small gap like that amplifies quickly if you have a lot of sheets. Fortunately I had printed the track with the sleeper detail (Anyrail allows 3 types of display - centreline, plain (no sleepers) or detail (sleepers). If I hadn't had the sleeper detail I would have missed that there was a gap. I don't know if this is deliberate or something to do with my printer. There is a plus side as the small gap allows the sticky tape a small area to stick to the bench to hold the prints in position. I made a small template out of an print offcut to get the spacing between prints accurate (see below at the bottom of the pic).



So that's it for now. Next step - laying the foam underlay over the whole yard area ... stay tuned.

Chris

 

Hey Gormo,
Absolutely correct. I wasn't sure if anyone would know that movie ... it is one of my favourites. My wife Deb came up with calling our dog Shunderson because (as you know) that character in the movie was a faithful companion who was always by Cary Grant's side. And as it has turned out this dog is just like that, so the name fits his temperament exactly.
Anyway, thanks for the comments. Actually glued down the first pieces of track tonight. Will post again when I get more done.

Chris

 

Continuing on laying the yard area. As I mentioned previously I am laying my track on foam. Some years ago we had an American hardware/improvement store here in Canberra called Masters Home Improvement. They collapsed in 2016. At that time they were selling all their stock cheap and I saw the following ...

This is the foam that you place between concrete slabs to allow for expansion. It looked similar to the roadbed foam that Woodland Scenics sell. Each roll is 25m long and there were various widths. From memory I bought all the above (plus more not shown) for around $50. It is 10mm thick, 75mm wide (min). Over the 10 years it has been sitting in my shed it has not deteriorated in any way. The whole yard is now covered with it ... all mounted with PVA and lays nice and flat. The Woodland Scenics foam is about 5mm thick and has bevelled edges but considering it costs around $29 for a 7m roll I can cope with the thicker material without the bevels. Also the 75mm wide roll can be easily cut in half to 37.5mm which gives me 50m per roll. I have made a cutter (3D print) to do this which works very well ... I will show this in a future post. This foam is still available and still much cheaper than model train roadbed - foam or cork (around $20 for 25m in Australia - from Bunnings).

The wide foam panel (above) has a bit of a wrinkled surface for some reason but it will be eventually covered with ballast so not a problem and I am only using it in the yard. Track is now being laid and glued in place with PVA. I wasn't sure about gluing track but I have noticed that more and more modellers are doing this now. So I did some tests gluing track to my foam. It works beautifully and if you need to remove any track a spray with some water releases it after a few minutes without tearing up any of the foam. I actually found that Windex works even better as it has little surface tension and gets under the track easily to soften the glue prior to removal. I am considering when ballasting it might be better to use IPA instead of water so that track doesn't release from the PVA. However, other modellers who glue track have not reported any issues using water when ballasting.

You might notice that the tracks go through the wall ... ... well no ... that is a mirror. As I mentioned when I first posted about this layout I have been a great fan of the American modeller John Allen (now deceased). He used lots of mirrors on his layout (over 30). If you place them where you can't see any unwanted reflections they can expand your layout dramatically. There is another mirror at the other end of the yard ... see below. I should call it INFINITE YARD . I made the footbridge (another 3D print) to hide the top of the mirror. I will be making some other structure over the other mirror (maybe a building?). You get a small gap where the track butts up against the mirror so the transition isn't perfect but from a distance the illusion is pretty good. You could get a better result with a mirror that is coated on the front but they are harder to get, can easily be scratched and cost a lot more so I am happy with normal mirrors.


So, that's it for this update. I am currently working on switching the yard ladder turnouts. There are 11 and I am going to use ground throws ... so stay tuned.

Chris

 

Manual Ground Throws - I have become a fan of manual ground throws for switching. As well as giving a more tactile experience they also save a lot of underbench time and effort (a major factor as we get older). I have checked out many commercial products and Youtube solutions. I also had the privilege of seeing and operating Gormo's rod and level system on Great Chesterford. Of course 3D printing will play a major part in my approach to this.

I figured that the first thing I should do is prove that a manual throw would work in the way I needed on my layout. Rather than use one of the many methods used by Youtubers I decided to design my own throw switch and set up a prototype to test it (see below). The switch is connected to the turnout with 1.57mm dia. PVC coated wire. To stop the wire flexing I run it through some Bowden PTFE tube (3D filament feeding tube). The Bowden tube can be curved as you can see in the photo. The inner diameter of the tube is 2.4mm so this wire size works well. I strip the coating off the wire at the ends where it is connected. A slit in my foam roadbed provides a path for the tube to the turnout. I expected that it would need to be glued into the foam but when pressed in it actually stays firmly in place. It will eventually be covered by ballast. I made a small loop at the end of the wire to sit over the small post on the Peco throwbar. I later rejected this idea as the loop can slip off the post and I didn't think gluing it on would be a good idea. The installed versions run the wire under the turnout, bent at 90 degrees and up through the centre hole. This is a better solution except that it must be done before permanently mounting the turnout. However, the loop method could be applied to an installed turnout but with the risk of it slipping off.

The final switches are not bright green and are designed to be functional, not in any way prototypical.

The ground throws ended up much like Gormo's rod and bellcrank system without the levers. The following pictures show the extent of the throws, tubes and cranks needed at the end of my main yard. There are 11 turnouts and 1 double slip to be thrown. I designed a special 2 switch unit for the double slip (see below).

As you can see the whole system ended up way more complicated than I expected BUT, strangely it all works. During installation some adjustments were needed. On longer and/or curved sections the tubes would flex which took all the horizontal movement out of the wire and the turnout would not throw. I designed and printed the black hold down units to stop the tubes flexing. You can also see my black crank levers (much like a bell crank) which are used where the wire has to change direction.





I made a small window in each switch to indicate when it had been thrown from its normal position (shows RED). Not really necessary but I am finding it useful, especially with the double slip where you have a number different positions of the 2 switches.

I am definitely glad that I did not attempt to do all this under the bench. I think Gormo lifted his bench into a vertical orientation when installing his system.



I will be designing and printing some covers to hide all the mechanism which will be easy to remove if any maintenance is required. I want it to look like a paved area and could have some small structures or buildings on there (we'll see). Any member suggestions ???





So, that's all for this update ... more to follow

Chris

 

Next project ..... build this



OK ... so why am I putting a German bridge on an American layout??? Well, for a start it isn't German. The Bietschtal Bridge (Bietsch Valley Viaduct) is a historic railway bridge located in Valais, Switzerland. It is a Faller kit. I bought it years ago not knowing if I would ever be able to use it. But I needed a 2 track bridge on the layout and this fits the bill perfectly ... and a bridge is a bridge is a bridge ... so why not?

It is going to go here. Not the only bridge as you can see there will be a curved trestle (3d printed) in front of it. And there will be 3rd bridge but they will both come further down the line.



Lots of parts ... (do I really want to tackle this???)





To give you some sense of scale the whole bridge is 1100mm long and the tracks will be approx 330mm above the river (or gorge) below.
So wish me luck ... hopefully this is not going to be "A Bridge Too Far"

Chris