Elmer Lane 2 - Meanwhile, back in the real world.

 DB continues:

With the arrival of a thin 8x4 plywood sheet on the second of January, it was time for a more realistic think about Elmer Lane. To start, the balloon loop curve was marked out at an 18 inch radius. This is smaller than intended, and smaller than the 600mm specified in the Fremo120 doc, but certainly larger than we have gotten away with in the past.  This wouldn't work being 'split through the turntable' into two modules, so one has to remain moveable, and a 4x8 module is completely impractical for transport, housing, flexing and so many more reasons! But that's one heck of a curve. The Trackgang minimum radius is 600, the same as the standard, and they probably don't have many 180+ degree horseshoe curves. Hmmm. This could be a big mistake in the making.

This setup looked pretty decent though and ended up at just over 7 feet long. While I don't intend to move this in a medium sized non-hatchback sedan car, out of curiosity, I took the measuring tape out to the garage. Crikey, the car would actually take 7 feet from the boot through to the back of the passenger seat (seat far forward and with the seat back vertical). The tightest distance between the carpet on the car's wheel wells is three feet. Wow, so with a little shrinkage, this module could fit in a car if it had to! 

Considering these new self-imposed constraints, as can be seen in these three pics  I moved the loop curve a little closer to the roundhouse, which means I'd lose its workshops extension out the back (or it would have to be minimal). The yard throat end lost about two centimetres with no drama. I reduced the baseboard width to 18 inches at the curve end, and thus obviously the curve radius even more, to about 17.5 inches, or just under 450mm.  The track will be quite close to the baseboard edge at the two widest points, but the baseboard can be out further almost everywhere else. Those two spots could have little fences for peace of mind. 

As can be seen, there is enough space for the two track railcar shed parallel to the Hoki line, the rails of which were extended almost to the roundhouse. 

I also have the track (near the turntable controller box here) which served coal (that white solid resin LC top at the end of the track!) to the shed boiler, plus a backshunt at the other end. I'm thinking all or some of this track might not be powered, but just a place to park locos for show. Some (maybe many) of the roundhouse tracks might not be powered either, depending on how easy or hard that is to do. Not as hard as I feared it seems. 

I remember in past exhibitions we often took off locos to give them a rest, or because they failed or became unreliable, or needed a wheel clean, just to change things up and it was handy to have somewhere handy where they can still be showed off. And be a place for non-DCC or non-working locos to safely sit and be seen. In the past this was the Otaki goods shed or ballast pit! A loco depot is a better setting!

You might also notice four tracks out the back/return of the balloon, which will be visible staging and train storage, ending up at Greymouth station which will be the 'next module'.

As this will be a balloon loop when it connects back up at the top, track polarity will be an issue, so presumably a DCC auto-reversing section (I know little about these) in the curve would make operation seamless, and ideally the loco depot itself would be on its own power district/booster so that any problems, derailments, or mistakes causing shorts wouldn't upset the mainline operations.  

Hmmm. Intriguing. 

Are you mad? Elmer Lane 1 - Genesis

DB says:

When the idea of Fremo120 was floated, operational practicalities at a public exhibition would mean you either need to: 

1. Assemble a loopty-loop layout. This is easier to operate, but challenging given the freeform nature and sizes of the modules. Its not impossible with advance planning and some on-the-day bespoke construction of a basic-plain-join-module using a lump of wood, a saw, and some flex track. Rhys and I did this at our first Dynamic Duo NZ120 exhibition appearance, which used temporary flex laid on a 2x2 piece of MDF (for the end horseshoe curve) and a long stick of 4x2 for the track behind my Otago Central bit. A few screws and a staple gun, and Bob was our Uncle.
2. Have balloon loops at the terminus of each 'end' or 'branch' that you don't want to have to 'run around' trains at and take them out backwards (most of my wagons are different weights anyway so I'm not sure whether my coal train would run too well reversed). While these balloons are an operational necessity on layouts, the ones I've seen at exhibitions have always seemed a bit 'forced' as balloon loops are not common in the real world, and thus are obviously a challenge to scenic. 

So a couple of balloons probably need to be made for a Fremo120 exhibition layout. But what to put in the middle of one? 

While perusing the Kato Swiss RhB offerings on the website of my Japanese purveyor of such addictive substances, I saw that Kato make a clever little motorised turntable (I had no idea). A lightbulb went off. What about modelling the Elmer Lane turntable and roundhouse? With the 'mainline' to Hokitika running right in front (just like the real thing) circling around the roundhouse (not at all like the real thing! But potentially hideable with trees, or a highway overpass, or something.)  And then the track comes back around the back of the depot where the old workshops / yard is. 

Elmer Lane loco depot in 1969 just after the end of steam (Retrolens)

Elmer Lane loco depot  in 1988 after the roundhouse was surgically reduced in the 1970s. (Retrolens) 

Fortunately, the pricey Kato turntable was out of stock, but upon my next order, it wasn't, and one fell into my shopping cart. This was about nine months ago now, as there have been plenty of other things to worry about in the interim. 

During those months, a bit of pseudo-planning occurred in Photoshop. Of course this is very guesstimental, because in the real world, tracks and things are very different sizes and geometries than when drawn on paper, PowerPoint, Photoshop, or even the track planing software I've tried, all of which are coated in a sheen of optimism as to how much can fit in a given space. But here you go (my doodle used the Kato diagram, overlaid with the retrolens aerial pic, and with some tracks drawn over that) :

(Flipped to make it easier to compare to the prototype aerials above)

Here is the the Kato turntable by the way:

Unlike many N scale turntable offerings, it does have a shallow pit (yay), however the bridge girders are 'upside down' compared to NZ turntables (boo), but surely the sides can be flipped to look a little better? Its modelled on an electric one with a gantry in the middle, but I'm sure that can be removed, and there is a little red operators cabin at one end. The bridge length is a smidge short, as we are 1:120 and Japan is usually 1:150 rather than the usual N 1:160, but its not actually a million miles out. In fact according to my calculations it should fit a scaled down Ja wheelbase. The tracks are radially spaced a little bit wider than Elmer Lane, so there will have to be fewer stalls than the prototype's 18. I reckon about 15 or 16 might be doable to keep the same shape as our roundhouse. 

The really nice thing about it, is that it indexes and locks to the tracks, and has some power routing capabilities too. 

As for Elmer Lane's roundhouse, one of two 'proper' ones that NZ had (three if you count the little three track Lyttelton one), the prototype will house the length of an Ab inside, and that should be doable in NZ120. The workshop extension tracks housed another Ab in length (and even longer than that on one track which had a wheelset drop table, and one assumes from the aerial pic that length was added to each of the three tracks (presumably to house J/Ja locos), but I won't have that much room available.

New Year Modelling Day: Waihao Forks Update

The Southern MD contingent got together on 1 Jan 2025. What better way to start the year. 

A quorum was quickly declared with three attendees. 

All the tools, none of the skills.

The first item on the agenda was looking at stuff, chatting and pondering.

The second, and primary item, involved bringing the Waihao Forks module out into the sun for the first time in a few years. Its a really impressive wee piece, with a lovely CNC cut ovoid shape, hand laid code 40 track that was completed by Trackmaster RB about 15 years ago and wired and adjusted by MG around 2016. Time and relocations had resulted in some damage to the ends, so it was decided to add Fremo120 ends for connectivity and protection, 30cm across. 

Damaged code 40 track sections at the ends were replaced with Peco code 55, which looks a little Cold War in comparison to the filigree handlaid stuff, but we needed to extend the tracks out over the new endpieces, didn't have any spare code 40 handy, nor anyone who could deftly work a soldering iron to the standard required. 

This worked out OK. Peco code 55 is of course the same height as code 80 but with two track webs - one visible, and one buried in the sleepers, which is why the stuff is pretty sturdy.

This pic from a precious MD post on track. For the transition to code 40,  bottom web of the Peco track was filed off, leaving a much finer piece of track with a web on the bottom. A fishplate was added to this remaining web, and the top of the rails filed down a smidge to match the height of the code 40.

Some of the sleepers were removed and replaced with a thin PCB one to help with the height change. Sounds a bit dodgy, but wagons rolled very smoothly through this. It will all be ballasted over to hide the worst of the chunky bits.

The ends were soldered down to EB's ModelTech rail aligners (copper clad PCB sleeper module joiners with little notches to facilitate alignment).

The meeting adjourned for a late lunch at a nearby hostelry. 

After sustenance had been taken, work continued on the end pieces, and on freeing up and repairing two turnouts. This required freeing up the rodding and reattaching point blades to the throwbars. One was successfully resuscitated, and one remains a work in progress.

Among a few other projects tackled, MH brought along  "The Grassinator" so we all had our first attempts at static grassing a small test section of DB's Studholme. The first task required was to perform surgery on a donor power adaptor to get the right voltage and polarity into the beast. Our results were mixed, being three men who just decided to crack into it rather than reading the instructions first. This is a topic that we will revisit in a future post. Once we have read the instructions. 

But a success for The Forks, which is looking rather nice. 

Sorry to the purists, but we had no ye olde period rolling stock on hand.