N Scale T-Trak

billmtx Oct 28, 2010

  1. poppy2201

    poppy2201 TrainBoard Member

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    If anyone has not seen this T-Kits.com, a supplier of T-TRAK modules, has closed. I must say I have enjoyed communicating with Terry in the short time I have been involved with T-TRAK and purchasing some of his modules.

    http://t-kits.com/

    Regards,
    Charles
     
    Last edited: May 22, 2018
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  2. randgust

    randgust TrainBoard Member

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    Rats, I'd purchased several items from them, including all the electrical plugs on my five T-trak modules.

    Who else does the electrical plugs? They must be a Kato part....something, right?

    Oh, and my response to the track issue is that I'm using Unitrak only at the edges and immediately convert over to Peco C55 for the rest of the modules. Where I want a siding or spur to be 'buried' I'm building up to tie level with 1/8 sheet material - cork, basswood, whatever, so that the area adjacent to the rails is pretty much at tie level.

    I've ballasted and painted Unitrak components but its a pain. The trick on this shot is that I laboriously hand-painted a Kato #4 to match the cinder fill on the siding; there's no cinders on the switch, you could still lift it right out for maintenance. I'd never bother but the switch is right at the edge of the module. The second switch in is Peco C55.

    [​IMG]
     
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  3. poppy2201

    poppy2201 TrainBoard Member

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    Terry was a source for the Anderson Power Pole connectors and wiring for modules. As far as I know there are not any others providing this service. It was really great for me since I'm not the best when it comes to making electrical components.

    Regards,
    Charles
     
  4. MK

    MK TrainBoard Member

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    Charles, that ballon party is an AWESOME idea! I'm going to have to study it some more! :)
     
  5. spyder62

    spyder62 TrainBoard Member

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    Anyone in the Salem, Oregon area that wants to get together and do some T-trak . If you are get ahold of me
    thanks
    rich
     
  6. JoeTodd

    JoeTodd TrainBoard Member

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    FB_IMG_1527412536448.jpg FB_IMG_1527412518064.jpg got the 4 curved modules wired up tonight running my first lock. Yea!! 20180527_051427.jpg 20180527_051427.jpg
     
  7. MK

    MK TrainBoard Member

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    Excellent! Good work there Joe!
     
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  8. arbomambo

    arbomambo TrainBoard Member

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    I come from a fine scale background (code 40 and code 55), and have built both, NTRAK and T-TRAK modules. On my T-TRAK modules, I SPECIFICALLY use only Kato track, to show folks what can be done to make Kato Unitrack look convincing. I paint the rail and ties, of course, but I also ballast the Unitrack, mainly along the pre-formed slope. To create ground level rail, I raise the surround landforms to the tie height, using foam core board or appropriate thickness cork. N Scale T-TRAK has a lot of attributes, but, IMO, chief among them is the attractiveness to a brand new model railroader. Someone, who has neither, the room for a layout, and/or who hasn't yet developed the skills that many of our more experienced model railroaders. From that point, T-TRAK modules can be anything the owner creator desires them to be-whimsical 'toylike' modules to fine scale modeling displays and anything in between.
     
    Ken Ford likes this.
  9. arbomambo

    arbomambo TrainBoard Member

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    As I've been posting recently, I've FINALLY set aside time and prioritized adding fine details to my existing T-TRAK modules. First detail is adding static grasses to the areas I need it; I had always intended to do this step but set it aside in order to get my modules show worthy as quickly as possible... Now, 3-4 years later, I don't want to put it off any longer. So far, I've done 1 triple,2 doubles, 2 singles, and 2 corners...I still have 2 singles, and 2 doubles left to do (I do need to go back and add 'flowers/clover(?)' to the first 2 singles and 2 doubles)...
    I had originally done the first few modules in layers of different static grasses, ending with a final application of a Noch cow pasture grass, comprised of three different lengths of various colored grasses. As I've vacuumed excess (and recovered it via a stocking over the vacuum hose), I've accumulated a good amount of the various layers, all combined into one 'mix' of static grasses. I'm now using this recovered mix as the first layer, skipping the 2 intermediate layers, and going straight to the last cow pasture application, cutting down the time considerably!
    Finally, for these modules, I'm adding patches of fine green blend ground foam, topped with white 'flowers', over the cow pasture grass. All these different textures and colors help to bring the original scenes to a higher standard of scenery. Here are some examples of this last week's work.
    I want to thank Bill Denton for the 'kick' to get this step done- his incredible work, posted in this thread, was the impetus I needed to get going on these!
    ~Bruce

    IMG_9691.JPG IMG_9759.JPG IMG_9760.JPG IMG_9778.JPG IMG_9781.JPG
     
  10. SD35

    SD35 TrainBoard Member

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    Nice work and nice pictures !...........Rainer
     
  11. casmmr

    casmmr TrainBoard Member

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    Bruce, the plowed field looks real. How did you do it? thanks, Craig
     
  12. baldylox

    baldylox TrainBoard Member

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    its a Busch carboard out of the box product.
     
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  13. charsand

    charsand TrainBoard Member

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    I am thinking of getting into T-Trak and would like to know everyone's opinion regarding depressed decking versus flush decking.

    Thanks
    Charlie
     
  14. casmmr

    casmmr TrainBoard Member

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    Charlie, the main advantage of the depressed decking is that you can add streams and/or other below ground level elements of nature. Google t-trak modules and look at the pictures and you will see modules with streams, etc. Go back in this thread and you will see a stream done by Bruce. The flush decking is great for adding elevation or having a flat landscape. It depends upon what you want in your t-trak modules as to which is best for what you are trying to accomplish. Many t-trakers have both types of modules so that they can make different land forms. Whatever you decide, remember to have fun. later, Craig
     
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  15. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    That's a great idea arbomambo -- thank you. That will be a cool variation to try on some of my industrial spurs when I build my (non-modular) Unitrack railroad.

    My gosh, your Unitrack work in the photos above is amazingly realistic. Outstanding! I just don't know if I'd have the patience and endurance to even try that. I guess I could always try a test section.
     
  16. txronharris

    txronharris TrainBoard Member

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    I agree with you about the big visual difference between Kato Unitrack and code 55 or code 40. Thats my biggest drawback not because I'm an elitist, but because I like more realistic trackwork. I can see the appeal of Unitrack and even some great examples here in this thread which may make me re-think things. While free-mo still appeals to me more, the local nscale club is a TTrak and if I decide to be a part of them I really have no other choices. I'm surprised there's not any NScale free-mo clubs here locally, but your statement about how TTrak appeals to more people is probably a good indication as to why.

    Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
     
  17. r_i_straw

    r_i_straw Mostly N Scale Staff Member

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    I painted and ballasted the Kato Unitrak on this inside corner module. The turnout to the elevator is bogus, just there for looks. If you look close there is no frog, just straight rail going around the curve. The fake siding is Atlas code 55.
    [​IMG]
     
  18. randgust

    randgust TrainBoard Member

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    On the 'flush vs depressed', I belong to the club that says that if the only tool you have is hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

    I have a complete wood shop left to me by my father, including a lot of precision tools and a wonderful 10" overhead radial. It's not my hobby, but for basic layout construction, including modules, it sure makes it a lot easier. If it's wood, I can make it. I bought a module kit to make sure I understood construction and dimensions and then have made all my other ones myself.

    And that's what's behind my modules - I've done both depressed (Hickory Bridge) and flush (West Hickory) and then two kinda in-between - where not much of the original deck is left and I've cookie-cuttered it up pretty good (Trunkeyville). One of the things I've really enjoyed and seems unusual to everybody but me is hacking down the front edge into an embankment shape. That happened because my prototype is running up a river valley, but it also meant that I've lost front-edge strength. So on mine, I run a second front 'panel edge' right under the two main line tracks - edge to edge - so that the structural rigidity is moved in there. I glue that up out of birch plywood and then fit the top deck on it, cutting out where I wanted features like the creek at Trunkeyville. I then added things like raising the road above it, and the hillside structure under the oil tanks - out of blocks of wood and plywood. It's like a lightweight cookie-cutter, but it's super-strong at the roadbed level. That's what I don't like about foam build-ups; that and having nothing to really spike the track down to that is simply NOT going to move. It doesn't hurt that I've got about a dozen precision picture frame clamps.

    My scenery is all conventional hardshell - plaster-soaked paper towels, a layer of thin plaster for surface smoothness, latex paint to seal, then real dirt and ground foam, then all manner of Woodland Scenics products from there up. I do my own photo backdrops of the actual area.

    Here's progress shots on Trunkeyville, this was raw latex-painted plywood at last years' Altoona show. More trees added daily.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    On the track end, most of what you see is Peco C55, transitioning to 1/2 pieces of Unitrack at the edges, painted and ballasted. The one switch at the right edge is a Kato 4, modified at the points to prevent derailments, but it ran fine in last years show. The only trick with is was laboriously painting it cinder black to match the adjacent cinders, not a bit of ballast on it. I can still lift it right out. But everything else is conventional ballast.
     
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2018
  19. randgust

    randgust TrainBoard Member

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    This direct overhead shot shows the 'why' of Trunkeyville. When configured with the Hickory Valley portable layout this becomes the PRR interchange - West Hickory. But on the West Hickory triple, there was no way to close the interchange track with PRR to the 'north'. Adding Trunkeyville to it closes the interchange track. And Trunkeyville can stand on its own, or link to the West Hickory Bridge with a single track in the back and a single track in the front, and partner "Jamison" is a mirror-image of Trunkeyville to get back to regular track spacing.

    The prototype interchange track plan: http://www.randgust.com/West Hickory Valmap Extract.jpg

    "Hickory Bridge" attaches to the front in that configuration and links to my portable logging railroad. I have yet to figure out if I can make an adapter that generally follows the curved trestle idea at the other end of the Hickory Bridge. It's a neat feature, but it doesn't really fit any T-trak geometry known to man.

    So you can see how the T-trak triple "West Hickory" + double "Trunkeyville" pull that interchange idea off. "Jamison" double brings the tannery track into the main - I have a 1950's track chart that shows that both the crossover and south-end- tie in to PRR were added at some point. Or it can connect to the Hickory Bridge and Thompson triples as a continuous run as it has at Altoona.

    [​IMG]

    So far this is reaching my concept of having a prototypically-accurate track plan for the HVRR at the same time I've got a collection of modules in T-trak geometry that can fit a wide variety of situations in either stand-alone or together mode for public shows.

    One thing I need to add to Trunkeyville is a removable 'brush pile' that fits over the tank siding end so that when paired with West Hickory, the track doesn't appear to go in to the kitchen of the house in West Hickory!
     
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2018
    Onizukachan and r_i_straw like this.
  20. casmmr

    casmmr TrainBoard Member

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    Randgust, your detail amazes me. Really good job. I enjoy viewing your updates and seeing your progress. I wish I could see the modules in person at Altoona, but, medical reasons prevent that from happening. Any chance of you attending an Ohio N-scale Weekend?
     

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