My new 1:480 scale linear motor-powered exhibition layout is now taking shape. It is a 6' x 2' model of a small mainline station in south-western England named Dauntsey. The main features will be a double-track main line with a small goods yard for some automatic shunting, enough storage to provide a good assortment of trains, half a mile of working canal alongside the railway, plus a small road loop with trucks servicing the goods yard. Most of the track, wiring and electronics are done, with completion of that stage expected by the end of the month.
The canal loop is ready to install. A simple meandering oval running alongside the railway, with a working lock as an unusual scenic feature.
Looks very interesting. I am not exactly sure what you mean by motor powered. Please elaborate. thanks, gmorider
There is a lot more detail in another thread: https://www.trainboard.com/highball...ed-shunting-with-linear-motor-t-gauge.128030/
All the track has been assembled and installed. All the electronics modules have been built and tested. There are currently 75 3-wire cables dangling beneath the layout, all of which plug in to those modules.
Wow, that is something! By "motor powered," I assume that the motor is within the locomotive, as opposed to an external movement device, such as an electromagnet? You are definitely a pioneer. I recall when N scale was considered impossibly small, and before my time HO was considered exotic for its size.
Thanks muchly. The key phrase is "linear motor" rather than just "motor". It is basically a conventional motor split into two parts: the coils/electromagnets along the track (stretched out and unwound from their usual cylindrical shape, hence "linear") and the permanent magnets in the trains (and trucks and canal boats). While it is based on a commercial product from IDL Motors, and used with their permission, I have pushed things along a bit further. For what it is worth, the layout passed all of its basic functional tests a few days ago, with the track, electronics and wiring now complete. The points/switches, canal lock, etc. are all behaving themselves. I am currently 3D printing the main buildings and structures, and plan to make a quick work-in-progress video of the whole layout in limited operation in another week or so.
Thanks and sorry! I do believe you did explain the mechanisms, but it is so in advance of what is the standard it took me a while to grasp the concept. I take it the canal lock will be operation, too? Let us know when you install the Tn3!!
Enough pieces of the layout have now come together to make publishing a preliminary work-in-progress video worthwhile. Baseboard, track and electrics are finished, and construction of the scenery has begun. The initial one-section-at-a-time test software has been replaced with something a bit more elaborate. The final version will manage up to a dozen trains on the main line instead of the current four. The trains are test pieces or borrowed from a previous layout. There are still plenty of rough edges here, but it should start to give an idea of what it is all meant to look like.
There has been some more progress after a couple of months of inactivity. The bulk of the scenery is now complete, although still lacking vegetation (other than grass), detailing, etc. Figuring out how to create reasonable and functional water for the canal took a bit of skull sweat. Next step: the backscene.
The backscene has now been constructed and installed, although with no attempt yet to properly blend it into the scenery. It started out as a half-way suitable panorama found on the web (and free for personal use!), was heavily edited in Paint and GIMP, then glued to a painted sky. It should look better with the dummy road overbridge painted and trees to conceal the other track pass-throughs.
A bit more progress on the scenery - tress, hedges and a bit of a general cleanup. I'll save the fences and the rest until the final detailing phase, so for now it is back to the moving bits...
Now that the scenery is mostly done, it is back to building the vehicles and getting things running again. Starting with the canal...