Very productive Saturday! I’ve started adding the track feeders, switch machines and block detectors to the first staging yard board. So far I have added the feeders for the detected blocks (orange for the Freight yard, and yellow for the Metra yard), installed two Digitrax BDL168 block detectors (one for […]
LAYOUT UPDATE: Tracking laying on Board 1 almost finished
2nd evening of track laying, and I’ve almost finished laying the track on the first board of the lower staging yard. All the turnouts are laid, and I just have a few pieces of flex track to lay. I’ll lay these once I have re-installed the board on the wall […]
LAYOUT UPDATE: Track laying starts!
I’ve finally started laying track! Tonight I laid almost half the track for the lower freight siding – so almost one of the 6ft boards. Tomorrow I will lay the track for the Metra yard on this board, and then put the two layout boards together so I can run […]
LAYOUT UPDATE: Episode 10 – Building Baseboard Kits
Follow along as I continue the build of my N scale model railroad. In this episode I show you how I put together the baseboard kits I am using. Be sure to view my Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/chicagosubnscale as I will be adding photos and updates to that as I build […]
YARD DESIGN: Testing the track spacing
Nothing better than testing the track in 1:1…as I found out, the initial track plan had a flaw, where the throwbar hit the track next to it, so I had to adjust the spacing (adding in 2cm pieces of track) to move the turnouts slightly away from each other. In […]
YARD DESIGN: Planning the staging yard
Planning is progressing well for the lower level staging yard. Using AnyRail, I’ve been trying out a few designs for the two staging yards, one for the freight and one for the Metra passenger service. While using track planning software helps a huge deal, nothing beats laying it out in […]
HELIX BUILD: Wiring and track layout – Episode 8
Follow along as I continue the build of my N scale model railroad. In this episode I complete the wiring and track laying in the helix. I explain how I did the blocks for train detection and how I wired the helix. Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel […]
Helix completed!
Productive day today – finished the wiring of my helix and connected it to the Digitrax BXP88 block detector. Successfully ran 2 shuttle schedules using Railroad & Co, testing two locos up and down the helix. Now just to wait for the first baseboard kits to arrive and I can […]
LAYOUT UPDATE: Episode 7 – helix test & track planning
Follow along as I continue the build of my N scale model railroad. In this episode I do a test of the helix using a freight and passenger train, as well as giving an update on my track planning using AnyRail. Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel to […]
Quick Helix update
Bit of a delay with the next video, but in the meantime the rest of my Kato track has arrived for the helix…so here’s a photo of the first train to the top!! New video out later this week!