Oh ho, someone else has been bitten by the bug…. :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

Well, that decision has reduced the amount of wiring required, so what's next for the baseboards ? (he said, desperately trying to steer the thread back on track  :? )

 :D  :D

Perry

Back to 2 holes Perry !!!!!!!

What was to be the right hand station board will now become the centre board to allow for the points at the throat.  Ah, such is life !!

Re CAD track planning - I've tried DRail but I have a problem understanding how to set up the scale/grid system.

Scale is obvious but I need the grid to help place the tracks.  how do I do it please ?

I'd like to use ft & inches ('cos I'm very old) and would like a grid laid out in 6" squares !!  I can't make it do that !

If I can get the blessed thing to work, I could post a track plan.  It was my free-hand track plan that led to the lack of space in the first place.

Petermac

Can't help with DRail, I'm afraid, but when it comes to track planning, I allow about a foot (12") length per point, so a crossover using two points to link double track needs the best part of 2 feet of baseboard; probably quite a bit more than one might expect!  :shock: This is for the Peco medium radius points.

Minimum track centres should be 2". Most dimensions can be roughly estimated from these measurements and will allow a little leeway. If you plan on using electric point motors, don't forget they need space below the track and mustn't foul baseboard crossmembers. This needs taking into account when planning their exact positions.

Perry

Hi Petermac, if you click on Tools then Options in the View panel you will see a little box for the Grid and the Grid size. Tick the grid box and put 6 in the Grid Size and that will give you your 6 inch grid squares. Make sure you have chosen inches of course as the measurement you are working in. Hope this helps.

If you have any questions about DRail, please don't hesitate to ask them through our helpdesk at info @ drail.net

Of course, you can ask your questions here if you wish, but I'm not checking this forum every hour!

Indeed Robert, you are right about the grid. Make sure you have set your measurement system in inches. Please refer to the Tutorial on our website (www.drail.net) if you don't know how to do that.

And about scale, this is the view-scale, not the scale of your track! The scale of the track depends on the track library that you choose.

Regards, David (founder of DRail).

Thanks Bob and David - there were a couple of problems -

1. I hadn't set the measurement to inches so when I entered the grid size, all sorts of interesting things happened and
2. I was trying to do everything at far too small a scale and couldn't get things to behave as I wanted.

Having studied the manual David, things are a little clearer now.  "If all else fails, read the instructions" !!!!!!

I know -  I'm a dummy but computers never were my strong point, they don't move fast enough and they don't correct me when I boob !!!!!

Watch this space for my track plan.

Petermac

David, if you didn't already know, is the horses mouth, as it were. Thanks for the input David.

You had me a bit confused there Bob - for a moment, I wondered how on earth you knew I ate carrots and sugar lumps !!!  Then I noticed your punctuation - yes, I did know that David IS Mr DRail and, now that I'm getting the hang of it (and reading the instructions), I'm having great fun with it.  Well designed David !! :wink:

Petermac

I read my post again and I was confused too so I have altered it slightly. :roll:

Removed, mis posted.

Haven't done any work on my baseboards for months now :oops::oops:

We've done the new roof which incorporates 6" of urethane foam insulation so the attic is now ready and waiting for me but first, there's some plumbing and electrics to do - a couple of water heaters to move (we have 2 x 300 litre tanks here with built in emersion heaters and they both sit bang in the middle of my "railway space") which means a fair bit  of re-piping to do then an internal hollow wall to put up (I'm only allowed half the attic space !!).   I can then move everything up there and get going.  A job for this winter.  SWMBO seems to think there's other, more important jobs to do first :shock::shock::shock:   They never learn do they !!

Still - the good side is that, as my baseboards are currently on trestles in the garage and SWMBO's soft-top car lives outside, it's got to be done before the bad weather starts so her car can have it's kennel back :roll::roll:

The point of this post is that today, I decided to cobble together a small baseboard for running-in  my locos.  It's just a simple 12mm ply top on a 45 x 22 timber frame.  At 1.10 m x 1.4m, it's designed to sit on a table  with a circle of set-track so that I can run the locos round and round for half an hour in each direction (as advised by the manufacturers) to bed in the motors and gears etc.

Last week, a friend gave me a large box of old 1950's model railway gear  - mainly Trix 3 rail stuff although little in the way of rolling stock - but it also included a fair bit of Hornby set-track - hence the "running in" circuit.

It will be great to see locos running around at last albeit just on a small circle. It will also be an ideal place to try out different types of ballast etc.

At last a place for "testing" your stock, Peter.

I may have missed this info., but how big will your space in the attic be :question Are you going for a 2008 moving in ceremony :question

Jeff - my "bit" is pretty useful with the "full headroom" part at about 12ft x 25ft

I actually doubt there'll be a 2008  "Track Warming Ceremony" but I'm aiming for around Burn's Night (3rd week in January) so I may well disappear for a wee dram !!

 

Amazing what you learn on here, I never even knew you had baseboards Peter ;-)

Now enough of all this swanning around enjoying yourself, lets see some track laid :lol:

PM, 25 x 12 is a GOOD size but do not get carried away by filling it with track - leave room for scenery & those scratchbuilt buildings.

You're absolutely right Sol. :thumbs

Whilst trackwork is obviously the reason for the model, I love the layouts that show the "real thing" as it were - afterall, railways run through countryside not the other way round !!

There'll be plenty of "open" countryside and even - eventually - my "coal depot" !!!:roll::roll::lol::lol::lol::lol:

Peter

I remember the day that we sat down and watched loco's going around for the first time in years, just great, and also a very good idea having a separate board for running in your loco's. I am looking forward to watching your layout grow ( coal yard  as well) and as you say with the oncoming winter and your wife wanting the garage back, looks like you will be able to get going.

Good luck