HINTS AND TIPS - THE FOLLOW ON
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Easing a Gradient on open benchwork
From Mike Cheesman
If you are working on a small space layout, one way to make gradients less steep, when you want to cross one track over another, is to have one track on a falling grade, the other on a rising grade. say you want a clearance of 2" over a distance of 48", a 2" rise in 48" is a bit steep, if however one track drops 1" and the other rises 1" you halve the gradient for trains on both sections of track.
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Window Signs
From Mike Cheesman
You can get transparency material which can be printed on by ink jet or laser printer. Be careful not to use the ink jet material in a laser though.
Possible uses include names on shop and office windows and stained glass windows in churches because you can print the panels and separations.
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Cheap Realistic Trees
From Steve Moss
Need some decent filler trees, for cheap? Check out the local craft store in the flora section. Lots of flora stalks can be stripped and made into good looking filler trees especially with ground foam covering.
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Model Rail Photo Lighting
From Several Modellers
You are trying to emulate real life in your photos.
Make sure your entire subject is in good light. You want a single source of light as far from subject as you can. This will give you the widest coverage of your target. Try to make it a single and sharp light as the sun is to us in 1:1 scale. What you are looking for an trying to create is crisp shadows.
It is ok for a shadow to be light, but the edges need to be sharp.
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Using Lace to make Ladders
From Allan Ogden (Sunshine MRC, Melbourne Australia)
If you want to make small ladders cheaply e.g. for the backs of signals, get some lacing or material mesh to the spacing between rungs that you need for your ladder, lay it on greaseproof paper and paint it with PVA. When it hardens, paint it an apropriate colour and apply it to your home made signals, back yard ladder jobs and so forth.
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Tapping White Metal
From Several Modellers
If you are assembling a White Metal kit… White metal is very soft but it should tap fairly easily. The idea is to turn the tap 1/2 turn in, then turn 1/4 out. This will break-off the metal shavings that tend to clog up the tap. winding the tap in all the way without 'back-turning' it is a sure way to break a tap. (Glen Haasdyk )
You might want to use a thin lubricant such as kerosene or thin oil with a quality tap. (Dick Rasmussen)
Using very small taps soft metal tends to clog tap. I use ith 1/8 turn and back a1/4 and remove tap fron hole every 1/2 turn and blow chips out of hole i use wd40 in spray can for lube. (Jim Currie)
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Using a Drinking Straw as Conduit
From Donald Day
I was working on the wiring on the new section of my layout and things are going relatively easy. I had to make some changes to a part of my old layout and now wiring was not so easy anymore. I had to feed the wires for two new turnouts through a layer of plaster, two and a half inches of foam and a hollow-core door.
Four inches total, and getting the wires lined up through the door just was not going to happen until I remembered a trick we used to line up LEDs that protruded through a panel… a drinking straw. Yes, I used a common drinking straw as a conduit and the natural slipperiness of the straw assists in the feeding through of the wire.
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Putting Signs in Windows
From Tom Carter
I was in the process of adding some paper signs that I printed out on my non-laser printer for some windows in structure models. You have to seal the printing, or else it will smear when glue, or any moisture for that matter, touches it. I could buy a can of Art Fix Spray, that is used to fix charcoal drawings, or use Dull Coat to seal the prints. This could wind up being expensive,
What I did was to use Scotch Brand Magic Tape to seal the printing behind a thin plastic sheet. The magic tape is best for this as it all but vanishes once applied. Then the sign can be cut to size and stuck to the window with a drop of white glue. Once I used clear box tape to secure the poster to the window, covering the entire window with the clear tape.
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Making Thatched Roofs
From Several Modellers
I made a thatched roof years ago using very thick 1/8" string. when it was unravelled, I rolled it with a wallpaper roller and starched it (Wife will tell you about the starch she uses in your collars when ironing) when the string has been ironed, it can be cut to shape and inlaid on the roof piece by piece and it looks effective.
A basic material used for model thatching is plumber's hemp also known as tow. It is a fibrous material which is normally supplied in large hanks and used by plumbers to seal screwed pipe fittings. The hemp is cut into small bundles about 1 inch long and about 0.25 inches thick. These bundles are glued (using PVA glue) onto the card base of the roof in rows working up the roof and overlapping each row. This is similar to the way that real thatch is laid.
You could try using fuse wire laid over the card gable of your thatched cottage and paint and weather it accordingly.
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Weathering with Charcoal
From Stephen Gibson (Ontario)
In addition to using chalks for weathering purposes try a similar method with (artists) charcoal pencils. They can be scraped into a cup and applied using a brush, or use it like a pencil for fine work. The effect is more of a 'grimy', dull black. Its also a little more permanent than chalk, although it can be wiped off with some work. Works well for me
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Yard Design Commandments Pt 1
From Craig Bisgeier
This series will mainly deal with larger layouts and yards but the “rules†are useful for something we all aspire to in the larger layout… enjoy the series!
Thou Shalt Not Foul The Main
Most modelers do not usually consider the main line as a part of the yard, but it is the most important track in it, or around it. The main line is the artery that carries the life blood of the railroad, passengers and freight. Just as in the arteries of a living thing, if the mains become obstructed it causes major problems to the system. Prototype railways go to great lengths to keep the mains clear, and so should you. Therefore, when beginning the design of any yard, we consider the first commandment before any other design rule. Ideally the main line should only have two points leading to the yard, one at each end. And they are only used when complete trains either enter or leave the yard.
There is an exception… when planning a yard for a lightly used branchline, or a small stub-end terminal yard, it is not always necessary to keep the main clear. If the branch only supports one or two trains a day, there usually is not a problem with using the main.
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Yard Design Commandments Pt 2
From Craig Bisgeier
Thou Shalt Provide A Dedicated Lead Track or Head Shunt
After the main line, the most important track in the yard is the head shunt or lead track depending whether you are talking from an English or North American perspective. The head shunt is the backbone of the yard, it is the track all others either connect to or branch from. The shunter should always be able get to any track in one forward move, and to escape back to the lead from almost anywhere in the yard in one reverse move. Therefore, as many turnouts off the lead that can be arranged so should be facing points or turnouts.
Confused? Try this. Think of the yard as a garden rake. The yard lead is the handle, the various tracks that make up the yard are the tines. As you go forward up the lead (handle), all tracks (tines) radiate up and away from the handle. None turn back in the other direction (unless it's a really old rake…). In this example, all the turnouts off the lead would be facing-point turnouts, with their movable points "facing" the base of yard lead.
Doesn't sound important? If you think about it, any track on a trailing-point switch that has to be served from the lead requires the switcher either to run around a car or cars, or to make a reverse move off of the lead to serve that track, and leave the lead. At the very least, this usually creates a delay with extra moves, limited access to the track or tracks being worked, and the possibility of fouling moving traffic across other tracks.
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Yard Design Commandments Pt 3
From Craig Bisgeier
Thou Shalt Not Foul The Yard Lead Now that we have cleared the main and given the shunter a track of its own to work from, we have to ensure the switching crew can do their job no matter what lunacy is going on around them. Therefore we try to keep the yard lead clear at all times. While designing the yard, try to avoid including crossovers or other trackage arrangements that interfere with the yard lead or the switch crews' ability to keep on classifying indefinitely. Yards with active tracks that cut across the lead will constantly be delayed and in turmoil. It cannot always be avoided, but if you start off with this in mind it will help you avoid situations where this becomes necessary.
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Yard Design Commandments Pt 4
From Craig Bisgeier
Thou Shalt Use Arrival / Departure Tracks If we cannot use the main for anything, and we cannot use the yard lead to move trains in and out, how do we get trains off the main into the yard, and vice-versa? We have to include a special track, or tracks, called arrival / departure, or A/D, tracks.
A/D tracks are sidings off the main with a connection to the yard lead, where trains are stored – temporarily – while they are broken down or built up. The shunter should be able to cross over from the lead, grab a rake of wagons from the A/D track and pull it directly onto the head shunt to sort it, or pull a rake from the yard body and place it into the A/D track in just two moves. The A/D track should never be used as an extra classification track because this will subvert its purpose as a holding track off the main. It may work for a while but as soon as another train arrives or you need to put another one together, you have nowhere to put it.
If you have space, it is good to have more than one A/D track so you can handle making or breaking more than one train at a time. Just make sure you can get to each one via the yard lead in just one move. I find it usually works well to place the A/D access track from the lead on the near end of the first A/D track, near where it joins the main, and then build a ladder track just beyond that for all the other A/D tracks.
Last edit: by xdford
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Yard Design Commandments Pt 5
From Craig Bisgeier
Thou Shalt Provide A Brake Van Track Whether it is a double-ended or a stub siding, you need to have a place to store brake vans out of the way while classifying trains, but accessible enough to get to them fast. Usually the Brake Van track is located off either the yard ladder, the yard lead or one of the A/D tracks. My personal favorite is off the A/D where you are building or breaking a train anyway, but any easy to get to location will work. It is a great place to display all your brake van models too. If it is a stub track, make sure it is accessed easily from the yard lead and that it is from a facing-point turnout.
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Yard Design Commandments Pt 6a
From Craig Bisgeier
Thou Shalt Be Able to Reach Everything Pt 1
It is a fact of life that derailments will happen. Regardless of how good your trackwork is, there’s always a super-light wagon being shoved behind a heavier vehicle, or a hopper with out-of-gauge wheelsets somewhere waiting to pick a switchpoint or be forced off the track. S-curves conspire to throw your passenger cars off the rails. Locomotives stall on spots of dirty track, or on turnouts that have insulated frogs. None of these things are much of a problem as long as you can reach the spot of the accident, because it’s quickly and easily fixed. The trouble starts when you locate tracks and turnouts outside your reach. Placing a critical point 36†or more from the layout edge does not seem like a problem when you have pencil to paper, but once the yard starts to operate, I guarantee it will be your biggest headache.
Save yourself a ton of trouble and misery by planning your yard (and the rest of your railway) so that your operators can reach everything easily. 24-30†(600-750mm) is about the realistic limit for most people to reach and manipulate objects, any farther and they are likely to do more harm than good. Cars on tracks near the front of the layout get knocked over and scenery gets damaged by leaning people. If you must have tracks that extend past 30†deep, make sure the turnouts leading to them are in reach, since that’s where most problems happen. And just because you are tall and can reach farther does not mean your friends or visitors can too, better take that into account. Layout height makes a difference too, as does distance between decks on multi-level designs.
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Yard Design Commandments Pt 6b
From Craig Bisgeier
Thou Shalt Be Able to Reach Everything Pt 2
Plan for success. If you must make your yard wider than you can reach from one side, all is not lost. Consider a shallow operators’ aisle on the other side of the yard. This is a great solution for double-track layouts, and can allow you to split the yard into two manageable halves, and do more work with two switching crews. Just 16†of aisle is all that is necessary, and a few feet to either side allowing the operator to reach the critical points around the turnouts/points. This can be a duck- or crawl-under without access to the rest of the aisles, as a yard operator generally stays in one place during a session.
A pop-up, however, is not a substitute. Do not design a yard that needs one to reach distant tracks because you will be using it far too often. Either have a permanent operator back there and give him space to work, or do not bother.
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Yard Design Commandments Pt 7
From Craig Bisgeier
Thou Shalt Provide A Run-around Somewhere on or off the head shunt, be sure to provide a short siding or set of facing crossovers to an adjacent track. This allows the shunter to run around a car or two, especially a brak van. If there is no run-around it can be very difficult to tack a van onto the back of a departing goods train without making the driver back his whole train into the brak van track, which is not very prototypical and upsets all the other guards.
A run-around is also very important if you have yard or industry tracks with trailing-point switches within yard limits. Provide enough length to run around at least one passenger car if possible. The longer the run-around the better, and more than one is better yet. However, if space is at a premium, just enough space to run around one long car is probably enough.
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Yard Design Commandments Pt 8
From Craig Bisgeier
Thou Shalt Not Overcrowd The Yard All yards have a certain threshold number of wagons they can hold and continue to function well. Go beyond this threshold amount and the yard quickly clogs, making it very difficult to work with. Now, all yards have busy times where several trains arrive at once and the yard crew is overwhelmed for a short time. A clogged yard quickly becomes a bottleneck, brings the railway to a standstill and frustrates everyone.
A good rule of thumb is to calculate how many average length cars you can hold in the body of the yard when all tracks are full, without fouling any of the points. Then take that number and divide by two. This number is your threshold amount. Depending on your yard design it may be slightly higher or lower, but generally a yard that is half full – is full. Start getting more crowded than that and things get clogged up fast. But do not be afraid if traffic surges now and then, driving the number of wagons beyond the threshold – as long as the yardmaster can clear some of them out of the yard in short order it is not usually a big problem. If the condition becomes chronic, it is time to start pulling wagons off the railway.
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Yard Design Commandments Pt 9
From Craig Bisgeier
Thou Shalt Keep in Mind the Prototype A yard is a dynamic object, constantly in motion and so should your yard be. Remember that the purpose of a classification yard is to collect incoming railcars, rearrange them and get them on trains that will take them to their destinations. But there is usually a limit to how many cars a yardmaster can classify in a set period of time, both on the prototype and model. If more cars are coming into the yard than the yardmaster can handle, the situation deteriorates and becomes unworkable fairly quickly. So, you could say there is a threshold amount of cars that can be run through the yard within a set period of time as well.
This threshold number depends upon the size and physical restrictions of the yard, how good the modeler is at classifying cars, and if the train schedules allow the yardmaster to get rid of cars regularly on outbound trains as quickly as they arrive. The schedule, or timetable, becomes very important as you start pushing the upper limit of throughput. Remember that on a large model railway layout a big yard could have a few hundred wagons through an operating session – but if everything converges on the yard at once, no yardmaster is going to be able to keep up with that. Scheduling carefully can keep things busy most of the time without overwhelming the crew.
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