Search results

Floyd, once you have the basic dogbone, you can do lots of things inside the loops. Here's another possibility that incorporates a small yard and a roundhouse and turntable.

"Blob" noun, 1) scary monster from 1950s horror films; 2) wider area of benchwork that allows track to turn around in a loop. Floyd, there are 2 basic approaches to a model railroad. A continuous loop or point to point. Some layouts combine both. A continuous loop is fairly...

Thanks David - sounds like it should be pretty easy to get in that case. :thumb: Val

Gary S. - that's exactly what I was asking about. Thanks for the diagram. Val

Success!!! Thanks to everyone for all the great advice! :thumb: Val

Gary, hopefully the diagrams below will explain. Because the Zephyr is also the throttle I want it adjacent to the yard ladder. I also want the tracks shown in darker grey to hook up to the front end of the bus wire, while the lighter grey tracks will hook up to the tail end of the bus wire...

Man, I wish I had the patience to do that. I bet it looks amazing!!!!! Val

Another quick question. Is is okay to take a secondary wire off the bus wire (same gauge) to feed into the Zephyr power inputs? I'm thinking a T configuration. Edit: the reason is that it will save doubling the bus wire back to where I want the Zephyr to be. Val

Again, thanks for the timely replies! :thumb: Gary, instead of running a lot of wires from the turnouts, I soldered the ladder tracks together. It's short enough that I don't anticipate any buckling. What you've done with many feeders in one place, but soldered to the bus wire is more or less...

Andrew, thanks for the additional info. For me, bare wires is a scary prospect, but it gives me an idea. If I could strip one large section of wire (instead of a bunch of smaller sections) and solder my feeders, it would save a lot of time and aggravation. Then I could insulate with electrical...

Thanks for the quick replies everyone!! This is great because I want to work on this today. Gus, I think that could work as long as you added some insulation around the wires afterwards. Bare wires scare me! :eek: Andrew, thanks for the heads up on the terminal strips. I know they would be a...

What's the best way to run all the feeder wires coming off the yard ladder to the bus wires? Is it better to: 1) solder each one individually to a separate part of the bus wire? 2) solder several matching polarity feeders together and then solder that to the bus wire? 3) attach each...

Thanks for all the info Andrew and Gary. Andrew, I'm not really looking to upgrade my track power as yet. The Zephyr seems to be up to the task of running my trains. The programming booster is the thing I need, as the Zephyr cannot program my locos, not on the prog track or on the main. Gary...

Thanks BT! The structures are Walthers Allied Rail Rebuilders (with the clerestory roof), Walthers Machine Shop (the one with the chimney). The large curtain wall building is made from City Classics Smallman St Warehouse parts. The large grain elevator in the rear was made by Robin (Matthyro)...

Andrew, thanks for the advice. The booster that I was thinking about is the one from Soundtraxx, which simply boosts the power to the programming track, since the Zephyr is unable to program any of the QSI decoders as is. It would be nice to have a power unit that can read/write CVs, but the...

Interesting Gary - I have just checked and it seems the mid-range Digitrax doesn't have read-back ability. Strange. However, it makes me think that for now at least, the programming booster may be just what I need. Thanks for the advice! :) Val

Josh, what are you going to put in that big corner lower left? How about a city scene, perhaps a little higher than the rest of the layout? Or an large industrial complex? Also, where's your yard lead? I don't see one. You can extend the green track down to the wall, and that will solve that...

I have the Digitrax Zephyr and a lot of Quantum Sound equipped locos. Problem is, the Zephyr does not put out enough power to program them. I have heard that there is a booster available for about $50 that corrects this problem, but I'm thinking of just doing a total upgrade and getting the...

Wow - that's a lot of railroad in a small space!! My only suggestion would be to get rid of the double building above the yard and extend the yard tracks. Or you could turn it into a backdrop building. Or, if you're using it as a sort of view block, maybe just have a single building there. Val

Looking good Mikey!! :thumb: Depending how high the layout is, you could use a swivel chair with the back taken off under there. Val