New Southern Utah Modules

jesso

Member
Hello all!
As our club does not have a permanent location to meet, we don't have a place to build a layout at. When we have our regular meetings, we can't run trains (a big problem for a train club :) ) For the past year or so, I have been trying to come up with some way to build a layout that we could carry easily and put together quickly and take down quickly. We have the bend track modules, but at 4x3 for each of the two balloons, they aren't transportable in my little car. We came up with several ideas, but all were starting from scratch with measurements and building. Finally, I heard about T-Trak (http://ttrak.org/). The modules are REALLY small and they are light and they setup VERY quickly. I was watching a Youtube video of an Australian T-Trak club and they put together a large yard in seconds, that was good enough for me. Plus all the measurements were already done so reinventing the wheel!

Minimum you need four corners, and also some straights to add some length. We glued the modules together one night:

Straight Module:
straighttop.jpg


Corner Module:
cornertop.jpg


You set these up on a table, so you put bolts and T-Washers on so that you can level them. Here are the undersides of the modules:

Straight:
straightunder.jpg


Corner:
cornerunder.jpg


A few of our members do not like the 3-tracks on N-Track, so they were happy so see it is only dual track. Here is what the modules look like with track on:

Straight:
straighttrack.jpg


Corner:
cornertrack.jpg


Will start painting these soon and decorating them. I am hopeful that with their small size, I can get lots of people around here interested in building their own little piece and the layout will grow and grow. For now I am building 4 corners and 4 straights and Mooreway is building six straights, will show more pictures as we update them.
 

jesso

Member
I put all the modules next to each other and laid the track down because I wanted to test whether or not my longest cars can be next to each other without touching. I tested the corners and even offset they don't touch, so it appears that 33mm is good spacing between n scale tracks. Next step, paint the modules. I am going to paint the sides midnight green, and the tops honeycomb, and then glue the track on.

trakplan.jpg
 

TrainNut

Ditat Deus
Lookin' real good Scott. I like how the modules are so small. It seems like it would be a lot of fun to scenic one.
 

jesso

Member
Tom,
Thanks. We are going to do some of them whimsical. Figured that since we can make so many modules, we can be serious in some places and have fun in others. And depending on the show, we can leave some out if we want to.

Jim,
I hope so, I can fit all the modules on the seats of my car and fit Mooreway's in the truck, so we can move the current whole layout in a tiny car. I just moved it off my kitchen table into the train room and once it was on the table, it took me less than a minute to get all the modules connected. So far, I am really loving it.

Will have more pictures tomorrow. I painted the sides and top and the track is all glued on. Now onto the scenery. (I guess I should hook up power to the tracks as well, so that trains can move in a way other than hand power :) )
 

mooreway

New Member
Jesso, Your part of the layout is looking great, can't wait to see the pictures of it painted.

I figured I would share my latest sketchup rendering of the project with sky boards and "power pack" station. After looking at several ways of doing it I think the rounded sky boards will look better. I do think the box style power pack station will be nice. I was thinking if we ran the sides high they would could probably be pretty much hidden.

layout.jpg


Anyway so far with my first 6 straight modules assembled this has been a really fun project.
 

jesso

Member
I painted the modules and moved them into the train room. It is interesting to me that when I painted them, the green looks almost black on my dark dining room table, but it looks way more green on my ripped up work table. Still like the color though :)

sides.jpg
 

bnsf_mp_30

New Member
Latecomer to the discussion here...

How heavy are those folding banquet tables? The ones I've moved / used / set up have been pretty heavy. Are the plastic topped ones significantly lighter? Thanks!
 

jesso

Member
We, so far, have been able to use the tables that the facility we are showing at provides us, so we haven't had to transport tables. However, this can cause problems as it did at our last show where all the tables weren't the same height, but we adjusted. I am still fairly young, so I can carry and setup the tables by myself, so that hasn't been a problem for us. I haven't updated this thread very much. Here is a website that has all the pictures of the modules that we have built and are building. http://ttrak.colorcountrytrains.org/
 
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