#n scale trains

[wncrails]

Finally back at the work bench. Finished up adding decals to this Delaware Valley Airslide. Also added an etched metal walkway from Plano Model Products.

[inspiredwriterstory]

Recently received the Bachmann Talyllyn.

I have never been more satisfied with a purchase before.

@unpopularvivian Bro you gotta grab one of these.

[maximinimaximus]

When travelling, it is very important you only pack the essentials.

As you can see, I brought just the bare necessities.

[whirligig-girl]

[trainsinanime]

This is the newest section for my model railroad. Yes, it seems chaotic, but that's the point.

My model railroad consists of small sections that I build whenever I feel like it, and arrange on a suitable table. Since my apartment isn't that large, I have exactly one model railroad table, which also serves as a general hobby and random stuff table. That makes it difficult to actually run trains - there's always random stuff in the places where I want to put model railroad sections. This here is the solution. Hopefully.

It's a model railroad module that also serves as a holder and organiser for random stuff. The idea is that it remains in place at all times, and I can connect other modules to it as I want and need. And I get to have model trains running through my pencils, cutters, dead battery boxes and so on.

Just to be clear, by definition, anything that is in the fields of that module is stored away properly and organised. This means I will not take any criticism about the way things are arranged there (and it's bound to change anyway).

Some technical details:

This module (mostly) follows the T-Trak standard for small table-top modules in N scale. As part of that, the tracks at the ends are Unitrack. The main semicircle is Tomix track, which offers a few more options, in particular these nice curved turnouts that mean the module works as a crossover as well. As of right now the turnouts are hand-controlled, I plan to add a DCC decoder at a later date (potentially much later).

The basic construction is probably mostly what you expect: A plywood box with strips as dividers.

Main box, floor and track section are 7 mm pine, the inserts are 4mm poplar. Some inserts end up mostly or fully covered, those have access from the bottom to put cables in. The whole thing has power connections, which is not required by T-Trak standards, but I put it in every module anyway.

The edges of the road bed are covered with a 1mm thick strip of wood from an architecture supply shop, which makes the edge look smooth (it's not, I cut it out with a jigsaw) and holds back the ballast.

Because this wouldn't hold any pens or similar, I designed some special inserts with higher interlocking parts.

Those were a bit annoying to build. Finally the whole thing was painted in varnish, giving the look you see now. I'm really happy with how things turned out there, and I think this'll be a useful addition to my model railroad table for the years to come.

Now I just need to find a different space for my 3D printer, and build some curves to run the trains around the WiFi router and…

[flagstops]

Ran some trains ^v^

[krazyjoe]

2"X2" mini N scale layout

[doctorweebmd]

ok my OTHER reflection:

on the one hand its really frustrating to see the posts about docs and healthcare in general on here be so narrow-minded. bad experiences with certain providers have lead to a huge spread of misinformation and mistrust with the whole system. which can and HAS lead to people avoiding 'evil' doctors for perfectly treatable illnesses and dying from them (the vaccine bullshit, anyone?)

but on the other hand. it is TERRIFYING how some of these docs practice medicine. at times i think 'are you just burned out and don't give a shirt or are you straight up just stupid?' and i work in critical care. where quite literally every case is life or death. even in the academic sector where there is supposedly a standard of excellence, some doctors i would not let touch my loved ones with a ten foot pole.

and that sucks. i know this is the no nuance piss on the poor webbed site but 'the medical system and people that work for it are fallible and aspects of it are morally questionable at best/unethical at worst' AND 'the field of medicine exists to help people first and foremost and mistrusting/avoiding it can be detrimental in the long run' can and DO co-exist

[punalippulaiva]

Today I went and assembled the teeny Multicar M22 models in N scale I bought earlier this week. I'm glad I had two different pincers, working just with my giant fingers would have been a nightmare.

[trainmaniac]

Close-Up of a GWR Local Train by Michael Alford Via Flickr: A local train awaits its next turn of duty at Box.

[eltristanexplicitcontent]

Don't Miss Out on This Jaw-Dropping Southern Pacific N Scale Layout with the Northwestern Pacific Railroad

[wncrails]

Before & After

Purchased this Atlas Beer Can Tank Car from eBay. The red hand rails were just a little too much for me, so I upgraded the paint job. I left the brake wheel the original red.

[whittlemethis]

Sorry for the lack of whittle posts. I got into a model train mood and decided to try and get this partially built layout working that I was gifted a few years ago.

It's been too many years since I've had a continuous running layout. And I miss the sound.

We'll see if I have enough attention span to juggle two hobbies at once.

[maximinimaximus]

I mostly run British N Gauge, but tonight I decided to break out the Kato Morning Daylight set. The Southern Pacific GS-4 is probably my favourite US steam locomotive.

Hopefully the headlights and taillights are visible. (My phone was not bought for the camera quality.)

[ballofflwff]

Weathering some of my models, I hope to soon be able to get some matte clear and masking tape to hold the weathering powder down.

[trainsinanime]

I have a cold and I'm tired, so I'll post better pictures later, especially ones of the new T-Trak module I recently built. But I did want to show at least this little thing I did with some of the leftover material. Not all of the leftover material, though. I have so much leftover wood strips…

Anyway, this is a very small section of a North American style railroad trestle (I think they're also a thing in Australia?), based on plans by the Great Northern, but then adapted with more bracing because I think that looks better. The height is chosen so that it can be connected to T-Trak modules if you replace the connectors. The track is… I don't actually know. Might be Minitrix? Something I found on my desk.

The wooden structure is all built by hand, out of 2x2 mm balsa wood (main frames), 3x3 mm pine (the sections under the plastic track piece and 1x1 mm linden for the bracings in the longitudinal direction. All cut by hand with a sharp cutter knife (except the 3x3 mm pine, I used a tiny saw for that) and glued together with wood glue.

The locomotive is either Athearn or Atlas, I can never remember which of these is which. I think Atlas. And yes, the rear truck isn't on the rails properly, as I said, I'm sick.

This project was a lot of fun, as was the full T-Trak module (I'll post about that later, hopefully in a couple of days), but also sometimes a bit annoying. I know a couple of places that I could do better, but the main one is the ties. They should be much wider for a bridge like that, but I am not aware of commercially made wide ties. Maybe I'll need 3D printing for that, because I don't think gluing rail profiles to wooden ties is the proper solution. Still, it looks neat as it is. Feel free to ask questions if you have any!