T Gauge - Penzance 1913

[martink]

After considering several possibilities for my next linear-motor layout, I have settled on pre-1914 Penzance, the most south-westerly station in England, and a surprisingly busy terminus (especially in the summer months).  At that time the station had only 2 platforms, a small loco depot with turntable, and an approach along a single-track timber viaduct along the beach.   

The layout will be 6' x 2', built as a single board to a scale of 1:480.  It will be set up for automated exhibition running, changing locos and reversing trains, for both passenger and freight.  About two-thirds of the trackwork will be functional with a total of 8 turnouts, enough to fully support the planned operating patterns, with the remainder modelled in dummy form.  The roadway running the full length behind the station will have working road traffic, mostly horse-drawn at this period.

The main technical challenges with this design are the reversing loop (already up and running, and just as tricky with linear motors as with normal DC), the turntable, and coupling/positioning issues with reversing trains in the station.  The reversing loop is already built and tested, and the turntable is under construction at the moment.

The first picture shows the present-day arrangement of the station from Google Earth with a 6'x2' grid superimposed.  The second shows the intended track-plan, although the backdrop will need to be moved further away.  The third shows the reversing loop during testing. 

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[martink]

After taking a bit of break over the new year, work has resumed on this one.  The reversing loop has been tested, as has the first attempt at a turntable.  Penzance at that time had a very short turntable, which I have modeled as 60 foot. 

[nickelplate759]

Will there be any pirates?

[Sokramiketes]

Looking forward to seeing progress on this one, Martin.  I'm still messing around with my test track and what it takes to make detailed, working trains. 

[martink]

It is proving difficult to get motivated in this era of few or no exhibitions, but things are slowly progressing with Penzance.

All the electronics have now been built and tested, and their installation and layout-side wiring is under way. The road loop is working, and the next task is making and fitting 100+ cables linking the track to the circuit boards for the rail side.

While this layout is primarily intended for fully automatic exhibition running, the more powerful computer I am using for it gives me additional possibilities. There will be a simple control panel that will allow full manual operation, including shunting, as a test-bed for using this technology on a future home layout.  Also very useful for testing.

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[martink]

Some scenic progress on the top side of the board as well:
- the approach viaduct, a single-track timber trestle bridge running along the beachfront (washed away several times by Atlantic storms, and replaced by a causeway and sea wall in 1921),
- the main station building.

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[martink]

It works!  Trains are now running, so it is time for a first work-in-progress video.  The whole thing is obviously very far from finished, with rolling stock borrowed from the previous layout, but it should give a good idea of what I am trying to achieve.

[Angus Shops]

That is pure wizardry!

[dem34]

This gives me some inspiration.

God I really need to do something in T before my eyesight goes completely.

[Cajonpassfan]

Ingenious.
And the fact that it's a model of a real place in time makes it even more impressive. Very nice work, Martin.
Otto K.

[martink]

Designing and printing the non-railway buildings is now under way. These are being done as one print for each block along the road behind the station, between each pair of side streets, based mainly off overheads and street views in Google Earth plus whatever century-old pictures I can find. Oh, for a row of simple terrace houses!

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[martink]

All of the non-railway buildings along Chyandour Cliff behind the station have now been 3D printed. That works out to about 625m of street frontage, with every building present and to the correct scale. There are some distortions, with the road and retaining wall curving differently to fit the available track pieces, and a few guesses to undo a century of changes, but close enough.

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[mark dance]

wow 

that runs better than some HO scale ones I have operated on!!

md

[Hawghead]

wow 

that runs better than some HO scale ones I have operated on!!

md

I'm guessing having  no moving parts helps alot.

Scott

[martink]

wow 

that runs better than some HO scale ones I have operated on!!

I'm guessing having  no moving parts helps alot.

That is one of the key reasons I am using this technology.  Barring outside intervention (bumping the layout, a hair or piece of grit on the track, etc), the running reliability even at ultra-slow speeds is very, very close to 100%.   It is especially noticeable when compared to the poor running of conventional T Gauge. 

The main reliability issue on any conventional layout is the electrical pickups - dirty track and wheels.  Most of the advances in model loco performance have been to try and improve this.  Pulse controllers on DC layouts.  DCC, where the track voltage is always 12-15V.  Keepalive capacitors.  Radio control.  With a linear motor, the combination of track and train IS the motor, so it is functionally equivalent to soldering wires from the controller output directly to the loco motor.