What would keep you from building a TTRAK module?

[robert3985]

Be the change you want to see in the world..

Lee

I am.  But, it doesn't include T-Trak, nor N-Trak, nor any other modular protocol other than my own.

The change that I want to see in the N-scale world is more prototypical modeling, more details, more realistic looking...everything.

I realize that I'm in the minority, but...I kinda like being there.

I don't have a problem with most modular standards as long as I can work around some of the standards that don't contribute to a better "stage" to run trains through.

Here's one of my two N-Trak modules depicting Wilhemina Pass and Devil's Slide on the UP in Utah...

Photo (1) - Double-tracked mainlines in N-Trak?  The blue line has been routed to the rear of the modules, and the track is Rail Craft Code70 with no joiner tracks between my two 6' modules:


Photo (2) - Seldom photographed blue-line tunnel on my old Wilhemina Pass N-Track Module which directs blue-line to run behind the skyboard:


I actually mulled it around in my head a couple of years back if I were to do some T-Trak modules, what "standards" would I want to change.  First thing to change would be the track...probably ME Code70...and if there were any turnouts, they'd be hand-laid.  I'd also do more than a single module...probably at least 4, but not separately...and deeper than standards call for...with a track plan that wouldn't that wouldn't have the mainlines parallel to the front edge, with the front edge extended also.

But, as you can see from my photos of my old N-Trak modules...I've "been there, done that" already, and my concentration is on my own modular standards and my own home/portable layout.

You do what you want, and I'll do what I want.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Cajonpassfan]

.........

And if I see a layout or module that doesn’t speak to me personally, I move on. It’s no different than paintings in a gallery; you can spend hours in front of the ones that you connect with, and you walk past the ones that you don’t.

There is beauty in all corners of this wonderful hobby. Gates block the view.

Truly a wonderful sentiment. Except that every gallery I've ever been to has its own gatekeepers; they don't allow just about anyone off the street to walk in and put up their "art".... If they did, most people with a deep interest in art, including myself, would stay clear of the place, as would the artists imho.
YMMV, Otto K.

[signalmaintainer]

The change that I want to see in the N-scale world is more prototypical modeling, more details, more realistic looking...everything.

I realize that I'm in the minority, but...I kinda like being there.

I hear you.

Here's one of my two N-Trak modules depicting Wilhemina Pass and Devil's Slide on the UP in Utah...
Photo (1) - Double-tracked mainlines in N-Trak?  The blue line has been routed to the rear of the modules, and the track is Rail Craft Code70 with no joiner tracks between my two 6' modules:

That's one of my all-time favorite photos. Can't remember when I first saw it (Was it published in a mag?), but it sure made a significant impression on me and showcased N scale superbly.

[Jbub]

What I love about this photo is how real it looks, but this time something stood out to me to know it's not.  The arch! Yes it's really there next to the 1000 mile tree, but it's actually on the other side of the canyon. Otherwise, this photo is completely proto-typical of the area.

[wm3798]

You illustrate my point perfectly, @robert3985 .  I would never know that was a module.

As long as the interface can marry up to the circus at one end and the dinosaur park at the other, you've stretched the boundaries of what happens on N Trak modules.

We are advocating the position that the same can be done in the TTrak medium, only in more bite-size pieces.

Lee

[randgust]

Seeing as how my 'Hickory Bridge' is one of the first T-trak modules shown on page 1..... how I got into this.

I did my Hickory Valley portable layout (18x36") that was in MR when I was in college to fit on a dresser.   Still running, been to a lot of shows.   It had an interchange with the PRR, including a river bridge and a two-track diamond interchange at West Hickory.   Always wanted to model all that.  Had the val maps, everything, knew the track plan.  Oh, and I normally model ATSF, and have NO MORE SPACE anywhere to build a bigger layout.  Closet PRR fan, too, steam era.

That thing would simply not fit on a normal module on NTRAK and keep any standards.   Then I saw Bruce Arbo's work and decided to research Ttrak.  Much to my shock, I could get it to work on a triple.... made my first one, West Hickory, with scratchbuild accurate depot and track plan.

From the start, I'm modeling a river valley - locations along the PRR Salamance Branch Oil City to Olean.  So the roadbed slopes down to the river.   So the T-trak front edge has to go.   I didn't think that was revolutionary, but apparently it was.   And I'm not a fan of Unitrak, either.  As soon as I get on a module, it's Peco C55, painted, weathered, ballasted.   Oh, photo backdrops, too.   Dave Ferrari kinda stared at me the first time he saw my work, it was so well, wierd.    Now the bridge.   It's a single-track bridge, darn it, and with that I could connect T-trak to my original portable modules.   OK, may as well make it T-trak triple length.  Now what?    Could use it in T-trak, push the second single main behind.  That resulted in Trunkeyville and Jamison modules, and the 'behind' main was Thompson.   So now I'm up to five modules, reasonably historical accurate, most violating every normal assumption about T-trak.  I've got single-track triples that fit the geometry, equally off course.   Now I needed a test track for my Nn3 Climax kits, could that fit on a triple?  Yup.   Lets do it that way, McCabe was born, still unfinished.   Now with dual gauge, and a continous Nn3 operating loop.  Scenery and lumber mill to come.

No, I'm not a fan of 'normal' Ttrak, but I do think I've helped push the envelope a bit.  I think the T-trak single main idea has TONS of potential if you split fore & aft, because the world is normally single track, people.   And curves are only a limiting factor based on your show layout geometry. 

And if you think that's nuts, if I ever do ATSF Canyon Diablo by tearing out a basement wall, that will be done like that timber trestle in T-trak module dimensions.  I've designed it, it just is a matter of demolishing a wall, relocating utilities, etc. to even gain 18" of space.   

I've really enjoyed the shows, this was like my 7th Altoona show, 5 with Ttrak.   Nothing against Ntrak or Fremo either, but I don't own a truck or a tow vehicle.  and I'm about out of space in my SUV now!   I've tried to make mine so they will end up at the local Historical Society when I'm gone; accurate enough, even as a static display.   And where I'm at is pretty much N scale wilderness with no affiliated clubs within 50 miles.

Not really a fan of some of the 'oddball' modules, but it doesn't bother me either.  I'm really grateful to Dave Ferarri for organizing the combined Altoona layout too, or I'd have no place to even put these into service.

[robert3985]

What I love about this photo is how real it looks, but this time something stood out to me to know it's not.  The arch! Yes it's really there next to the 1000 mile tree, but it's actually on the other side of the canyon. Otherwise, this photo is completely proto-typical of the area.

Nope.  The arch (Devil's Looking Glass) is right there...looks a bit different in reality (I had to do some selective compression) but it IS on that side of Wilhemina Pass.  There's a smaller arch on the opposite side...which would be in the aisle and a bit further south.  I'm drawing up plans for doing this whole LDE again in 14 feet...both Devil's Slide and Wilhemina Pass...with a late 1940's to mid 1950's Ideal Concrete Plant, company town and carved-away mountain...with the correct trackage on the west side of the wooden trestle, and allowing me to pick up and set out cars in the industrial trackage of the facility with Light MacArthurs or GP7/GP9's.

Photo (1) - Here's a prototype photo of Wilhemina Pass while the freeway was being constructed, Weber River had been re-routed and you can see Devil's Looking Glass Arch in the distance (as well as the Cantilever Signal Bridge), with the Ideal Concrete Plant directly on the other side of the cliffs.  You can see the mountain they're scooping away and processing...it being much whiter than the reddish sandstone of Wilhemina Pass.  The freeway between Henefer and Devil's Slide was started in 1970 and completed in 1972, and my time period is 1947 thru 1956, so my Weber River will be somewhat different than in this photo:



Photo (2) - Here's another view closer to the cliffs on my old N-Trak Wilhemina Pass Module, before I had settled on an earlier era.  Although this looks much redder than in the prototype photo, I developed this cliff color by digging actual dirt from the west side of the tracks, filling three buckets full of different colored sandy soil to use after cooking it and grading, then taking a soil sample down to my local paint store and matching a gallon of exterior flat latex paint to the reddish soil sample.  My new 14 foot LDE will be comprised of an 8' and a 6' section, and will be closer to the prototype than my first effort in this photo:


Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[robert3985]

...That's one of my all-time favorite photos. Can't remember when I first saw it (Was it published in a mag?), but it sure made a significant impression on me and showcased N scale superbly.

@signalmaintainer A horizontal version of this photo, which I took at the same photo session, won Model Railroader Magazine's 15th Annual Color Photography Contest in November of 1991 and was published as the centerfold in the March 1992 Issue...31 years ago.

My goal was to both construct an N-scale scene and take a photo in which you couldn't tell what scale it was...with none of N-scale's giveaways.  I think I accomplished that, and proved to many disbelievers that N-scale was a viable scale for those who want to do "prototype modeling" and run little trains through big scenes.

Happy that it made a positive impression on you! 

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Jbub]

Nope.  The arch (Devil's Looking Glass) is right there...looks a bit different in reality (I had to do some selective compression) but it IS on that side of Wilhemina Pass.  There's a smaller arch on the opposite side...which would be in the aisle and a bit further south.  I'm drawing up plans for doing this whole LDE again in 14 feet...both Devil's Slide and Wilhemina Pass...with a late 1940's to mid 1950's Ideal Concrete Plant, company town and carved-away mountain...with the correct trackage on the west side of the wooden trestle, and allowing me to pick up and set out cars in the industrial trackage of the facility with Light MacArthurs or GP7/GP9's.

Photo (1) - Here's a prototype photo of Wilhemina Pass while the freeway was being constructed, Weber River had been re-routed and you can see Devil's Looking Glass Arch in the distance (as well as the Cantilever Signal Bridge), with the Ideal Concrete Plant directly on the other side of the cliffs.  You can see the mountain they're scooping away and processing...it being much whiter than the reddish sandstone of Wilhemina Pass.  The freeway between Henefer and Devil's Slide was started in 1970 and completed in 1972, and my time period is 1947 thru 1956, so my Weber River will be somewhat different than in this photo:



Photo (2) - Here's another view closer to the cliffs on my old N-Trak Wilhemina Pass Module, before I had settled on an earlier era.  Although this looks much redder than in the prototype photo, I developed this cliff color by digging actual dirt from the west side of the tracks, filling three buckets full of different colored sandy soil to use after cooking it and grading, then taking a soil sample down to my local paint store and matching a gallon of exterior flat latex paint to the reddish soil sample.  My new 14 foot LDE will be comprised of an 8' and a 6' section, and will be closer to the prototype than my first effort in this photo:


Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

Huh! Well I'll be damned, I have never noticed that arch before, just the one that I mentioned that's in this screenshot.

[robert3985]

Huh! Well I'll be damned, I have never noticed that arch before, just the one that I mentioned that's in this screenshot.

Yup.  I can't remember its name offhand, but I'm pretty sure it's "Devil's..something"!  Maybe it'll come to me in a couple of days. 

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[wm3798]

Image purloined from the face toobs

Not a TTrak module, but it could be


Work and photo by Luis Hermosilla.

He built it as a diorama to display on a shelf.  Perhaps as a bookend.

Ttrak can be good for that sort of thing, too.

Lee

[dem34]

Image purloined from the face toobs

Not a TTrak module, but it could be

Work and photo by Luis Hermosilla.

He built it as a diorama to display on a shelf.  Perhaps as a bookend.

Ttrak can be good for that sort of thing, too.

Lee

Same idea as my micro modules that I use now to stay sharp on scenery techniques before ruining a project from rustiness.

[bman]

I'll likely build a few more Ttrak modules to go with my existing one. That way I can take a small layout with me to my new family's 2-3 week staycation at her parent's house in bum-you-know-where SE Ohio. That being typed I am not a fan of the whimsical stuff. I walk by grumbling to myself and maybe strain a muscle rolling my eyes but In am trying to be better. But I guess my biggest complaint (with any modular system) is how chopped up scenes get. Yes clubs can tone this down for the most part. But if you build a mountain on a Ttrak module build it on something longer than a single so you can have space to blend in with whatever you're connecting to if it is likely not going to be yours. You see some fine modeling going on and it butts up to a 5" tall slab of foam insulation painted dark brown. And yes I've repelled down a couple sheer rock faces long ago in a place not too far away, but none looke like these. Maybe I am just used to scenes being broken up by short sections of wall in the museums in have visited over the years. I also don't understand modern art. That's another funny story for another time.

[160pennsy]

Same idea as my micro modules that I use now to stay sharp on scenery techniques before ruining a project from rustiness.

Looks very similar to Kato's Minidiorama

https://www.kato-dioramakit.com/whatscircus

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Looks very similar to Kato's Minidiorama

https://www.kato-dioramakit.com/whatscircus

Ah! That's the thing. I knew there was a thing like that out there but couldn't remember it.

Guys, he's not much of a self promoter, but I think we need to be paying more attention to the cool stuff that @dem34 is up to in his skunk works.