What would keep you from building a TTRAK module?

[randgust]

This is the lineup I now field at Altoona:

1)  Jamison - Double - working N scale rod-jerker oilfield with animation and sound.  This one splits the inner main to the backside
2)  Hickory Bridge - triple - but a single track bridge  - the beginning of my 'single T-trak' and if anybody else has done this speak up....
3)  Trunkeyville - double, fairly accurate module of Trunkeyville, PA and winner of the 2020 Ttrak virtual layout award.  Brings the back main to the front again.
4)  West Hickory - triple, not really finished, but has the Hickory Valley Railroad interchange and diamond on it (Hickory Bridge can attach to the front).  There's still a whole tannery that was here that has yet to be scratchbuilt, along with more company houses.

Because the prototype - the PRR Salamanca Branch - ran beside the Allegheny River over it's entire length, the line was dug into the hillside over most of the line with a steep bank down to the river itself.   In Ttrak, this meant that front edge had to slope down to the 'river'.   I didn't think this was such a radical Ttrak feature, but apparently it is.   The other thing of using primarily Peco C55 and Peco switches anyplace I can, and also attempting to show a radical difference in appearance between the normal single-track ballasted main line any a parallel cinder 'siding/yard' are different, and the development of a single-track Ttrak split design to front and rear with a divider in the middle. I've painted the Kato switches black to match the cinder ballast too, which is a PITA but worth it.   And the first time Dave Ferrarri saw the double 60-degree crossings across the main at West Hickory module, he kinda flinched.   On that module, that allows my logging railroad portable layout to be connected here, as that was the interchange with PRR.   They are Atlas 60's but have worked just fine.



Link:  http://www.randgust.com/Randgust%20modules%20Altoona%202023.jpg

[randgust]

Behind the single-track Hickory Bridge module is the companion single-track Ttrak module -Thompson, named for Thompsons Island on the Allegheny River and directly across the river from the house I grew up in watching the PRR on the other side.   This is a 2022 shot before I poured the river.   If you look in the front, you'll see Lee Weldon's Cumberland modules, we're usually pretty close to each other at Altoona.



Link:  http://www.randgust.com/Thompson%202022%20Altoona.jpg

All of these only use Kato Unitrak at the ends, everything inbetween is either Atlas C80 or Peco C55, fully painted and ballasted.

[TrainCat2]

So, been looking at the neat things being done with a TTrack, I went into a pretty exhaustive search for TTrack (and NTrack) clubs in SouFla. The nearest actual club is over 300 miles (Jacksonville) from me. N-Track is only slightly closer. I haven't moved to AZ yet, but I'm in a desert of N-Scale MRR clubs. Plenty of HO, O and G clubs. One club president told me they dropped N scale because no members hands were steady enough to place anything runnable on the rails.   

[Cajonpassfan]

Planning to move to AZ? Anytime soon? And where...
Otto

[TrainCat2]

Laveen, AZ. On the SW corner of Phoenix. I own 2.5 acres abutting the South Mtn Preserve so no one can build behind me and block the mountain views. Enough land to build an landing strip so I can fly RC whenever I want. Plan on moving there in 3 yrs.

[Cajonpassfan]

That's quite the plan boB, hope it works out for you as you wish it.
Best, Otto K.

[ddeaton]

I skimmed through this thread to learn some about Ttrak. I have not set a train on a piece of track yet. Bought a few engines, some track, and some wood building kits. I think I will snag a couple Ttrak modules to start on. This will be a nice space saving way to get started I think. I can always toss them aside if I screw up too bad. I am starting out on dccs, and am a electrical control engineer. So I like programming and tinkering. I am thinking of starting with a double or triple straight box? What do you all think?

[randgust]

The basic boxes are still available as kits, but if you like working with wood it's actually deceptively easy to make them, just buy the track first.  One good clue is to get a chunk of the Kato double-track concrete tie track to use as a spacing template at the ends to make sure everything is square and spaced before you secure it down.   And I use some Kato power jumpers on mine so that I can rig temporary power to any module right from the track as needed.    If you meet track spacing, vertical height, track length standards, and wire the mains according to T-trak standards, you're pretty much up and running.

You can go easy, there's a lot of basic box modules out there, or go as complex as you want, particularly in scenery.   I have come to represent the nonconformist fringe, but it's taken me a good 10 years since I first started messing with T-trak as an alternative to N-trak, mostly because you need a club, a trailer, and a truck to haul those around, and two people to set one up.   My SUV can hold a triple sideways.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Here's my method: https://conrail1285.com/making-ttrak-modules/
And I am FAR from a distinguished craftsman.

[MK]

That's so Ghetto Ed!      Seriously though, this proves that you can make modules out of anything as long as your dimensions are correct.  There are guys in Japan making them out of high quality, high strength cardboard!

[chessie system fan]

Ed's writeup is great.  If you haven't seen it yet, I began construction on my tea tray modules.

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=56906.0

[jargonlet]

I do but they aren’t that good. We will be at the Huntington, WV trainshow Thanksgiving weekend. I will get better ones there and post.

I finally got around to figuring out how to use the gallery to post the pictures that I took of our modules. All of these belong modules belong to several members of the NMRA MCR Division 9. We do several shows a year. One of those shows is the Huntington WV train show that takes place the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. If anyone would like to join us at the show next year, send me a message and we can work you in.

When we started doing T-TRAK, we made a set of standards to try and keep the modules uniform to each other. Our original intent was to have our modules only be shown with our own modules and to make them look like a club layout compared to the usual mesh mash of designs you se in T-TRAK. The three main standards were to have the same ground foam on the ends that connect to other modules, use the same ballast on each module, and to use the same backdrop/skyboard.

[jargonlet]

[jargonlet]

The modules in this post are my modules. Some are done and some not so much. We feel that it is good for the public to see the process that it takes to build a layout so we aren't really concerned about everything being completely done. It is the eventual goal but it's not the end of the world that it's. not done yet. I am in the process of redoing my modules into one long scene so some of my stuff got stripped down at some point before the show and did not get completed by showtime.

[jargonlet]

Our friend Craig always comes to the Huntington show to run with us and brings his modules. Great guy and top notch modeler.