How many of us are dabbling in T gauge?

[Michael Shillabeer]

Thought so, I've got an IDL set but couldn't remember their name when I posted!

Just found your blog too.

Think I'll look for the skyscrappers tonight (they're somewhere safe and flat...)

I'm liking the idea of 'diverting' one of my baseboards to a T project. I can build another board and resurect the N idea in the future.

[hairygit]

Martink- That is just incredible to see your T gauge running, it looks great, and all that on such a tiny board, amazing! I can only guess that it was not cheap to do though, and I really don't think I would have the patience or eyesight to be able to even put the stock on the track Seriously though, that is dedication, and inspiration, very well done!

[Pengi]

Love the video - given me some ideas too for my T layout

[martink]

My little T gauge experiment had its first public showing on the weekend at Caulfield (Melbourne, Australia).  Other than some minor fixes and improvements for further shows, it is now basically complete, so I can start looking at doing some N gauge again!


http://youtu.be/O_5s75-t01A

[Claude Dreyfus]

Wow...that seriously looks the part! Either some very clever editing has taken place, or you have done a really good job in keeping those 4-wheelers on the track!

Moving T Gauge cars as well! 

A very impressive peice of modelling... 

[EtchedPixels]

Lovely little layout - really like the cars, thats neat.

8minutes in Claude.. thats where the "bloopers" start

No points I notice - I've still not seen any sane points in T

[mereman]

Duzzy 'ell I can only just see well enough to work on N Gauge

[bridgiesimon]

Ok, been trying to decide how to describe this, think I will stick to 'AWESOME!!'

I am well impressed, this is one of the first real 'Model Railways' I have seen in T and proves that as a modelling scale, it is a serious option not a gimmick!!

best wishes
Simon

[kirky]

That is truly impressive.

Matrink:Any chance of some photos showing us how it's done?
I'm interested in how the wagons were built, the road system and he crossing gates specifically, but any more info on your build would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
Kirky

[PostModN66]

Matrink:Any chance of some photos showing us how it's done?
I'm interested in how the wagons were built, the road system and he crossing gates specifically, but any more info on your build would be greatly appreciated.

Martin - This is astonishing work.  I too would be interested in a "how it's done" specifically the cars!

Cheers  Jon 

[martink]

OK, here are a few details...

For the cars, I used a linear motor product from IDL Motors (www.idlmotors.com and www.teenytrains.com).  These have one or two oval tracks which are actually just double sided printed circuit boards with around 230 small coils/electromagnets along the road.  These are wired in series as three strings of 76 coils, interleaved in a repeating pattern.  IDL's control box drives these so that there is a repeating pattern of magnets all along the track: North, South, OFF, etc.  Each vehicle has at least two magnets underneath, a South and a North, so the vehicle attaches itself to a North/South pair on the track.  The controller then advances the magnet pattern about ten times a second, so the vehicles all leap forwards to the next slot.  This gives a (slightly jerky) movement rate of about two inches per second.  Think of it as a sort of magnetic conveyor belt.

The basic system is just one or two tracks, with the vehicles moving round and round at constant speed in a constant formation.  I overlaid the tracks to form a figure-8 and added some external electronics to switch vehicles between the tracks (just turning each track on and off with relays).  I also put some old relay coils under the hidden section to grab and hold up to 3 vehicles in place out of sight (a fiddle yard!).  I also placed an optical detector just before the intersection.  This detects arriving vehicles, and the system then keeps track by dead reckoning - counting the drive pulses and therefore how many coil steps the vehicle has traveled.  The control computer then randomly holds vehicles, lets them loose again, randomly diverts some off the main (bridge) track into the village, and handles collision avoidance, bus stops, etc.

The scheme was a first attempt (a prototype in the engineering sense), and isn't totally reliable.  I get a pileup every ten minutes or so during operations, but these are easy to clear and at exhibitions give the operator something to do other than talk to the visitors.  If I did it again, I'd use a more sophisticated technique and get better results.  20/20 hindsight.  Sigh.

Each track draws about 0.3 amps at 6V, and might just be powerful enough to move very lightweight N gauge cars (NOT diecast models), but I haven't tried this.  Yet.

I dismantled some of the cars supplied with the track (they were way overscale for T) and fitted the magnets under standard T gauge cars (omitting the wheels completely).  The supplied buses are about the right size for T, so I simply repainted those.

[martink]

The crossing gates use a technique that would work just as well in larger scales.  I mounted four el-cheapo ($3) servos under the board and drive them directly from another small microcontroller (about $10 worth of electronics).  For sensors, I tie in to my main block control/signalling system, but it would be easy to wire up a few optical detectors directly to the same micro to make a self-contained unit.  A servo driver project such as this is one of the simplest small computer model railway applications, and should be well within the reach of anyone who has encountered an Arduino or similar. 

Alternatively, this is exactly the sort of thing the new Peco servo controller should be able to handle right out of the box, though you would probably need to rig up reed switches or something similar as sensors if you wanted to avoid doing any electronics.

[martink]

The wagons and locos (everything except the HST) are just 3D printed body shells designed by other modellers and bought from Shapeways.  Clean, paint, then add chassis or wheels and couplers.  In effect, they are like Peco N wagon kits, only simpler.  Their small size means that basic brush-painting looks fine - a tiny blob of white for a blurred wagon number, etc.  The dieseasels use the smallest available N gauge BR double arrows from the NGS range (added after this photo).

[kirky]

Phenomenal!

Cheers
Kirky

[PostModN66]

Martin,

Thanks so much for taking the time and trouble to explain all this.  Very much appreciated.

I have been wondering about a magnetic system for N gauge cars - my thinking was rather more mechanical (maybe rare earth magnets on some sort of a pulley - not nearly as sophisticated as yours.

Thansk again

Jon