A newbie to model railways.

[mattcaney]

Hi All,

I am a newbie to model railways, (well saying that I did have a twin loops n gauge layout in my early teenage year) but am going to be starting from scratch with help with carpentry from dad to build a 6 x 3 ft layout as shown below.

I have several questions (which I apologise that have been answered before no doubt).

I intend to use Peco Code 80 (or could be persuaded to use 55?) track, which everything will be flexitrack - I am ensured that from using SCARM that all joins are on straights.

What is the best way to lay the track? I will be using a 9 or 12mm plywood top to my baseboard and have looked into using Woodland Scenics 3mm trackbed with the extra sheets for the points. Is this an acceptable proposal.

I will be using Cobalt IP Digital point motors but these will be fitted at a later stage as funds allow. I like that idea that they have the extra outputs so that I can create a mimic panel with a single push button to change to points and have LED's to show which way the point is facing.

What I would like to know is how to wire up electrofrog points as shown on my layout design.

The entire layout will be hinged down from a wall and overhanging a bed, so I know that ballasting it going to be awkward especially as first.

I have a spare 13.8v regulated DC supply that I used for my model car racing which is rated at 20amps which I intend to use a power supply for an separate accessory bus, and having a another power bus for the track use. - is this a possibilty ? The idea being that I could use a separate supply for various lighting around the layout without taken any power from the DCC power bus.

I will be using DCC (system yet to be decided, but have looked at the SPROG 3 set up as this seems to be a cheap system to start with and could be controlled by a spare laptop, and also using a tablet and or mobile phone.

I would also like to have LED 3 aspect signal on the layout, and was interested in the new Train tech items before I realised that they are not made for N gauge.

I would also like to use a NB55 turntable powered by a Locomotech kit to power the turntable. What would be a suitable decoder for this and how could I wire this to be DCC controlled. I believe that the Peco NB 55 doesnt require an autoreverser to work with dcc due the brass slip ring.

Sorry the post is long, but I want to get everything right before I start - which should be begin at the weekend by constructing the baseboard.

Many thanks


Matt

[martyn]

Hi Matt;
To answer part of your enquiry, I use a Peco NB55 and Locomotech drive; I use a TCS loco chip (can't remember which one) numbered, for me, 9999. It gives very good control, but unless you are very good, keep the momentum switched off! For simplicity, I line the roads up by eye, not autocontrol of some kind.
HTH
Martyn

[Kaian]

Hello Matt

I have been gathering information about some of these same questions, and most can be found in the forum especially about electronics for the points.

For laying track i came across this video a few days ago

https://youtu.be/JccB4GUteg0

In the DCC section of the forum there is a lot of information about wiring for DCC and the different systems. I have not used your proposed system but I have ended up using a Z21 for tablet, phone and PC control. I have used to on my test layout and I like it but I can see it is not for everyones tastes.

[Newportnobby]

Hello Matt, and welcome to the forum
Being an old DC fart, most of what you'll be talking about will go straight over my head, but I would recommend Peco code 55 if you're going for flexitrack as it's more realistic and stronger than code 80. Also you can get small electrofrogs in code 55 as opposed to medium code 80s = more room!
Have you an era/location in mind?

[Vonzack]

Hi Matt,

Welcome to the hobby and forum.

I'll try and take your questions one by one, but allot of the info can be found with a quick search of the forum and in more detail than I can provide. Some of these items have been done to death on here ;-)

Just a note of caution, most people have a natural bias towards the way they do things and a couple of your questions don't have strict right and wrong answers, such as how you wire points. The way I do things may not work for you, but there are always other options. Take your time and understand the pros and cons behind the advice given.

It might give you a good grounding to look at the blog I produced for a layout build, certainly the early posts where track laying and point wiring / modification is discussed. You can find it here - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/979-heworth-sidings/

OK, now to the answers

• Track Code 80 / 55 - Very much depends on what your comfortable with really. Code 55 has a slightly better profile and if you are using newer stock then it's probably best to start off with this anyway. I would use electrofrog points as some smaller loco's 0-6-0's can sometimes struggle to cross an insulfrog.
• Best way to lay track - For the trackbed, buy a roll of generic cork, either 1/32" or 1/16", it will be cheaper and you can cut it into strips easy enough. Glue the cork to the baseboard with PVA. You can either pin (pre drill the sleepers with a hand drill) or glue the track in place, pins for me can be seen if they are left in so if I started again I would glue the track down. As your are going to ballast anyway, when you've done that the track won't be going anywhere. After I'd ballasted I removed all the pins and it looks much better.
• Wiring Points - Definitely two camps of thought here. Out of the box, electrofrog points will work fine as long as you use insulated rail joiners on the 'V' of the frog. However, the frog will then rely on the point blades making contact with the stock rails in order to power the frog. If any dirt or foreign objects interfere with the contact between the blade and stock rail, you will have yourself a massive insulfrog point. For this reason people usually provide a separate feed to the frog so that it's polarity can be changed when it is either Thrown or Closed. The point motors you are thinking of will provide this feed.
• Ballasting - I would advise Woodland Scenics fine ballast, I've used allot of it and it's good to work with.
• Power Supply - if you have a 20A PSU, a Sprog 3 won't need anything like that and neither will your track plan. The layout in my Blog is run with a 5A Command Station. I don't see any reason why you can't take a feed from the PSU to run your accessories, just make sure the voltage is OK.
• Sprog 3 - Should be fine for you layout and if you are using JMRI with it, you will be able to control your layout from a PC or Phone / Tablet without any issues.
• 3 Aspect Signals - You might want to have a look at CR Signals who produce a nice range of dummy and lit modern image signals for modern image UK.
• Turntable - I would have though it would need an auto reverser, but I'm not that familiar with the model. It would be better to use one and permanently wire the rotating table rails to it, that way as you rotate it, you won't get to a point where the loco is unpowered. Lights and sound would both be affected by that.

Hope that helps.

Cheers, Mark.

[martyn]

In an answer to Mark's points;
8; turntable;
I have wired the deck to be permanently live. The Peco turntable has referencing points moulded in which, if the approach and exit tracks are aligned with them, means that the table will not lose power. This only works if, as I have, the loco entering the table, being turned, then running back off. If you feed a number of roads from the turntable for parking the loco, you may need more thought-there is a bit of flexibility how many roads can be fed before the power alignment becomes a problem. I'm not sure if there is a momentary loss of power as the table crosses the reversing point of the table wiring; I don't have sound locos, and as I only turn steam, I haven't noticed the lights; but of course the loco runs in forwards and off forwards without changing direction on the controller.
3; wiring points;
I use electrofrog points without modifications, but I do use the motor to change a switch to polarise the frog correctly. the need to insulate the frog is however essential in this case. All standard Peco stuff.
1;Code 55/80
I would always use 55 as it looks better and is more robust than 80.
Sorry the reply is backward with reference to Mark's answers.........
Martyn

[keithbythe sea]

Hi Matt, welcome to the forum.

I'm new too - I started modelling last January. You will find loads of help and advice here, although sometimes the advice can be hard to find and a bit conflicting 

Only point I would add to the above is in relation to point 4, ballast. I use Woodland Scenics too, but I mix 2 parts fine with 1 part medium. In the end it is all about what works for you and looks good for you. Enjoy