Train additions, new details & more

New on the layout

Yesterday I had a chance and inspiration to work on the layout for almost a whole day and therefore I managed to accomplish quite a lot. First of all, the fleet of trains has now grown to three as I welcome the M309 and M319 to the collection! I have owned these trains for a while, they've now been converted into 3-rail digital operation and yesterday I finally fitted the new road numbers for them as my decal-order came by mail.

However, I'm still not a 100% satisfied with the results since the white letter decals are only 2mm in height and the seller only provided one spare of each number, it was really a struggle to get all of them done correctly. I have now already ordered multiple replacements and am intending to replace some of the numbers that didn't end up pitch-perfect.

See the article on the new road numbers!

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I also worked on some new signals for the layout. I've been accumulating the N-scale Roco 20010 signals every time I've managed to find one and I now converted all five I had to resemble metro signals. Read more from the Making of -article I posted!

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Heart Cape and Flamewood Island -stations now
finally got the clock- and timetable displays above each platform. They indicate where the next train is terminating and how many minutes it will take for the train to arrive. These displays have been done from painted balsa wood, with self-made printings glued on top and tidied up with a permanent marker. Very simple and cost-effective. I also made some for the Hedgehog Avenue station that I will install later on.

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New on the website

- Added the Articles -section
- Added a "Making of" article about the signals
- Added another "Making of" article about the road numbers
- Pictures of the new trains have been added to the appropriate section
- Some more recent pictures have been added to some of the pages on the layout-section

Bus updates

New on the layout

My two bus models got a slight overhaul today as I tidied them up a little and added the missing road number to the other one. Both buses also now include some advertisements, which are positioned slightly out of place and make the bus look a bit more ugly - just as in real life!


New on the website

- Again some minor spelling mistake corrections
- Changed the "Public Transport" section to resemble current plans

Test-driving!

New on the layout

Today was time for some test driving regarding future modules. I set up a temporary test layout on the floor and figured out some things that I had in the list of things to do.

First of all, I wanted to determine the actual minimum radius required. The smallest one of 360mm was tested up to the maximum speed in both directions and the M300 can handle it just fine. This is good since I now know I can turn the train around in a small space when necessary. Naturally I won't be using that small of a radius in any visible parts of the layout because of the unsightly looks of it.

Next I tested the upcoming X-crossing and wanted to see how the train can handle it. The were absolutely no problems whatsoever, which was a nice relief. I also tried different methods on programming the switches and decided to have all the four switches follow a single digital address for maximum ease of use. I have altogether resorted to digitally programmed switches for the layout because of their ease of use and minimum amount of wiring required.

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Finally I programmed the Viessmann 26111 "Robel" work train and all the functions work just as they should. The acceleration and deceleration characteristics are very nice and the operations are altogether very realistic. I'm in the process of converting the Viessmann 26111 to resemble the "Tka 4" work car and will post pictures and a video of it when I'm satisfied with the results.

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New on the website

- Minor spelling-mistake corrections
- Deleted the info section about the Lindholm Lines -long distance bus since I no longer plan to use it on the layout