Hey all, finally on the part of my layout where I can start with the grade the real line has- so my question is, how do you all do your grades. Also to ask, I've a lift out piece with the mainline on it. What would be yinz suggestion to keep the current of the DCC bus flowing to the section? wire up male female plugs?
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).
I used automotive trailer male and female plug sets on my lift-off bridge.
Tell us more about your lift-off. Is this something you only remove when the layout is inactive and powered off? Or might there be trains in motion? You really should take precautions to make sure the tracks on either side if the gap are dead and trains can't fall into the abyss below.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Jimmy_BraumHey all, finally on the part of my layout where I can start with the grade the real line has- so my question is, how do you all do your grades.
Hi Jimmy,
Our club used 3/4" plywood as the subroadbed, and cut it 'cookie cutter style' for the areas with grades. The plywood transitioned from the flat areas to the 2% slope quite nicely just by using risers every 16" or so. You just have to plan where your splices will be so that you don't end up having to join two pieces of subroadbed in the middle of a transistion.
Jimmy_BraumAlso to ask, I've a lift out piece with the mainline on it. What would be yinz suggestion to keep the current of the DCC bus flowing to the section? wire up male female plugs?
If the liftout is going to be removed on a regular basis I would suggest choosing a plug that is designed to be plugged and unplugged frequently and easily. Automotive trailer plugs require a bit of force to connect them and they are designed to stay together when they are being flexed. Your liftout won't move when it is in place so using a plug that is designed to be hard to disconnect might not be the best option. Something like this might work better:
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/3-5mm-Jack-STEREO-Socket-Female-Plug-Stereo-Male-Audio-Cable-Adaptor-Connector/274094274694?hash=item3fd14ab886:g:XSMAAOxyhtpR6O9Y
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I went low tech for electrical contact. I wired feeders to short wood screws set on the lift-out's abutments. The same distance apart, I placed the same screws on the nether side of the lift-out so that the lift-out sat on the pairs of screws. Feeders went up from the lift-out's screws to the insides of the various rails on the liftout.
The advantage of this very simple setup was that I could adjust eight screws to get a perfect vertical alignment at any rail gap. One might think the electrical would not be very reliable, but it was exceedingly reliable.
I use the Woodland Scenic Inclines/Declines for grades.
https://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/item/INCLDECLSET
Sorry, Ive been busy with real life.
My current lift out is a board with flex Track at both ends, using rail joiners to keep the current.
So IF I go the audio jack route, how would that be wired up?
Jimmy_BraumSo IF I go the audio jack route, how would that be wired up?
First question is: Do you have track power on both sides of the layout where the liftout will go? In other words, will your liftout be part of the power bus or are both sections of the layout leading to the liftout already powered? I suspect the later.
If the rest of the layout is already powered then you will only need one male/female jack set to power the liftout. It doesn't matter which side of the layout the power comes from. Locate the jack set wherever is the easiest to reach.
If your liftout will be part of the power bus then you will either need two jack sets, one at each end of the liftout, or you could supply the unpowered section of the bus from a different direction and just use one jack set.
Remember that you don't want to create a continous loop in your power bus so at some point there should be an insulated gap in the rails.