Construction of modules?

[electrolove]

Can someone please point me to a good webpage about the construction of modules? The thing I need to know is how to connect the track between modules so I can take the modules apart and join them together again with the track lined up perfectly.

Are there any common methods for this?

Here is a picture to explain this in a better way. After I have joined the modules I want the track to look like picture 1.

[Big_Boy_4005]

A lot of modular designs use a short "filler" section of track to go between modules. This allows the rails to stay well back from the end so they aren't damaged in transit. It also provides a little room for error when connecting modules. Once the modules are set up, the fillers are easily installed.

[railroadyoshi]

Often, those fillers are just simple pieces of atlas snap. Are you doing this for a modular layout that will be taken apart often, or one that won't be taken apart often?

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by railroadyoshi

Often, those fillers are just simple pieces of atlas snap. Are you doing this for a modular layout that will be taken apart often, or one that won't be taken apart often?

Good point Yoshi, fillers are most common in traveling designs. Semi permanent layouts could be joined normally if you are careful, but it is difficult to get perfect alignment while trying to physically set up the module. That is another advantage to the filler concept. You insert the fillers once the tables are standing.

[electrolove]

QUOTE: Originally posted by railroadyoshi

Often, those fillers are just simple pieces of atlas snap. Are you doing this for a modular layout that will be taken apart often, or one that won't be taken apart often?

The whole idea is to take it apart if I must move sometime in the future. So it will not be taken apart often. But it feels good to be able to do it if I must move, but only then.

[Anonymous]

why not simply take the rail right to the edge and join them there .never had any trouble , i take my modules apart every evening ,just align and glue the track down rigid .

Im going to take my latest modules to a small meeting in gothenburg on dec 4 in Partille ,
N scale
BNSF
Tomas

[electrolove]

QUOTE: Originally posted by tomas1

why not simply take the rail right to the edge and join them there .never had any trouble , i take my modules apart every evening ,just align and glue the track down rigid .

Im going to take my latest modules to a small meeting in gothenburg on dec 4 in Partille ,
N scale
BNSF
Tomas

How do you adjust the track every time you take it apart and join it again if the floor is not smooth?

[cacole]

A piece of flex track cut to fit and marked on the bottom to indicate which tracks it connects, is one way you could do it for modules that are not going to be moved around a lot and are only for personal use.

For an HO scale club module that is going to be frequently moved around, and might need to be married up with modules from other clubs, you should use the NMRA's HO module standards, which can be downloaded from their web site. These NMRA standards are mere modifications of the N-Trak standards that were originally drawn up for N scale modules.

The Cinch-Jones polarized electrical plugs and sockets recommended by the N-Trak club and NMRA standards were a good idea at the time to prevent electrical problems, but they are now extremely hard to find and have become increasingly expensive. The only source I have been able to find that still sells these devices is Mouser Electronics, so for home use you should try to find something that is more readily available and cheaper. Polarized electrical plugs and sockets for household use would certainly suffice, as long as you use the same devices on every module. Try to find something that is not common in your house, so no one can come along and think the module is meant to receive house current.

Our HO-scale club took modules to Tucson, Arizona, several years ago to set up with other area clubs at a weekend meet, but none of the other clubs had done anything according to the NMRA standards. Electrical connectors were not the same, their tracks were not according to NMRA dimensions, and nothing would line up or interconnect. We finally gave up and came back home. The other clubs never did get anything running because their modules would not fit together properly.

[Anonymous]

Our club has been operating an HO scale modular layout for 20 years now. We've kept with what we started with to join track on the modules - pieces of 9" snap track. Many members use 9" rerailing pieces as extra insurance. I've permanently soldered the rail joiners on the ends of my tracks, and have sliding joiners on the snap track pieces. They slide back under the ties and are then slid onto the adjoining track.

Some groups run the tracks right up to the edges, just relying on rail joiners to bridge the gap. Since many of our modules aren't made as precise as others, this probably would create too large a gap between modules.

Between my two modules, I have short joiner pieces, about 3" long to join the mainlines and inside lines. This allows for better ballasting and better looking tracks. I actually ran the sections of flex track through the joint between the modules when I was building them. I just cun out the joiner pieces with a cutoff wheel on my motor tool. This way I did not have to fit a piece into the gap.

Bob Boudreau

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by electrolove

QUOTE: Originally posted by tomas1

why not simply take the rail right to the edge and join them there .never had any trouble , i take my modules apart every evening ,just align and glue the track down rigid .

How do you adjust the track every time you take it apart and join it again if the floor is not smooth?

1. If you can use any small metal cutting saw gently you can lay your track right across
all your board joints and leave the track complete until you come to move.
This will also mean that you don't have to do any aligning at all when you build... it
will do ititself... so it's the better way to go any way.
2. I would agree and disagree with Tomas. Yes, fix your track down firmly... which may
depend on what sort of track underlay (if any) you are using. But, it doesn't want or
need to be rock soild.
If it is rigid (in fact only the fixed ties will be rigid) it will be more vulnerable to damage
in transit. Anything that touches or hooks a rail end will tend to rip the rail from the
ties. A little movement can avoid or reduce this... especially if you are moving it
carefully and feel the hook-up.
You can in fact get away with the last inch (25.4mm[:)]) or so being left to more-or-
less float. [This will mean that you have to make more of a point to hold each rail
firmly secure while you cut it (which is better than relying on the ties to hold it while
you cut it anyway).] However, with the floating ends realigning with the aid of long
metal rail connectors will be a lot easier. This leads on to the next point.
3. DO NOT ALIGN YOUR TRACK TO CONFORM TO THE FLOOR!
Have you ever been up the mast on a big boat or a ship? A single degree of
movement on deck is a whole different thing from 30 or 40 feet up the mast. To
make this rail related I suppose I should quote the example as 30 to 40 feet up an
old and rickety lattice post signal. I used to lamp (replace the used/empty paraffin
lamp with a full one) once a week at my 1st Signal Box (Tower). In a high wind it
SWAYED. It also showered you with rust and paint flakes. Just to add interest it was
on a 30 foot high embankment... so the drop was 60 foot or more on one side.
Anyway, you've probably got the idea.

3A. I DON'T THINK THAT I CAN STRESS ENOUGH THE IMPORTANCE OF DOING
EVERYTHING IN YOUR POWER TO ESTABLISH A FIRM (VIRTUALLY SOLID) AND
LEVEL FLOOR BEFORE ANYONE STARTS BUILDING ANY SORT OF LAYOUT.

CONCRETE WITH A SELF LEVELLING SCREED IS PROBABLY THE BEST OPTION.

(IF YOU ARE GOING TO BUILD ON ANY SUSPENDED FLOOR (WOOD PLANKS OR
ANY FLOORING BOARD SHEETS) THERE ARE TWO THINGS TO DO:-
1. ENSURE THAT YOU HAVE ANY TRAPS TO ACCESS PIPES OR CABLES
IN PLACE BEFORE YOU START BUILDING LAYOUT FRAMES AND THAT
THEY ARE AS FAR FROM EACH OTHER AS POSSIBLE.
2. IF THE SUPPORTING JOISTS OR THE PLANKS ARE UNEVEN GO TO THE
TROUBLE OF INTRODUCING A LAYER OF 3/4" HIGH GRADE
BLOCKBOARD OR PLY AS A CONTINUOUS SURFACE UNDER ALL YOUR
LAYOUT FEET TO GIVE YOU AS MUCH CHANCE OF A STABLE BASE AS
POSSIBLE.... This may flex but it won't shift around as much as floor
boards.... also... boards that move under your weight as you walk around
will only be a disaster.

THE SIMPLE FACT IS THAT IF YOU DON'T ESTABLISH A FIRM FLOOR YOU MAY AS WELL TRY TO BUILD GOOD TRACK AND LOOK FOR GOOD RUNNING ON A JELLY.

Put it another way. When you're out railfanning would you set up you video on a tripod with one foot on a rock and the other two in soft mud?

So.ANSWER TO THE MOVING HOUSE PROBLEM...
IF you have started with a solid fllor/base in your first home and built everything carefully in the first place... then when you've ensured that you have a good solid floor/base at the new house any adjustments that might be needed in the track will be minimal ... and probably easily within the scope of the couple of inches of floating track suggested above.

OKAY modules and layouts regularly moved are a different matter.

You want to build your layout with good quality track and decorate it with good scenery probably including ballasted track?

So you don't want to be poking about at your track to align it every time you set the layout up?

The start will be in making sure that your module (layout) boards are engineered to not just support the track but to withstand the rigours of being transported... which is bbeing carried in and out (possibly up and down stairs), stood on their sides and maybe even dropped.
You don't want to need a fork lift truck to move them... but you do want to make them robust... in particular you want good joints that won't distort or displace. Different people have different preferences. Whatever it is I would "screw and glue" the joint.

Okay, so you're going to have a good solid board. Next thing to do is to make the board ends that mate in pairs AND NEVER LET THESE PAIRS PART. A1.ALWAYS GOES WITH A2, B1 ALWAYS GOES WITH B2. (May be slightly different for a fully modular design.... {where you don't always join the same modules together} make a steel end board template at least 1/4" thick and make 100% certain that every end board conforms to standard...)

PEOPLE ACTUALLY GIVE UP THE HOBBY AFTER YEARS OF EFFORT AND HUNDREDS OF £/$s JUST BECAUSE THEY HAVE NEVER GOT THIS RIGHT.

Mating your board ends (board to board NOT opposite ends of the same board) applies just as much if (as you suggest) you are only planning to move the layout maybe once in its life. Get it right once and it will remain right.

There are DOZENS of ways of joining board to board. I still haven't decided on which way Ilike best. So long as any two board ends that may be mated are matched I don't see why you shouldn't have as many methods as you want to try out. Make sure that they are robust though AND that the way they attach to the board is robust. It's obvious but there is no point in linking connectors with a 1/2" bolt if the connestors are fited to the boards with 1/2" NAILS.

You can get board joiners with built in adjustment. My view is that it may be useful to make very fine adjustments to draw (not pull) the boards together as pretty much the last adjustment to align your track(s).

NOTICE THIS!

I am aligning the track by aligning the boards!

How do we align the board? Not by the board connectors!

The board connectors are there to connect boards THAT HAVE THE ENDS DESIGNED AND MADE TO MATE CORRECTLY.

SO if the ends aren't mating the whole of each board to which they belong can't be aligned correctly. SO ALIGN THE BOARDS CORRECTLY!

How do you align boards correctly?

Start off by having a good level floor as above if possible. If it isn't possible you proceed in the same way as if it is BUT you have to keep checking back that things haven't gone out of adjustment more often.

Okay. Decide on a datum (fixed point). Locate it, fix it and keep checking that it hasn't gone AWOL... not even by 1mm (If you are able to work that acurately... which may depend on more than just your own skills. Great news! these days you can get laser leveling devices and measuring things from DIY stores at not-too-bad prices (I think you'll be able to get them in Sweden as well). (If not have a weekend in the UK and go to B&Q... or maybe B&Q on the internet?). Set up the first module and get it right. Then you work steadily along from the datum extending the baseboards... making each board true and square in its own right and then making sure that it connects correctly.

(I have to add...LASERS NEED TO BE USED SAFELY... keep children away in particular).

If you don't work from a fixed point you will be back on the wobbly jelly.

So, anyway... you BUILD the thing right on your solid base from your fixed datum. Then you take it apart and put it back together enough times for it to go right BEFORE you ever lay any track...'cos doing it without track means that you can bash it about as much as you like/need without damaging any track AND THEN ,when you put the track on, you are putting the track on a base that is right... so your track laying isn't either trying to correct for faults in the baseboard/module or correcting them by default. This will not only mean that you can take things apart and put them together again with few problems but that you will get better results in everything all of the time MORE EASILY [:D][:D][:D]

TIME SPENT NOW WILL SAVE YOU TIME FOR THE LIFE OF THE LAYOUT.

If you are building a module or a portable layout you may be getting into a situation where you will be setting it/them up on all sorts of floors.

The thing to aim for is a layout that is as level, straight and firm/secure when it is set up on a wobbly floor as when you built it on a good floor.

The way to do this is to design adjustment into the legs NOT to waggle the layout about.

You want your track base and track to be as they are supposed to be. If you start to adjust the track and/or the module you are... doing all sorts of things... that (among other things) will mean that it ain't going to match up when you take it home... or to the next place or... and all the time you're messing with your track and scenery. So...

DON'T POKE THE TRACK ABOUT!

There are loads of ways of making adjustable legs. Even wedges of card can work.

If you want you can even put a spirit-level bubble into one long side of each board. It is probably useful to design a location on each board where you can fit a reasonable length spirit level easily....'cos what you will be trying to do is to set the whole thing level.

Whatever system you use adjusting the legs is pretty much a matter of lumps of wood and large nuts and bolts or screws... which are robust, easily replaced (take spares with you... then you won'ty need them) and you're not looking at them when you are palying trains... and the trains don't fall off on them... unless you leave one on the track when you're setting up.


Okay. I hope that has covered that.

The above has been tried and tested by the Epsom and Ewell Model Railway Club (Surrey, England) (If you can get to their Exhibitions during a visit they are some of the best in the country)... on their Nonsuch layout which has been not only in existence for more than forty years but for at least thirty of that was stored on a balcony all week and passed down ovet the edge to be set up each Monday night... and, of course, taken down and pushed back up into storage. if you want to keep doing that you want something robust that can be put together quickly.


Additionally.... especially where you are moving a layout/module regularly it is worth making up protecting ends for both ends of every board.

That could be a whole subject in itself.

The least you want to do is to protect all the rail ends and board joiners. Locating cable links can be useful.

It will depend on how your boards connect on whether your end protectors are held on by them or by a seperate arrangement. If you are going to use the end boards to lift (via handles?) you need to be very sure that this won't damage the board connectors OR move them.

...and have fun

Oh yes... and put identifying marks on everything... there is notheing worse than spending hours juggling things round to see what fits where... except having to wait to set up your layout while someone else juggles with their layout. [banghead]

AND NONE OF US HAVE ANSWERED YOUR WEBSITE QUESTION... Try the NMRA. they have standards for modules.

[Anonymous]

jepp,The adjustment is in the legs.
and about the solid floor ,you would laugh if you saw my layout im building on the second floor in our garage at my carclub ,it sways and jumps but that has never been any trouble cause im building the modules to sit on benches . and on some i anchored them on the wall just like he who builds the Maumee route .
This time Im going to build some good side covers :) so not to catch everything with the railjoiners.
and about electric connections do get the ELFA catalouge .www elfa.se they have some good things.

and as were speaking of UK, Im bulding a small layout of midland road and whatever ;)
my first loco Im building is a L&y 0-6-0 aspinall,yes the one that was as a drawing earlier this year in The Magazine you know wich ;)
last but not the least , why oo 4mm - ouch ouch why didnt you go back to HO in the sixties ? no you have to change the railgauge instead ;)
Cheers .
TOMAS
Gothenburg
sweden

[Anonymous]

Guess it's railway if not railroad...

Stayed with 00 - 4mm=1ft because 1mm =3inches etc is easier than dividing up 3.5mm... 'cos we work that way not as !/72 or 1/87... and 'cos we're BRITISH.

I imagine that 1/87 is pretty easy when you're working in metric... but 12inches= 1foot... 3feet = 1 yard (3 feet three and one third inches = 1 metre). It caused havoc converting to decimal currency... and the politicains bottled out of the rest... jam still comes in 454gm jars... and 454gm =? You've guessed it...one pound.

Lancs and Yorks (Railway) wasn't Midland (Railway) nor located in the Midlands... it's North... where all the big strong men come from... so they tell us. The L&Y people would be screaming... so would the MR... BOTH went into the London Midland and Scottish in the 1923 Grouping.

Benches are good... there's an argument for arranging the boards as much like a single beam as possible and letting them just sit on legs acting as columns. This requires greater longitudinal strength.
Problem with supporting off of a wall is if you get any structural movement ...which a heavy layout can cause.
You can combine walls and legs but then you are into two different factors at once.

Of course the big difficulty with bracketing a layout off a wall is taking the wall to any meets or shows...

Where layouts are resident it is amazing what humps and bumps and apparently diabolical arrangements can be got away with.

Are you scratch building the Aspinall or using somone's kit?

[DSchmitt]

Sipping & Switching Society of NC
http://gugliotta.home.mindspring.com/
http://home.earthlink.net/~robert27529/id3.html


BendTrak
http://home.alltel.net/ah50902/index.htm

NTRAK
http://www.ntrak.org/

TTRAK
http://www.t-trak.org/

[Anonymous]

Hi David,
yes its all by my self ,its my first scratchbuilt loco and I bought a MR single wheeler kit to build when im done with the latest modules of bnsf arizona n scale ,thats part of my great layout project thats been under way for several years.
I tried to build british in 2 mm scale but I put that on hold for a while .
yes I know the story about pregrouping and the lot .I love the british steam locos up to ca 1910 then they got to big and I dont like them att all, I dont like the US steam
engines either. thats life ;)
i bought a lot of old copies of the Railway journal ,great mag :)

what do you model ?
regards Tomas

[Anonymous]

I'm considering using door hinges on my home layout (won't be joined with anyone else's layout). Build the layout with sections connected with door hinges. When it's time to take it apart, take the pins out. Seems simple enough.

[electrolove]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CARRfan

I'm considering using door hinges on my home layout (won't be joined with anyone else's layout). Build the layout with sections connected with door hinges. When it's time to take it apart, take the pins out. Seems simple enough.

That sounds like an interesting idea.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by electrolove


That sounds like an interesting idea.

Although not original! I've heard someone else suggest this before. Having take off and put back on lots of doors in my house for repainting this past year, the idea stuck.

[modelmaker51]

My layout is a sectional layout. It's is built to move. The sections are generally 6 to 8 feet long. Each section is a 1x4 frame (with intermediate crossmembers on 12" centers) and a plywood (3/8") top and 2'" pink or blue foam board glued to that. Each section has a 1x2 "lip" attched to one bottom end of each frame section.

The sections are bolted (don't forget to use washers) together through slightly oversize holes (to allow for adjustment). Only the first section has 4 2x2 legs, the rest have only 2. The legs all have lag bolts to adjust for floor uneveness (even the best made floors aren't perfect and they may need to be re-adjusted over time due to wood shrinkage).

Track was layed right across without regard to section joints (these were just cut with a dremel cutoff tool prior to the move), except in hard to reach or covered areas (tunnels), here the track was cut and prepared so railjoiners could be pushed back flush with the rail end. These joiners were not soldered. The last inch and a half of track on each (hidden) section was also not glued down to allow for slight adjustment.

I have moved this layout (14'x 27') twice in the last 15 years and the moves were pretty painless. Everything was up and running in a few days. With the adjustabillity of the bolt-together sections, I didn't even need rail joiners in the visible areas. In fact those joints act as expansion joints and have helped prevent track kinking. Electrically the track is all connected to the buss lines underneath.

One more thing on the wiring: I left a loop of wire at each section joint, all I had to do was label each wire and then cut it. When the layout was reassembled I just used wire nuts to reconnect the bus lines and I was back in business.

The scenery is all builtup layers of styrofoam , so for disassembly, I used either a handsaw or a sawsall to cut through the scenery at the section joints. Repair was just a matter of adding some new ground foam to cover the joints.

Well, that's my story. Jay.

[Don Gibson]

if it hasn't been said before ...

RULE OF THUMB: Never place a track joint over another joint.

1. install levelers (fem. INSERT'S + male 'T' NUT'S) on all leg's
2. run pieces of standard track OVER ALL joint's, 3" - 5" to each side. 6" ideal (3" per side).
3. feed electricity to each module via 'jumper 's underneath between modules.
4. MOUNT all turnout and block controls on a Facia on the front, or back, of the module for club's.

NMRA Modules are 2X4. David Barrow's 'Domino's are 1.5 wide and ideal for home use - getting through doorway's, stair's, etc. (Moving for instance).

[johncolley]

Check out Free-mo.org or .com and go through their library of standards. The mainline takes 2" fitters, all other tracks can be butt or filler. Height adjustment is by bolts in the bottom of the legs.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CARRfan

I'm considering using door hinges on my home layout (won't be joined with anyone else's layout). Build the layout with sections connected with door hinges. When it's time to take it apart, take the pins out. Seems simple enough.

From experience...

This does work! BUT use full door hinges (the kind we call "butts") ... they have 2 interlocking to 3 bits interlocking one side to the other... This gives a better alignment and stronger hold than 2 - 1... which I tried and changed from.
If you have frame depth brass hinges are good provided you can get the good old solid ones.

Lubricate the pin! Both when drawing out the original and when you put in whatever pin you use for the job...Give yourself something good to get hold of especially if you're not going to seperate the parts often... you want to be able to wiggle and ease the pin to help get it out. If you do this it won't sieze up...if you don't it probably will...usual principles apply!

When seperating the modules DON'T unpin one and use the other as a hinge. Unpin both and seperate. this avoids distorting a hinge... especially if you're tempted to always flex the one hinge. If you have to flex make sure that you use a really strong hinge and keep an eye both on that hinge and how it's fixed to the frame.

Have fun [8D]

Tomas... E mail me (then we won't get told off for going off topic [}:)])

Thinking of ways I've seen resident layouts supported the list includes old (falling apart) chests of drawers, rusty filing cabinets and every combination of mixed timber sizes (plained and rough cut) that can be imagined. I don't think I've ever seen Lego used but I expect it has been.

[Anonymous]

Hi, its interesting to have a read on everybodys problems and solutions on the subject of Modules,
My latest modules is very much like David Barrows ideas and Im also naming the latest modules wich is going to be a major terminal /open staging /industrial layout part in honour of mr Barrow to BARROW ,
Sorry he took the cat mountain down which was my favorite over the years :(

And at last ,
David I try to email you later this week because Im busy doing the last on my modules .and my son ,3 years old takes a lot of time so the computer dont get to much time.