Build a model train track in your RV?

[Ian]

Can you build a model Train Track in your RV? Yes, if you build these T-Track modules you should be able to put something together and it really isn't going to take up that much space when working on a module on their own.
What I found the other day while looking around the net is a not-so-new module standard called T-Track. The module is based on a box 12 1/8" wide and 8 1/4" deep, 2 3/4" high. You can find some nice pictures  here, here and even here. The system is made for running 'N' Gauge track and trains though it would not be hard to call it Narrow Gauge (HO trains on N track) and run some nice Shay's on it.
That size box is going to easily fit on your RV's table without getting in the way of Her quilting or cross-stitching or whatever hobby gives her pleasure. Should also be a lot easier to find somewhere to store them than the much bigger N-Track modules available. Yes I know storage is always a problem, but these are a much easier size to find somewhere for, and you don't need all that many if you are planning on joining up with other folks and their few modules somewhere along your travels.

You can do all sorts of modelling on these little modules and when they get put together you can have your trains running. Even better, when you get together with some of your good friends their modules can be put with yours and you can run some decent length trains. Just imagine the gathering at QZ when you put together 40 or so of these modules!

You can find all about it at http://www.T-TRAK.org  but I have included their data sheet PDF just to give some more background. That site will also give you several downloadable files showing a range of track plans.

No, I have not tried this yet, but I sure am interested in getting more into this modular idea.

 

[Ian]

Like most folks I like to see something running before I decide if I like it or not. What I just spotted on the T-Track site is this listing of Clubs and Club members. Maybe one of these is somewhere on your trail and a quick email might get you a look at a real module or three and see them working?

T-Track Club & Member List

 

[cougar3514v]

I like it - bringing two of my favorite hobbies together.  I guess I better go to the basement and find where I put that box of N-scale trains.  I think I had close to twenty locomotives and a hundred cars.  They've been in a box for over twelve years, so I'm guessing they're in need of some attention.

-Dave

 

[Ian]

Hi Dave, I bought my first N gauge stuff while in charge of a one-man rail station out in the sticks ( about 80 miles from the city) quite a few years back. I thought it might be cool for my just about-to-arrive first son to play with when he got older. I got as far as about 4 or 5 pieces of flexi-track on a board, never got any more done. He's almost 30 now

I wonder if starting small with this T-track might give me a chance to actually get something built? I wonder ...

 

[Jim Dick]

Ian,

If one had the room a basement bay with a slideout would make an ideal location for a large layout. Most of us don't have that kind of space. I saw one coach that had a full wood working shop in the basement so an N gauge railroad would be easy to do. I have to N gauge trains in storage. One is a freight with two RS3 engines and the other is the 20th Century Limited passenger train.

 

[Ian]

Jim, it was our previous discussion about where to store a layout that triggered off this thread when I happened across this T-Track layout site. I knew straight away that here was one realistic option for dedicated RV'ers. A modular box that only took up about a foot by 8 inches and 2 something inches high, yet when joined with other similar sized modules could make a whole layout.  It still means that you might not be able to run trains on your own layout with just 3 modules, but, lets say you build up 3 or 4 modules, that wouldn't take a real big lot of space. And say (just f'instance) Tom had a couple of modules made up, and even Smokey had one or two in his rig. That could be enough to get an oval running, and you can each compare the design and building of each of your modules because they can be as individual as you want them to be. Get say 10 of you together and you could have a large layout with several trains running and have a real ball playing trains and running your loco's over somebody else's rails.
Just imagine what could happen at QZ or some of the other big RV rally's if other folks took up the hobby. And note ladies, you can build and decorate one of these boards just as well - or better - than the guys.

The other aspect of this is that there are already a few places around the States where there are tracks built that use these modules. You could plan to make a trail through one or two of the towns where there is a club or even just a builder (the list is up on the site or the organiser would be able to give you a more current listing). Just email them ahead of time, then when you get into town, head over to their place with your modules in the toad, and straight away you can be mixing it with other tracks you have not seen before. How cool is that!

I might be getting a bit excited here but I just think this modular system has a very good chance of helping with your dreams of owning a train track, and give you something that you can put your own style and ingenuity into and still maintain your RV lifestyle without compromising your storage priorities.

PS: And I would just love to see that 20th Century Limited rolling around a decent track, I bet it would look just great!

 

[Jim Dick]

Hi Ian,

It could be quite interesting if several people built these and brought them to QZ. Modular railroading, as I'm sure you know, has been around for some time. I think most of it had been larger modules but you are correct in that these small units might be ideal for an rver.

I haven't kept up with the industry but remember from years past they used to have TT gauge. Is that still around?

 

[Ian]

Well the N-Track module has been around for quite a number of years, not sure when it started, '80s I think. TT is a scale that I have read about only a few times and not seen any that I can recall. I just don't know enough about it to comment. I love N just for the sheer capability of the scale, not too small that I would need a magnifying glass to set the coupler, not too big that I would never be able to have a track in my own home. On the other hand, with a coming larger number of HOn vehicles now available, the chance to build a small hillside narrow gauge track just really attracts me, I would think that a Shay hauling 3 or 4 timber wagons and only just making it around a tight bend would look extra sweet to me. Though the chances of me making a narrow gauge track are just about the same as an N-Gauge track, slim to not much at all

 

[Jim Dick]

Ian,

From what I remember, TT was so small I would have had problems with it years ago. Sure couldn't do it now.

Shays are really neat little engines. I think a narrow gauge N railroad could be fun.

 

[Ian]

Jim, Google led me to these pages showing a narrow gauge Shay - HO on N track.
http://www.mrollins.com/mine30.html, http://www.mrollins.com/Shay30.html, and a rail bus he scratch built http://www.mrollins.com/bus130.html, or this nice loco http://www.mrollins.com/dunk.html. But for sheer cute value this little Climax looks great http://www.mrollins.com/climaxpix.html.
Some information about narrow gauge modelling can be found here, http://www.hon30.org/gettingstarted.html
This is what Bachmann offer in N gauge steam now,
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/catalog/?cat_id=90&start=0&sortOrder=name
I think I might stick to N but narrow gauge HO does seem an interesting alternative, and at least most of the parts you will be handling are a bit more reasonable for us older guys to see

 

[Ian]

Did some Googling on T-Trak and came up with this Alternative site. http://t-trak.cincy.home.insightbb.com/TTOC/index.AAO.html
What the Alternative is a technique of building the module simply using  base board of the right size then using insulation foam glued to the surface, and the rail track fixed on top of that. Now this alternative method sounds about perfect for the RV rig. No cutting of wood other than getting the baseboards to the right size. The insulation foam is cut using a sharp hobby knife. How easy does that make it?
I have attached a drawing from their site showing how one of his modules has been built.

 

[Ian]

Doesn't have to be a train, why not build a tram track like these from Japan? http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~qn5m-oon/105ryshinngashi.htm or this one http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~qn5m-oon/105ryougimachiya.htm

 

[Jim Dick]

Ian,

You just reminded me that I have a trolley like the red & white somewhere in storage!

 

[Ian]

Jim, I never got into the trolley/tram side of things. All I really wanted to do was put some little old line together that served a sleepy little community. Mountains to the sea. You know what I mean.
When I look at how nicely that Japanese builder has integrated trolleys into his town I'm thinking that perhaps I have overlooked an interesting side of public transport to model.
I was looking at a number of places last night and found a site running Catenary for N Gauge. Now that has got to be a guaranteed way to strain the eyesight stringing wire and ensuring continuity at that scale. I think they called it NCat and they had done some nice work making it look realistic.
I also saw some nice work done in developing methods of transporting the modules. One guy shifts his things around in a plastic bin that is just the width of his modules. The modules stack on top of each other and should take four or more to a bin. With the foam method for creating the module their should not be any real problem with additional weight, just finding a place for the bin/s would be the main problem to be resolved.
There is a great Yahoo group that keeps a lively chatter going about T-Trak modules and the rest of it. They also have a great Library with loads of pictures and layout suggestions. It seems that most model railway shows in the USA will probably show a T-Trak layout so that might be a good way to check them out before starting down that road.

 

[Jim Dick]

Ian,

N-gauge catenary?? No thanks, my eyesight is bad enough!! ;D ;D I remember riding the North Shore Interurban back in the early '60s from North Chicago to downtown Chicago. Even they had a hard time going from rail power to catenary. Sometimes we'd come to a dead stop before they got the connection on the cat. Sometimes we would hardly slow down. I guess some had better hand/eye co-ordination. ;D

 

[Ian]

Jim and others, the T-trak folks are getting ready to do a big layout at the Great Scale Model Train Show April 14-15 at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium MD, maybe it is somewhere within your travel plans? From the Yahoo T-Trak Forum here are some links and information about the show. Attached is their plan for the layout they will display.GSMTS October 2006
Member modules
We run pretty much everything on the layout. The trains are usually anywhere from 3-12' long, although we generally try to keep them small enough to stash in a yard. Most of our guys run modern diesels, but we have some steamers, British, and Japanese too.

We usually run a Zephyr for DCC on the red line. We have UP5s on a bunch of different modules. The inside loops are a mix of DC and DCC power. We try to keep 2-3 trains on the red line at all times to that trains come by every couple of seconds. We run them slow, but close to each other so the kids don't have to wait long for another one. For the Timonium layout (based on what we did there last time) I would suspect that we will have 6-9 trains running at a time on this layout. It is big enough that we might run 5 trains at a time on red.

The yards are all manual switches and we just run in and out of them. We use them mostly for setting up and taking off trains so that we can keep trains running at all times.

The T-TRAK page has an update coming, but don't know when. Our webmaster seems to be letting his children and his job get in the way of the update. I will have to talk to him about that. In the mean time, we have a bunch of pics of modules that Glenn maintains on our gallery. It is broken down by member. It is usually pretty close to updated, thanks to Glenn. Here is a link to the gallery in general: http://www.nvntrak.org/gallery/

Steve Jackson NVNTRAK T-TRAK Division

 

[Ian]

Jim and others, maybe you have been like me and wondering if there are others building these modules. Wouldn't be good to build some modules and find you are the only one doing them and nobody to talk to about them. I think this next snippet from the Yahoo Group will show that this is a big time facet of model railroading and chances are that when you are out on the road there well could be somebody you could meet up with and share notes and stories.I checked my list of modules and have 104 modules accounted for.  Translated into equivalent modules, it is over 200.  And these are the modules that have been run in shows or tested at a back shop.  Add to this another 10+ modules that are under construction or I've been told about, but not seen.
You can then add to these numbers various club members who've said they are or will be building T-TRAK modules.
With the number of modules we have, I keep a spreadsheet listing of modules, size, features, etc.  Then at every show, I try to take another complete set of pictures of all of the modules.  I then combine the best picture of every module into a "scrapbook".  This "scrapbook" shows whatever I have for a module.  From this, pictures of completed modules are added to the Photo Gallery.
As I've said before, at a large regional or national show, I can see 250+ T-TRAK modules (400+ equivalent) in a single setup.  Now think about the time it will take to run a train around that setup!!!!!

 

[Jim Dick]

Hi Ian,

We'll be going through Maryland in the next couple of weeks but won't be able to attend the show. I most likely will be back to work by then.

 

[Jim Dick]

Ian,

Sounds like it's a very popular niche in the hobby! Can't imagine seeing 250+ modules all together. It would take hours just to view it!!!

BTW, I was stopped by a train the other day here in Titusville. It was a triple header with 115 cars carrying containers and over the road trailers. Also had to find an alternate route a couple of days later when on the motorcycle. There was a very sloooooow train coming through town. Sat for a few minutes and cars were bypassing the gates as no train was in sight. Decided I wouldn't do that so ran parallel to the tracks to another crossing. As I sat for the second traffic light change, down come the gates!! Went to the next crossing and made it before the gates came down. I could see the train about 1/2 mile down the tracks. Don't know how long it took to come through.

 

[Ian]

Yep, seeing those pictures and that track plan just blew me right out of the water! WOW! Talk about Proof of Concept 
According to the site they run the train shows every few months, think the next is in June then later in the year so you might get to another one.
The more I see the range of topics covered in the modules, and the way they all can connect together the more I'm convinced that this is the way to go for folks living with limited space for their hobbies. Whether it is for flat /apartment dwellers, or students in dorms or even RV travellers, making a module is something that can be done to build and keep alive an interest in the hobby and still not commit a large amount of space to it.
I earnestly hope that you and others are able to take this concept and run with it.
Lets face it, if each of you did a corner module and two straight modules you would only need three or four of you to meet to be able to run an oval of line. More than that meet up and you could have an L-shape or other configuration. And it all fits on top of a spare table or bench or even a table in a picnic area. It just doesn't get much easier than that unless you want the suitcase layouts of the Z-gauge enthusiasts - and that is going way over the top of what I consider easy modelling for us older folks.

Another thing I noticed from the pictures, women are involved too! The decorating of some modules have been done - or supervised - by the women of the house. And they are apparently getting a lot of pleasure out of the hobby and working alongside their husbands contributing to the modules. See these pictures of Janice P., and young people, Christian P. and also a joint module by Jan and Phil P.