A Small Shunting Layout

[Manicouagan]

Hello,

I'm very happy to be a new member of this great forum. I built a small shunting layout (120 cm x 20 cm with the fiddle yard). I print my very personal track mat. All your comments are welcome. Here is the result so far:

 

[Buz]

Hi manicougan

That's pretty small how and what do you see it developing into.

regards John

[Manicouagan]

Thanks. This a picture of my trakmat (caution: not to scale !):

[Manicouagan]

Thanks for all these "like" guys. Very appreciated. And thanks for watching my poor work.

[Manicouagan]

I drew two new track plans. What is the best ? All your advices, comments and criticisms are welcome.

[Manicouagan]

The KISS principle applies at last. This is a better track plan I guess.

 

[Manicouagan]

I made a kind of mockup without glue, screw or nail:

[Manicouagan]

Just for the record, I use a cheap printer, some photos found on the web and Anyrail for the track bed (the "trace" option and the PDF function). That's all !

[Manicouagan]

Do you think that my new track mat is a too dark ? Thanks for your comments.

[jhb171achill]

Will the whole thing be self-contained, or is it your intention to have one track go off to a fiddle yard?

[Mayner]

On 9/26/2020 at 7:46 PM, Manicouagan said:

I drew two new track plans. What is the best ? All your advices, comments and criticisms are welcome.

Saturday's  plans were similar to John Allen's classic "Timesaver" switching puzzle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timesaver

I think the basic constraint was that the loop is just long enough to run around two wagons and the siding or industry tracks a loco and two wagons.

The Timesaver is basically a board game using model trains as pieces.

[Manicouagan]

19 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

Will the whole thing be self-contained...

Absolutely ! This is the entire layout (including the little fiddle yard on the left) on this photo:

 

[Jack_Dunboyne]

What is the purpose of marked cross? I think you could use it better in different part of the layout.

 

[Manicouagan]

These few pics below will answer a lot of questions. Hope so...

 

Edited September 28, 2020 by Manicouagan

[Jack_Dunboyne]

Fair enough  

[Manicouagan]

This layout is plugged to a homemade controller and a power supply (yellow circle) at the left end.

I used one LM317 for this very cheap controller. I put a small heat sink on the back of the LM317 and a car bulb as cheap overload protection.

Edited September 28, 2020 by Manicouagan

[jhb171achill]

Innovative! Well done.....

If it’s self contained like that, you could have it as something inside a factory complex....