11'6" x 9' Loft Layout

QUOTE (john woodall @ 11 Jun 2008, 16:50) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Pretty solid looking baseboard construction!

Can I ask why you decided on Digitrax control, rather than NCE?

John

Thanks John. Bench work I am thrilled with actually as the track & bracket approach has yielded very stable benchwork with no legs or diagonal bracing required. Its 70mm x 18mm screwed to 30mm x 30mm batterns to form L girders with 45mm x 30mm section lengths connecting to the brackets and bracing every 300mm or so.

Good question regarding the choice of DCC, there wasn't a lot in it really and I read up extensively for a year or so on the total package (block occupancy, signalling, power management blah, blah, blah). Was going to just get the Zephyr to get going but scored a great deal on the DCS100 which is the radio controlled unit too and comes with the UR91 IR/Radio receiver and the DT400R throttle which I also liked a lot. I guess it just pushed my buttons more than the NCE did but I am notorious for misplaced brand loyalty too.

QUOTE (bro sewell @ 15 Mar 2009, 22:40) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Was just waundering how the layout was progressing? You have shared plenty of 'work bench' stories and would love to see some of them on the layout. Brass signals do scare me, but seeing your work gives me a small amount of confidence to at least think about them, any pics of your loft layout?

Thanks for the feedback. The loft layout was dissassembled in December and stored in the roof space above my garage in Perth, Western Australia. The house has been rented out and my family and I have relocated across the country to Melbourne. New layout in progress. Track plans and so on to follow.

Do have a go at the signals. Instructions are very good and you can contact me at any time if you like. I have started scratch building mine now using tube and etches of various parts from MSE.

QUOTE (Robert Stokes @ 16 Mar 2009, 02:00) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I've just re-read this thread and realised that your layout is almost exactly the same size as the one that I'm building in my garage. It will be interesting to see how your track-plan compares to mine. Also your stock list indicates that your are interested in the same region. I've got much the same lot of engines.

I'm interested in your decision to use EM gauge. I thought about it for a long time but in the end decided that I didn't have the skill to build my own track work. If there was a ready made set of points in this scale I would convert very quickly.

Thanks Robert, I did not have much stock so re-gauging 10s or 100s of items was never a turn off as it is for many folk. Also, I was unimpressed with the appearance of the commercial offerings. As such, with the right advice, I decided to tackle the process of track building which really is easier than making signals from what I have gleaned. Now I have only made a couple of vees and wing rails at this stage but will be posting a work bench thread on how I will be making point work using C&L timber sleeper templates and plastic chairs etc for my new venture. This new layout will be fine scale 00 to allow my friends from the BMRA to run their stock and to eliminate the initial requirement to re-wheel or re-chassis a number of locomotives to get a layout running. New build kit locos will be built to EM gauge however. For more info on the track plan have a look at Thread on the loft layout track plan and signal diagrams. I do actually have a Templot plan of the entir layout too with all the sweeping curves and pointwork. One critisism from those in the know about such things is that the layout lacks storage sidings for a layout of this size.