Intro Step 1 
the new room		 Current state
Track plan and video		 Step 2
Framework and
mounting of older sections		 Steg 3
Upgrading of the
older sections		 Continuation.... ............

At last 
The room in the basement became available for model railway  purposes
Now begins the work of building up the layout.

last updated:  2015-01-05  

 
When we did an extension to our house around 1990, a room in the basement was added where I thought it would eventually be possible to build up a layout.

Now, 24 years later, the "eventually" has come. In the meantime, two boys have been grown up and moved out from the house 
and the room has shifted use from storage to table tennis room and then back to store room. 

During the years I have built about ten N scale modules, but they have been packed away in the store room between meetings and exhibitions.
It's been a bit disappointing to not be able to run them at home

 
  Our "we-put-it-here-for-a-while" stock  as it looked the winter 2011-2012
 		 During the autumn of 2012 the work began and the room was emptied and then bolted up
 
During the winter I drawed many proposed track plans where the old sections were added together in various ways with various proposals for new interconnecting sections.

One of the guiding principles in the design was to try to keep everything as simple as possible. It is all too easy to "over plan" and cram too many tracks and switches and other details.

Again and again, I had to go back and delete unnecessary details.
and try to get back to what I really want with the layout.

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Trains are for me: something that just passes
- From  unknown locations 
- Towards unknown destinations
And that is how I think I want it to be on the layout too.

It am not amused in the art of marshalling  and switching.

I would probably prefer that the trains should run automatically instead.

(For that last purpose I am using Train Controller©)

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Draft track plan for the new layout 
 
Finally ? I chose this draft for the track plan and started to build the framework.

On the sketches below are the old sections of the exhibition layout drawn with "greenery".
The new interconnecting sections are still only at the conceptual stage and are drawn with light yellow color..
                             Upper and middle level                                 Middle and lower level
The community of Engelsfors, at the very bottom of the sketch, will be the central point of the layout. From the station, two lines are departing, one to Drambo Works at the top of the sketch, the other line goes down to the middle level, passing Skultuna station and continues down to the lower level .

 On the lower level, it is planned for a shadow layout beneath Drambo Works, where trains will automatically turn back towards Skultuna, or be exchanged on the track to the fiddle yard down under Engelsfors.
There are also plans to connect a temporary circular path over a removable bridge at the lower levels.
      
      
The work to complete the layout is a multi year project.

This is were we are just now  (beginning of june 2013)

The older sections are positioned roughly where they will be ending up, they are connected by loose laid tracks on temporary plywood boards approximately
as the proposed track plan.

Prior efforts to make new sections with track and scenery, the old sections wil get a much needed overhaul, they have worn pretty bad during transportation to and from exhibitions and meetings.

On the layout I normally use

Trackwork:               Peco code 55
Turnout motors         Peco and Conrad
DCC                        Digitrax
Computer control:     Train Controller
---->      <----
Ths is a short Video clip showing the currentl state of the layout im may 2013
showing some overviews and a couple of "cab rides" with an on board camera.

 

As the room still will be a store room I first built stable shelves beneath the layout level. The shelves are hidden behind roller blinds.

  		                      The standalone framework for the middle leg. 
  
The new connection track to the "middle leg" leaves the the main line.  The track is for the moment loosely laid over temporarily mounted plywood boards.
                    A photo montage showing almost all of the train room 
 
 
            At the far end there was room for a workbench with a drawer for locomotives and wagons and the computer used to control the layout.
 

 

   
Before I go ahead and start the construction of new sections, the older modules will have both a needed renovation, as an upgrade for full DCC operation.


The old sections have worn pretty bad during transportation to and from exhibitions and meetings.
And since I have not been able to have the modules connected here at home, I have not had time to find some problems that have haunted me by the various runs.

- The points on some of the sections are still manually operated.
   Those sections will be completed with point motors frpm both Peco and Conrad.

- Other sections still lacks the functions of block detetection
   They have to be partly rewired and completed with Digitrax BDL 168:s 

All modules and sections will be repainted in the same dark gray color as the curtains that cover the shelves. 
 
The Engelsfors double section
   
    Time to start the upgrade.........


I use  Conrad point motors to replace the old manual point control mechanism.

The motors are controlled by two DS64 point control decoders from Digitrax.

I still have some adjustments to make to get two of the Conrads to control both the point blades and the integrated switch for the live frog correctly.
       
Left module:
A Digitrax BDL168 handles the block indication on both modules
A 25 pin flat cable connects to each module.		 Right module:
A couple of extra accessory switches are needed for the Peco electrofrog crossing below.
Each accessory switch were mounted on a Peco point motor.
(I could rather have used a twin switch mounted on one single point motor instead, but I had not any of those in the spare box)		 The long electrofrog crossing surrounded with three ordinare turnouts aand one single slip.
A combination that is quite a challenge to wire correct.
  
The Skultuna section
I have not started to upgrade the Skultuna section yet.

This section is my first built section and it was finished 2001 long before I even thought of DCC operation.

For the moment I am waiting for next delivery of static decoders from  DCC Supplies in UK to be able to start the upgrade
(My order were sent last thursday, so it will problay arrive in just a few days.

 
Before starting up the work with the new interconnection sections I ought to add background scenes the old sections
Today it is only the Skultuna section that have background scenes.

.

The work will be continued, but when and how fast only the furure can tell.