Well I think I'm getting closer to the final version of the layout. I know there will be additional modules to extend the north and east lines. And although the station is a terminus, there will be another module on the west end to hold the station and the town. The town will take the most time to build. I may decide to break that part into two separate modules. One for the railway station and courtyard and the other longer module for the old town square. For now, I'll focus my attention on the platform area and then begin building the bridge. Hopefully I'll have gained enough experience with styrene to tackle the station building. I've got two ideas for the building. One is similar to the Koln station with glass exterior. However, I haven't seen any clear sheets of styrene plastic. The other is an older style building with steep roof and a clock tower. I'm leaning towards the latter because it gives me the option of running Era IV or V trains without any inconsistencies provided I avoid using the ICE tunnel portals. I could even run Era III locomotives, but I'd have to avoid installing catenaries. But I really like the look of those portals. If I'm ambitious, I might custom build a wide portal to accommodate both north and east set of tracks.
If you squint really hard, you can see the connector tracks between modules. Jurgen described his experience with the club's modular layout. While preparing for the train show, they had some damage to the track as some of the tables shifted. Most modules use a single track connector that extend by a certain distance into each module. This single track links the permanently fixed track by way of rail joiners. The connector is not screwed into the table top. After that experience, he said they were going to go with a three-piece design instead. Two short track pieces at either end of a long straight track to form the connector instead of a singular long track. If the table shifts unexpectedly, only the short little pieces will be damaged. The permanent track will remain undamaged and firmly affixed to the layout. Taking that to heart, my connector will be composed of two 1" pieces at each end of a 4" piece. The N-Trak society specifies a single 8" length of track for connecting modules together. However, that is only applicable if I want to connect my module to someone else's module.
The other words of wisdom Jurgen passed on to me was don't screw in the rails that go through a tunnel. The reason behind this is that if you have to access those tracks, it will be a bugger trying to remove that track because you won't be able to manipulate a screwdriver in the tunnel. So now I'm thinking of using clips for the sections that go onto my bridge. The clip is fixed to the table and the track is simply snapped into the clip. I'm also considering allowing the truss structure of the bridge to be removable.
If you squint really hard, you can see the connector tracks between modules. Jurgen described his experience with the club's modular layout. While preparing for the train show, they had some damage to the track as some of the tables shifted. Most modules use a single track connector that extend by a certain distance into each module. This single track links the permanently fixed track by way of rail joiners. The connector is not screwed into the table top. After that experience, he said they were going to go with a three-piece design instead. Two short track pieces at either end of a long straight track to form the connector instead of a singular long track. If the table shifts unexpectedly, only the short little pieces will be damaged. The permanent track will remain undamaged and firmly affixed to the layout. Taking that to heart, my connector will be composed of two 1" pieces at each end of a 4" piece. The N-Trak society specifies a single 8" length of track for connecting modules together. However, that is only applicable if I want to connect my module to someone else's module.
The other words of wisdom Jurgen passed on to me was don't screw in the rails that go through a tunnel. The reason behind this is that if you have to access those tracks, it will be a bugger trying to remove that track because you won't be able to manipulate a screwdriver in the tunnel. So now I'm thinking of using clips for the sections that go onto my bridge. The clip is fixed to the table and the track is simply snapped into the clip. I'm also considering allowing the truss structure of the bridge to be removable.
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