More Flatbashing

I've begun work on another block of buildings based on commercial background flats that I turn into low-relief structures. The new project can easily be seen behind the first row of full-depth kitbuilt structures in the foreground. They're the ones that aren't level -- this was my first attempt at placing them where they're meant to go, and now I have a better idea of what I need to do to level them out. More will be added to the block before it's done. The photo gives me a good idea of how tall the additional ones should be.

Most of them are from Trackside Flats, which are pretty comparable to the old King Mill flats. The long, low one on the left is from King Mill.

The Unsolved T-TRAK Puzzle

Before I wrote this post, I did a quick check of existing T-TRAK standards to make sure I hadn't missed anything, and as far as I can tell, there's no good answer to a basic question: the electrical connections between T-TRAK modules on a layout of any size (typically more than one table or loop) use 12-gauge wire that lies in the trough between two rows of modules. But 12-gauge wire is pretty thick. How do you run the connection from either a DC power pack or DCC command station from the outside of the loop, presumably 12-gauge wire, to the connections to individual modules in the trough?

No T-TRAK standard I've seen gives any insight into this. T-TRAK modules have no provision themselves to run any wire, much less 12 gauge, from the outside of the loop to the inside, and no provision for any sort of gap between modules to allow it, either

In my case, my T-TRAK modules are primarily for home use and are all, accordimng to T-TRAK terminology, "non-conforming modules" in any case, since for starters I use BWBW wiring. (Some of my modules can switch to BWWB via a DPDT switch on the back of the module if I ever wind up taking them to a meet).

Originally I set up a T-TRAK module with an NCE PCP Power Cab panel set into the front. This would allow me simply to transfer my Power Cab from my main HO layout to my home T-TRAK loop. I got around the need to pass the power cord into the module by simply drilling a hole for it in the front of a module. There are holes in the rear of standard modules that allow a power cord or bus wire that's gotten in from the front to pass out of the module to other modules via the inner trough.

However, one problem that began to present itself was that the front of a T-TRAK module is too small for a normal throttle pocket, and there's noplace else to set the Power Cab down except on the layout itself, which is never a good idea.

While my main HO layout is designed with peninsulas and fascias with throttle pockets and set up for walk-around operations, I have a few smaller projects like the home T-TRAK loop that aren't. You can squeeze an NCE PCP for a Power Cab onto a T-TRAK module, but other styles of mini layout are impossible with this. So I bit the bullet and got a Digitrax DCS 52, which is set up more like an old style DC power pack that can be connected and disconnected to a simple terminal strip.

Here is one of my home T-TRAK modules where I added a terminal strip on the front fascia connected to a terminal strip inside the module that represents the DCC bus. This way I can connect and disconnect a command station to the T-TRAK loop without the problem of what to do with the Power Cab when I'm not holding it, but I can just as easily connect it to other mini layout projects without worrying about how to accommodate a PCP for the Power Cab -- all I need is a terminal strip.

Although T-TRAK standards recommend Digitrax architecture for DCC, they still don't really specify how to get a 12 gauge DCC bus inside the loop from the outside. So this is just another way in which my modules are "non-conforming".

Richmond Main Street Progress

I fokund this photo recently on Facebook. It was originally black and white, taken abcoukt 1950, and someone colorized it using the current colors of the restored station.

This was a big help tro me, since the I-95 bridge shadow obscures the southwest facade of the station for most of the day, and I hadn't been able to make a full N scale "skin" up to now.

The old photo dates from before the bridge, so no shadow. Here's how far I got before the new photo:

And here's the current status:

I used Clever Models N scale red roofing tile texture for the roof.

The Walthers N Modern Suburban Station

I've delayed working on Module 9 of my home T-Trak layout for nearly a year, mostly because I've been stumped by the Walthers N Modern Suburban Station kit. This is based on their Modern Gas Station, which in turn strikes me as more like a truck stop on a highway outside of town than a corner gas station, since it seems to have truck stop size rest room facilities, room for a fast food franchise inside, and lots of gas pumps. This in turn makes it a little hard to justify for a suburban rail station, since these typically have neither rest rooms nor fast food franchises.

I wound up swapping the front and rear walls, as on a truck stop, the more prominent facade faces the gas pumps, while on a suburban station, the more prominent facade faces the track. I think this is to make each stop more uniquely recognizable to the passengers, like the Chicago Metra station at Wheaton, IL. (This is a photo I took from a train through the green tinted window.) Doing this also puts the rest room windows out of sight in back.

I also decided to paint the roof using an old bottle of Floquil Jade Green paint. This isn't too far from the color that Virginia Railway Express uses on its newly built stations (as opposed to the ones it inherited from the Southern and the RF&P). Below is the newlty built VRE station at L'Enfant in southern Washington, DC, which has the same style roof as the Walthers kit.

I rejiggered the Wslthers plaform parts to extend the platform at the front and added Wheels of Time decals for the yellow non-skid strip that now appears on most platform edges, like the platform of the Van Nuys, CA station below:

I measured out the dimensions of the station platform base and added layers of thin Woodland Scenics foam to bring it up to a level that took it past the Peco switch machine and Kato catenary base that were near it. I also drilled a hole for a Just Plug stick on LED to go inside the building.

As with most of my recent modules, I installed Kato catenary bases that would allow me to add Kato catenary supports or leave them out depending on what I want to represent at the time. For instance, one of the prototypes I follow is Virginia Rail Express, which, although it is diesel and runs mostly on non-electrified right of way, does operate on formerly electrified track in southern Washington, DC that still has catenary supports in place. It also runs under active wire for a short distance in Washington Union Station.

But other prototypes I follow, like the Amrak Northeast Corridor and New Jersey Transit, are electrified, so I can have catenary supports in place or not as I choose.

The Walthers kit, despite its size, wound up being a challenge, but I was finally able to wrestle it into something like what I needed.