"How Railways Work" Playlist Added to My YouTube Channel

• Ever wonder how railways work? 
•  How can trains change directions or take curves if they don't have steering? 
• Did you know that model trains use cyber & network technologies?

I think about the engineering (pun intended) in making trains work.

So I added a playlist to provide insights into railways design and engineering at:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL04XZzwCXJOxvFVm3DbLgW0U9N1pOLAMS

By the way, I am expanding the playlists. So take a look at the current set of playlists at: https://www.youtube.com/@JDAbolinsRailways/playlists

Cheers,
Jon

 I am working on a shelf layout in a tight space in my office. It is an L-shaped layout with wider sections on each end to allow for a double-track loops at the ends. The vertical clearance is tight, about 9 inches (22.9 cm).

"Like building a ship in a bottle but it's a model railway layout!

Panoramic view of the shelves.

Because of the tight spaces, I am making sectional baseboards to rest on the shelves. That will allow my to remove the sections to work on them. The spaces are too tight to build and maintain the layout in place. I learned a lot from the T-Trak concepts and borrowed some of the ideas from T-Trak with major modifications.

In these photos, I have some parts of the track on the shelves to get an idea of the their arrangements. The track arrangements here might change as I try out some options.

More to come.

Kato Unitrack: Marking Similar Size Track Sections for Easier Identification

Problem: Some pieces of sectional track are similar in size but even small differences can cause problems. (Especially in the smaller scales like N or Z.) For Kato N gauge Unitrack, some short straight track sections are very close in length and confusing them might cause problems in getting the track to fit. Fortunately, Kato and some other manufacturers mark their track sections with clues to their length or radius.

Same length or different?

Project Goal: Making the track piece lengths easier to read. 

Required Tools & Materials: Track sections and a permanent marker with a contrasting colour. This examples used a Sharpie medium point black marker. Other brands should work fine. Just make sure that the marker's ink is compatible with the track you're marking. Test on a small sample or a scrap piece if not sure.

Steps:

1. Make sure you have identified the track piece's length or radius.. 
   
   

   

   S64 = Straight, 64 mm.

   
   
   
2. If the size is a part of the track's casting, run the marker over the raised surfaces of the information.
   
   

   

   More readable.
   
   

3. If the information is not cast on or if you want to make it even easier to read the information, just write the information on the underside of the track. See the track pieces on the right in the below photo. Even with the marked cast-on information, the written size is even easier to read.
   
   
   
   
   

Although this example used Kato N gauge Unitrack, it should work for other types of track. Just make sure that the marker's ink is compatible with the track -- don't want ink that warps or dissolves the track -- and that the ink's colour will contrast enough to be readable.

Cheers and best wishes for your model railway projects.

JDA.

Hacking Kato Unitrack - New Topic for This Blog

 Hello. 

As I am trying to get going on my shelf layout in my office, I finding opportunities to look at Kato Unitrack (N Gauge version) as something of a raw material to modify. So as I find opportunities to "hack" Unitrack, I'll try to share lessons learned here.

Kato Unitrack lends itself well to modifications. The moudled ballast is plast and easy to cut or reshaped. 

For example, there are good tutorials on cutting Kato Unitrack to custom lengths or adjusting the track curves. Here's an example:

AlohaMilton - Kato Unitrack custom length modification
https://youtu.be/jCXYc7o_v-g?si=UHw-GzeoForaLzK8

Elsewhere a web post shows how to replace the Coe 80 rails with Code 55 rails. I like the idea but, for reliability, I will stick with the stock Code 80 rails.

Hacking Unitrack: Code 55!
https://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?threads/hacking-unitrack-code-55.25477/

Photo by bryan9 on TrainBoard

I hope soon to post original videos or phots of some of my own Kato Untirack Hacks.

Cheers,
J.D. Abolins

Hello, World!

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
  printf("Hello World!");
}

"Hello, world!"

 Yes, it's a computer techie cliche for new posts. Setting up this blog. More to come.