ThomasI

DCC at work....

So, all tracks are connected to the power supply. Many cables because I've wired everything so that I can later divide the depot station into different coverage areas with their own boosters. But now, for the first time, the DCC control center will be connected.

Hello Tony At the moment we have weather like in midsummer. The highest temperatures ever measured in Germany in April. However, it is hardly predictable how the weather will behave in the next few months. Maybe we, climate change says hello, now have midsummer for the next five months. But it can also be that it gets wet and cold again in May and that lasts until July. Therefore, it is difficult to predict with what speed I can continue building in the garden. Best Regards Thomas

Summer is back in Germany with today 28,5° C!! The "bridge" thru the wall of my house is now in place again. At the moment only with 2 tracks but you can see the space for 2 more tracks.

I did a video but this forum didn't like to accept IT.

My friend has finished the slab track. Pictures from Intermodellbau Convention. www.zeitgeist-models.eu

Although only in DC and not yet in DCC, but first test drive.

Hi Deano! I'm just too lazy to take all the trains out of the track after driving. It should also later be possible to let the trains go inside only. An indoor layout is planned. But about the parking yard, everything in the house is always connected with everything outside. Regards Thomas

A friend of mine lit an old Roco car with professional equipment to see how sunlight works on model railroads. After an exposure time and intensity that, according to him, would have killed me a dozen times for skin cancer, the color began to fade discreetly. So the temperature emanating from the sun may actually be a problem in an exposed place, the light at least I think it is not.

Look from inside.

So, spring is here. First construction measures to drive in the future as a Broadway with 4 tracks (possibly even an additional track in H0 narrow gauge) outside in the garden.

You should always be aware that the expansion rates of any material outside are not only theoretical.... Also other things that you do not know from the layout inside are real outside, like, that foundations are lowered or a bridge is washed down by the rain .. The wood on my patio expands more and shrinks again than the WPC.

Yes my system runs (rather it will go there) on the one hand in the house and on the other hand in the garden. The advantage is that on the one hand the trains can be easily parked in the house and evacuated into the house, on the other hand, you can still use the generous space outside.

I can recommend Wood-Plastic-Composite. It looks like Decking board and you can handle it like wood, but it doesn't rott and you don't need the roofing felt.

Hi Tony, The Rhine is a long river, also the navigable part. So it may be that your sisters come by or even start their cruise here, but it also may not be. Weather is very nice today... Happy Easter Thomas

You get ahead quickly Mark. And I envy you for the weather at the moment. Even in Germany, the bees are in danger, we have fewer insects, especially in the countryside. It is now well documented neonicotinoids, so-called plant protection products that kill or at least weaken animals to the extent that they are prone to diseases and parasites. Or nastier formulated: on each dividend payment from Monsanto and Bayer sticks the blood of dead bees ... Thomas

Hello Tony Weather in April is strange hier. We say "im April macht das Wetter was es will" (in April, the weather does what it wants). Last Thursday still snow, yesterday sun and 17 ° C, today stormy and rain ... Hope your sisters have fun anyway. From where to where do you cruise? Thomas from the Rhine

Hello ! So, the last track gap in the low level parking yard is closed. Since the sun was shining a bit today, I also worked on the further construction outside. Respectively, I have eliminated the resulting damage. Unfortunately, I had installed the tarpaulin so unfavorably that the running water has washed under a pillar. Part of the superstructure of my bridge in the bend has deformed as a result. But I have a spare part, which I then painted today. I also gave the pillar a new foundation. In addition, I found that the concrete foundation of the house wall passage on the garden side has lowered by 5 millimeters. After I got angry for a while, I found out that I can now cover it wider at the top and drive four tracks out into the garden. Then I revised the plan and found "yes that works" as you can see from my sketches below. In the end, that's luckier than misfortune.

Hello Tony! I bet you can not wait for the day when the first train goes through these elegant curves. Thomas

Hi Mark! I bought them from the guy who helps me to create individual Points but I found an website in English and I believe that's also the company who makes these frog-juicer: http://www.tamvalleydepot.com/products/dccfrogjuicers.html And curves can be really mean. My first curve in the garden costs me months, especially as it fell victim to the weather (and neighbor's tree), barely finished. The second attempt, made with a CNC milling machine, has survived the winter so far. Best Regards Thomas

Hello Mark! Electrofrog only makes sense where you drive slowly with short vehicles with little wheels who can take the power from the rails. Or if you use very large turnouts with a low frog angle where the frog is very long. There is a device called Frog-Juicer that can do the polarization easily when driving DCC Digital. I have a couple of high speed switches with a moving frog. With these you can not avoid a polarization. The Frog Juicer does me very good service. Thomas

Winter is back with heavy snow here in Germany. I had hoped to finish this weekend with the lower parking yard in the house finally, but in the last few meters I just noticed that I have bought two points too little. On the other hand, after it was already 16 degrees Celsius last weekend, it does not look like this weekend as if I can already start building in the garden next week, so the delay at the parking yard in the house is not that dramatic.

Hello Trevor! I've been liking the Bietschtal Viaduct for some time now, but your image has convinced me, and it also finds a place in my garden. Thomas

Hello Tony It was not so much about checking if the route was working more than cutting the cork ballast. The Fleischmann tracks are with ballast, that of Peco I stick on cork. I've to just 4 more tracks and than is the parking yard on the lower level in "the shed" done. This is more a depot station than a staging yard. On a higher level I will later have tracks to arrange trains etc. Regards Thomas

One has a plan...