The latest reports for this model are on the Cheshire Model Railways forum, from which you can directly access my entry by going to the route learning forum.
The Schronreid model railway is my 2007/08 experiment. The experiment is to see what happens when I try to use a small area 4'*1'8" to make an N gauge model railway using set track. I am using polystyrene blocks for the scenery and the base for the tracks. Although light and easy to work with, the worry with polystyrene blocks is the potential fire and smoke risk.
Autumn 2007: Setting fire to the landscape
My first part of the experiment was to assess the risk of combustion of the polystyrene block. I made a small piece of plywood, and glued to it four separate small blocks of polystyrene. The four blocks differed in the coating that was applied. The picture below shows this.
From left to right in the photo, one block is uncovered, the next is covered in tin foil, then we have a block covered in plaster of paris and the right-most block is covered in decorators filler.
I lit a tea light and then I tried to set fire to each block in turn. I left each polyblock to cook for about a minute. I was a little underwhelmed with the results:
Polyblock covered in filler: Did not ignite. No appreciable smoke.
Polyblock covered in plaster: Did not ignite. Polyblock started to melt at a part of the block that was not covered in plaster (i.e. a slight hole in the plaster) This gave off a small amount of smoke. Slight smoke damage to plaster.
Polyblock covered in foil: Did not ignite. No appreciable smoke.
Polyblock without any covering: Did not ignite. Started to melt / shrink. A little smoke.
These results are captured in the photo below.
I was able to remove the foil from the block to reveal whether the polyblock underneath had shrunk / melted. Any shrinkage was very small, but it was difficult to say as the blocks were just roughly cut before the experiment.
My conclusions
Polyblock will not ignite with a naked flame
Bare polyblock will melt if exposed to a naked flame, and this gives rise to fumes / small amount of smoke
Polyblock will not smolder after the heat source is removed
Plaster, filler or foil may prevent the block melting.
Plaster, filler and foil do not ignite with a naked flame
Questions?
This experiment should be repeated and the heat source should be quantified - i.e. what temperature was the polyblock exposed to - and would this be similar to a soldering iron, or an electrical fault?
Each batch of polyblock may be different. E.g. I used insulation board type polyblock - is packaging type polyblock any different?
These questions may be answered in time, as I do plan to repeat the experiments when the weather gets better - maybe in summer 2008.
January 2008: Getting started
I have one baseboard module (construction of which is described on the Thalwil pages), some 2nd hand Fleischman set-track and a hill left over from the Intres layout. With this I'm going to construct an oval of track and construct a hilly layout. I have laid tape on the board to assist with the eventual dismantling this layout so that I can maybe re-use the base.
Naming the layout
I obtained a secondhand N gauge station from Ebay. Its name is Schronreid - so that's what this model will be called. Although Schronreid is a Swiss town, this will be a Austrian/German/Swiss layout as I'm not interesting in replicating an exact area.
Power connection to tracks
I solder a small gauge wire to the fishplates rather than using power clips. On flexi-track this was straightforward as the wire could be soldered to the fishplate before the fishplate is connected to the track. If the wire interfered with the sleepers, they could then be cut as required. With my set track, I wanted to solder the wire without disconnecting the fishplate from the track, and there was also the sleepers in the way.
I used some 1/0.6 wire (which is one strand of 0.6mm diameter wire) this type of wire is a solid conductor - rather than strands of fine wire - which can be poked through the small holes and retain its shape. I put a small bend in the wire at one end and fed this through the small hole at the end of the track - near the fishplate. I placed the track upside down on a damp cloth and soldered the wire to the fishplate. The damp cloth might help dissipate the heat of the soldering away from the rails - therefore helping prevent the plastic sleepers and ballast from melting.
Tracklaying
Tracklaying is easy with set-track. The two reasons I am using it for this model are 1) from my previous experience of Peco point motors mounted under the track, I found them to be difficult to install (I had to cut a hole in the baseboard) and tricky to ballast after installation, and 2) set track could be easily dismantled and used again.
The track is mounted on a layer of underfloor insulation left over from one of my DIY projects to install laminate flooring. This is good stuff as it is easy to cut with a knife and is grey - a good starting colour for trackway base. This, in turn, is on top of a layer of polyblock. The idea of the polyblock is to raise the track up a little, so that some scenery can be below the height of the track.
Using the underlay allows the power connections to be taken away from the track - just by cutting a gap in the underlay and pressing the wire into the cut will effectively bury the wire. You can see the grey wire coming away from the track adjacent to the station.
The point motors at the front of the layout have been mounted upside down (which makes them flush with the base of the track) to allow them to be hidden. This required the polyblock under the track to be cut out to allow sufficient space to accommodate the motor. In retrospect, a similar cut out could be made for a Peco point and motor. The polyblock here is only 15mm deep, but I could use a deeper polyblock layer to accommodate the larger depth of a Peco motor. The wires from the motors are taken 'underground' by cutting a little trench in the polyblock. Point motors at the rear of the layout are not mounted upside down, as these will be the 'hidden' section of the layout.
May 2008: Trackplan
Here is a rough trackplan...
Scenery Construction
I have just cut polyblock to build up the ground level.
To the right, there will be a hilly mountainous terrain, with the track disappearing in a tunnel.
In the center, there will be a hill towards the back of the layout. (Intres hill)
On the left, there will be a shallower hill, and the track will curve round to the hidden sidings in cuttings and through another tunnel. I'm also planning a road bridge over the track before the cuttings to disguise the route of the track so you can't easily see much past the road bridge and probably not see this tunnel entrance.
There is no scenery built above the hidden sidings. Where the scenery is built over the tracks, I have tried to build a removable section of hill.
This is the 'imported' hill of my layout Intres - held just above the baseboard to allow wires to go underneath...
This is the tunnel area at the right hand side...
This is how the polyblock was added - looks a bit hodge - podge at the moment. I have cut notches in the track underlay and the polyblock, where I will install a tunnel ...
This shows the supports for the lift-off section at the back of the tunnel...
And this is the up to date photo showing the tunnel entrance...
The next steps are to make the terrain for the left hand side.
(September 2008)
Terrain
I have added polystyrene block and then covered in filler mixed with black poster paint.
Sorry but I have not been able to take shots of this phase until now because my camera (Kodak DX6340) is a bit poorly... well the battery cover won't stay on now - it has been dropped for the third time and has become unusable : ( It is 5 years old now so time to get a new one!
I haven't got use to the settings on this new camera so the pictures are a bit off at the moment.
This is the right side of the layout - there's a bit more filler needed around the tunnel mouth.
This is a view from the left side looking down towards the station...This bit is nearly ready for the scatter to go down, but I would like to put another layer of filler on the roads to smooth them out. I also need to do around the point motors.
This is the view from the back at the moment. I had hoped to be able to rework the electrics so that I didn't need to have the terminals underneath the polyblock (Andrew's suggestion) - but I hadn't planned enough for it so I decided to stick with removable blocks . So there are two removable blocks and I now need to plan the scenery around these. (These are not really visible on the photos and I will photograph these later)
All the points are wired up, but I'm going to finish the filler stuff off first before testing the locos on the track.
Then I'm looking forward to adding a bit of greenery and some trees.
I have a n-gauge kit of a mountain chalet to construct as well.
I really need a little DMU/EMU for this - been looking out on Fleabay for ages but not seen one yet. I am hoping to get a 'Talent' or a 'Desirio' for the layout.
I'm thinking of fastening thin (~4mm) ply to each of the vertical edges of the layout to protect the polyblock and filler.
16 September 2008
Now I have finished the filler layer I have added some ballast and added some trees. I have also added some ply for the sides.
Top view...
This is a view to the right
... and to the left
A close up of the loco
track level view of station
This shows the back - behind the trees. You can get your hand in this gap to put trains on the track, although I think I would operate it from the front.
Track control is with DCC. I have not tried the points out yet so that is still to do...
I plan to go over the ballast because it has come out a little bit too patchy - I didn't want it to look regular, but what I have at the moment is a bit extreme!
Also, need to add trees - there are 30 or so on here at the moment.
I plan to cover the ground all over with some colour. I plan to do the roads separately and install non working home made streetlights
I have also got a mountain chalet kit to build.
HOME > SCHONREID