Starting Over: Why My N Scale Model Railroad Needs to be Rebuilt

so there is a very strong chance that I will be tearing out this entire layout and starting again and the principal reason for that is this right here let's get started [Music] [Music] [Applause] so what's going on and why such a drastic change I haven't been running this layout an awful lot in the past few months um I've been picking away at some projects I've been making some updates and doing a bit of research but I haven't actually been running a lot of trains so when I was making this past July update video I had my new um CP consist that I wanted to present and so I lashed up all of the cars and tried to run the engine around the track so first the train wouldn't even run there was no power to the tracks I hadn't been under the layout messing with the wiring in fact I hadn't even touched it and suddenly the layout didn't work and at the main power distribution block I discovered that the wires were detached not that they had come out of the power block it was that their ends were missing and this was true for all of the wires going into that power block so I had to take out all of the wires I had to trim the ends I had to restrip them and I reined them for those maybe not aware tinning is the process of taking stranded or braided wire and soldering them so that they become solid it's the process of charging up any surface with solder so that it's easier to solder down the road so now I just simply want to do a few Loops of the train around the track and I'm having lots of problems because it continues to derail at the turnouts two turnouts in particular so I inspect the turnout and the point rails have detached from the throw bar so if I think back over the last four or five months I have made the same repair to at least eight or 10 turnouts where the points have released from the throw bar and they are sprung so as I consider the topic more and more I suddenly realize it likely has everything to do with this this is acid based flux and flux is something you put on surfaces that you're going to solder helps clean them help prepare them when you apply heat in the solder the solder Wicks beautifully into the connecting surfaces or the joint no nobody recommends that you ever use acidbase flux for this sort of work because it deteriorates uh the solder joints over time and can damage electronics so now it suddenly makes a lot of sense why I'm having all of this failed track work and electronics and when I take a better look there is a hidden staging area in front of me that area does have access hatches with panels that I can remove from the surface and when I take a look down there the turnouts half of them have failed the the access was designed to be able to access the cars in case they derail or there's a coupling problem but the access hatch was not designed for me to get in there and repair a hand laid turnout so now what I have is a layout that is no longer reliable and I can't repair it so I don't think that I have any other choice than to start again now I want to be clear I'm not happy about this this is very frustrating but at the same time it is really good opportunity for me to address a number of issues that I've had with this Railroad and a lot of the challenges on this layout are correctable so I want to be clear that I am very frustrated with this but at the same time I'm a little bit relieved because it gives me an opportunity to make changes to a series of problems that I've had on this layout and in truth haven't really talked about so I am going to go over a list of all of the challenges that this layout has presented how they have taken some of the enjoyment out of this layout and how I want to correct them in the future so with regards to track and turnout there are a number of things that I want to change and or upgrade if I rebuild this layout so number One never again will I use acid flux using a fast tracks jig I created over 38 turnouts for this entire layout I enjoyed the process it was incredibly satisfying and handling turnouts was something on my bucket list that I've now completed and I will never do it again no matter how precise I wasn't creating those turnouts they just haven't been reliable as other types of turnouts in addition to this when I was designing this layout I tried to put too much track in too small a space so I opted to use number five turno I know that there are people in the comments that'll immediately say oh my goodness number five turnouts with passenger equipment what were you thinking and I feel the same way what was I thinking and the truth is I was just too obsessed with trying to fit as much layout as I could into the space and number five was a compromise that I made moving forward I will be doing something with a much larger radius probably a number eight turnout minimum I also chose to use code 55 track on the layout it's very prototypical I think it looks beautiful it's really nice to work with and it is far less reliable than a greater gauge when I took my same trains to my friend Darren's layout and we spent a couple hours doing some operations with my equipment on his layout he had a layout built using Pico turnouts and code 80 rail those trains never derailed on my layout I always experienced little problems specifically things like the diamond crossovers they are code 55 they're made by Atlas and they're terrible so if my train manages to make it through the points and they haven't released themselves as soon as it hits the diamond Crossing it shakes the trains and the wheels come up bottom line is they're not reliable the track isn't reliable and code 55 is just simply too fine scale for me and it compromises operation for realism so the reason for choosing handl turnouts was that I started building this layout in the heart of the pandemic and there was a track shortage and certainly a turnout shortage so I decided that for a very small investment I could build all the turnouts I wanted using a fastracks jig and it was true I was able to get the jig in two business days and I made 38 turnouts for a fraction of the cost of store-bought turn Nots and in the spirit of trying to manage costs I also decided that I wanted to use Arduino serval controlled turn Nots I enjoyed the process of creating a mounting brackets and using piano wire to control the turn notes and I really enjoyed programming each the controller boards the way that I've got it set up is pretty slick I just need to plug my laptop into any one of the Arduino controllers and I can fine-tune the turnout that said the servos have certainly not lived up to their expectations for some reason of every 10 servos that I buy one or two of them simply don't work the servos also don't have a really high track record for reliability I have a series of servos on this layout that continually hum despite the fact that they've got a dedicated power source and secondly some of them just quit working you almost need to loosen they up before they'll start to work again I've lubricated them I've tried replacing them and really they just aren't as reliable when I was building the layout it was important for me to use electronic control turnouts I thought that that was slick and I like the idea about moving across um a false CC panel and being able to hit buttons and watch the turnouts change particularly that I had wired multiple turnouts to work with one another that's turned out to be a bit of a headache and when I added the Via maintenance yard I decided to go all manual controls and I much prefer it so if I'm going to redo this layout I will use manual turnout controls wherever it makes sense and Reserve electronic turnout control for those areas where turnouts have to either move sequentially or there's a challenge reaching them so moving away from having an abundance of electronic control turnouts also corrects another issue which I have which is over complicated wiring I had very Grand ideas about illuminated LED control panels along the front of the layout maybe even like a signaling system along the rails at some point and Arduino would be the Hub of all of that logic the wiring has now become overwhelming I spend more time figuring out what I did under the layout than being able to enjoy the trains on the top of the layout it is taking away from part of the hobby that I want to be enjoying which is modeling and running some trains and speaking of running trains you've probably noticed this year that I have had some challenges with my bench workk I've had a series of states where the track is buckled and warped as the benchwork seems to settle in now this basement room is climate controlled there are four stair vents in here a dehumidifier in the Next Room and a humidifier if needed and despite all of those things the bench work has been unrelenting with the way that it's warped the hidden staging tracks zigzag all over the place tracks on the visible parts of the layout have popped up you've seen me Gap them and repair them and glue them back down the point is is that this entire layout continues to shift and now that causes unreliability now in combination with this I may also have exasperated the problem because I soldered every single joint on every single rail so there is no give so as the bench workor shifts over time expands and contracts it warps the track and because the track has no give it pops so early this year I installed my Masonite backdrop around the two sides of the train room I used Masonite because it's inexpensive and I didn't want to paint directly on the walls backdrop was secured against the wall every second studed and secured using drywall screws since being installed the backdrop in some places Has Come away from the wall at least 2 in so either the Masonite has expanded or the wall is shrinking either way the backdrop now waves across the perimeter of the room and now pushes against the buildings and the retaining walls so keeping in mind all the things that I've just mentioned you can see that there's a problem with the materials and the construction methods that I've used and it's just wrecking havoc on the layout and that's the principal reasons I feel like I need to start again and correct all those problems and as I said that is frustrating however I made a series of design choices with this layout that I'm unhappy with and so now this gives me an opportunity to correct them and here's five major things I'm excited to change number one I would reconsider hidden staging when I designed the layout it was really attractive that I could stage four or five full length trains underneath the city and I could have them emerge and disappear as I wanted to it made a lot of sense because I had Union state station over here I could have trains arrive and depart and they could wind up in the staging yard and disappear until the next visit so not being able to see the trains and hearing the occasional and now very frequent derailment removes all of the joy of the Hidden staging I want to be able to see the trains I want to see them run and I want to see them parked if I don't want to run them on the layout I will take them off the layout and put them on a display shelf hidden staging is great for operations it's great for storage but when that hidden staging doesn't work it becomes a massive headache and I don't want that number two when I designed this layout I over complicated it I think that everybody is guilty of that and I'll the first to admit that I did it as well I spent a lot of hours trying to fit in a lot of different locations a lot of different track configurations and try to make everything work and truthfully I'm very happy and almost proud of the design I have but as I said I used number five turnouts to make that happen the track became unreliable and really now what I have is a collection of too many things in too small a space number three and it's an extension of of the Hidden staging I want to reduce the amount of hidden track not just hidden staging Hidden Track the layout as it stands today has a double track Main Line the consist can double back on itself and go through both main lines as a continuous run this means that the train can have a long run time and it moves back and forth twice between the East and West ends of the layout but as I have a hidden staging yard and hidden return Loops the train is spending 40% of its time out of view and I don't like that I want to be able to see the train run this is probably the reason I will never add a helix as a helix likely has five times six times 10 times the trackage that the actual visible layout has I certainly don't mind if a train Works its way through a small tunnel or goes through an underpass but the idea that 30 or 40% of the mainline is hidden from view is not attractive to me number four grades designing the lout I was well aware that the ideal grade height is around 2% and so when I began assembling the L my calculations estimated that my grade should be around 2 and a half% maybe a little bit more than that that said I miscalculated the grades because I forgot that there was roaded height and track height and that changes the spacing between the upper and lower deck enough that it changed the grade you might recall that I had to use a router to make the upper deck paper thin where it crossed over the lower deck track and if I really want to be honest and go back and measure again my grades are probably closer to 3 and 1/2% the fact that I want to be able to run long consists of Passenger cars on four axle diesels means that I either have to double head every thing or I simply can't run them grades are currently too steep to enjoy the trains I want to run so on the next version of this layout 2% is the maximum grade no questions asked and the fifth and final takeaway from this layout is that I need it to be more modular now I don't mean modular in terms of being able to pick the entire layout and move it what I mean is that each of the scenes that are on the layout need to be able to be done at the workbench I really enjoy building structures and this is an urban layout and I want to have a lot of buildings I've collected a lot of inexpensive kits and really one of my big joys is being able to sit at my workbench and create sort of a distopic structure and then install it on the layout in order to add some visual interest to this layout I have a curved City area here along the backdrop with roads that sort of arch their way along and the city bases are made with Plywood And they're screw nailed onto the baseboard this means that when I want to change a city or model it I have to get on a stool and reach across and install it in the next iteration of this layout I want to be able to have all of those retaining walls and all those areas as 18in or 2T modules then I can lift up from the layout and go to my workbench and super detail and when I'm done I can return them to the layout that way I'm not leaning over the layout to work on it so what's next well unfortunately I'm not going to be able to save any of this track no matter what I do I can't remove it without damaging it and I have no use for any of these number five turnup I will save every detail from the layout all of the bridges the retaining walls the backdrop structures all of it's going to be saved certainly there is a cost associated with starting over and I have made the decision that I will be selling some of my Rolling Stock to help Finance the new layout I am very fortunate and I have collected a lot of desirable equipment over the past couple of years and the truth is I simply don't run some of it and so I will happily trade that equipment for building materials to start over again I have already started the process of planning a new layout this layout will once again focus on Toronto's Union Station although I am considering changing it from a through station to a stubend station station in an attempt to save space the main topographical feature I want to maintain is the Bath's fly under but now I assume that fly under will actually span the entire length of the layout I will still have two principal staging yards one will probably represent Union Station and the second yard will probably represent a maintenance facility and finally I think I want to add a little bit more natural topography this entire layout was built to be Urban and I think I want to integrate just a small green space so there you have it a huge learning experience for me I think it's safe to say that every decision I made with this layout was done with the best intentions I have no problem admitting that I made some mistakes in terms of the design as well as some mistakes in terms of the construction and the combination of all of those mistakes has a greater weight to it than the effort it would take to repair them so it would seem that in the coming months I will likely be restarting this layout over again and so you can join me on the journey again to rebuild this layout now while I'm working on the layout I do want to introduce a bit more balance so that while I'm in ining bench work and track I might at the same time be working on buildings and other structures so that when the layout is installed I can hit the ground running and get a lot of Scenic details put back up so never a dull moment in closing yeah I'm frustrated that I made a series of mistakes but I'm not unhappy with the opportunity to fix them I think no matter what I do in terms of design and execution the next version of this layout I will enjoy a lot more than the one I currently have and I think it will go quite quickly by no means is the dystopia gone it will be resurrected as quickly as possible and I am very confident that a lot of you will had something you want to add to the discussion and I invite you to do so as always I appreciate the support thank you for stopping by and I'll see you next time [Music]