Introductions

[mrbuck56]

Hello everyone, and greetings from Melbourne Australia [which should explain the odd timing of most of my posts]. Found your group via links that led me here from trainBoard.com. I was a member of or local Ntrak group here in Melbourne in the 90's, modelling BN and subsequently BNSF, but life [work kids etc etc] got in the way and now looking to re-join the hobby. Had started on a home layout back in the day - based loosely on the MR "BN in N scale" series from their 1990 issues, but a house move put paid to that. After a 20+ year hiatus it's staggering to see the huge number of high quality, helpful and, inspiring resources - like "Railwire" - available on the net!

Planning to stay with reasonably contemporary BNSF - coal, grain and intermodal in N scale as have a reasonable collection.

So many questions but from what I have read above want to make sure I post in the correct sessions - can anyone advise where to find out about up-to-date layout design programs/software for Mac; and whether its worth trying to use one of the original Lenz Digital plus systems and some decoders I purchased back then - all still their boxes?

Again thank you for having me on board, and for the inspiration I have gleaned after two days of being here.
Mark B

[Assaboutengineer]

A big Hello to my fellow enthusiasts.the names glenn I’m more assabout than engineer...here at ur service.longtime n scaler and longtime lurker with delusions of grandeur.hats off to all that have completed layouts I commend you.had  a few diversions into ho and hon30 I have not finished a single layout or project for the life of me...I hope to remedy that in 2025!!!!  I have fallen down many a rabbit hole and learnt a bunch and hope to share some tricks,tips  n techniques.. Guess that’s been part of the fun.but.. The inspiration for joining apart from the good folk here is the wealth of knowledge and amazing wrk people are doing.also a few topics that parallel a similar path (rabbit hole) I’ve been going down getting experimental.I hope to make some contributions to the site and hobby as a whole.being from sydney ive got a soft spot for the New South Wales gov  railways as dad worked as a fitter machinist in the Eveleigh loco workshops during the  period I will term the “transition era” which is a pretty big window,prob 3 times longer than our American counter parts.all in all, tried my hand at scratch building,destroying locos and mechanisms for modification and possible other uses,etc etc.as there was not much in the way of proprietary models in the early days in n scale.apologies for the thousand word sentence and my computer illiteracy..big thanks Glenn

[peteski]

Welcome to the  asylum Glenn.    You do have an interesting writing style. I hope to see some of your creations once you reach the full-member status.

In case you haven't seen it, check out https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=43673.0 and other topics relating to useing this forum available in the FAQ section.

[Stolen Moment]

Hello, all! This is Dennis, and I'm a long-time N Scale modeler, member of the local NTrak club for literally decades, out of the hobby for about 20 years (special-needs kids, etc) trying desperately to break through my indolent miserly everything-for-the-kids tendencies and actually BUILD something.

I had intended to model the entire PRR Wilkes-Barre Branch dated on my birthday (that is, 5 Sep 1954), but that won't happen, so I'm planning to build a set of modules representing key features of that line, stitch them together with long empty stretches; think one or two tracks on an 8' long, 6" wide module; I want to avoid the caboose of the train hanging out in the previous town.  I pretty much don't care about scenery, although I admire it, I'm more into operations, so all I'm really concerned about is within the RR right-of-way.

The W-B branch has endless operational possibilities, and that time was when new paint technologies were just becoming economical: PRR was switching from Circle Keystone to Shadow Keystone, and more colorful paint schemes were showing up on many railroads (eg, NYNH&H McGinnis is "close enough" for me), so the modelling possibilities are large.

Of course, having been in NTrak, I have several display trains that don't fit that time and place, but I want to run them anyway.  I body-mount all my couplers with MT 1015s (have they changed that number?) because they couple closely and avoid the spring bounce that plagues too many model videos I've seen.  Passenger cars, too, after the long-lever MT truck-mounted couplers separated vertically on too many NTrak module boundaries.  I have numerous Fine N Scale X29s that I've painted and decaled, resorting to placing single digits on car sides and ends when the Microscale decal sheets ran out.  I was painting and decaling a Tropicana Juice train for display, but stopped when IM introduced actual prototypical models of those cars; mine look nice, but they're nowhere near prototypical and it really shows now.  Undec shells, some paint and decals were a lot cheaper than $40 Intermountain reefers!

I'm thinking of making modules that may or may not be particularly interchangeable, since there are things about essentially all module standards that I don't like, although the social aspect of group layouts is attractive.

I have a medium-sized fleet of DC locomotives that I will slowly be converting to DCC; it's the only way forward that avoids the rat's nest of wiring underneath, although I have friends implementing prototypical signalling schemes that have reinvented the rat's nest and server farm under the layout.

PS: Hiya Peteski, yeah, this is your local Dennis, good to see you recently!

[peteski]

Dennis!  You're on the Railwire!  Good to see you here buddy!  I see that you registered over a year ago, so you are likely familiar with all the craziness that goes on here. 

As far as the signaling goes, are you talking about Rand?

[nickelplate759]

If you're the Dennis I think you are (Dennis R.), then hello old friend!

[Assaboutengineer]

Cheers for that peteski many thanks👍I’m Excited to be here,can’t wait...I’ll need every one of those posts to improve my typing skills haha😆

[Stolen Moment]

Hiya, George, yeah, that's me!  Good to see you here!

Pete, no, Rand is doing things rationally.  I'm in a round-robin group building three of each other's layouts, and one (Joe) is building part of the Jersey Central with full-blown signals, multiple heads, all the different aspects, everything, in N scale.  Another one is attempting full signals on a wye, with passing sidings, an order semaphore, and a working grade crossing.  Oh, and a lift gate at one end of it all.  It's been years getting the logic right, with semi-stateless logic like an old network sniffer.

I'm more in the camp of "green=go, yellow=slow, red=stop" signalling, if I ever get that far, and they'll be PRR amber position-light signals.

This is the group that convinced me that I'm never going to build a layout.  Modules, I can flip over and work on the guts in comfort.

[peteski]

Ah, I see Dennis.  I  worked under Rand's layout and while nowhere as neat as Ernie Poole's, compared to some other layout Rand's is not *THAT* bad.  Either way, signalling adds wiring complexity because of block detection. Rand's signals themselves are just wired directly to his DCC signalling bus.  I'm with you about not ever building a home layout. I have too many other (MRR and non-MRR) hobby projects. 

[dcr1793]

Hello!

Collin R here...long time reader...but first time really introducing myself...looking forward to getting more involved on here!

Many may recognize me from the Micro-Trains Line booth at various shows or from the past 15+ N Scale Enthusiast conventions.

Modeling wise, with my father...we are building a freelanced "modern" Norfolk Southern inspired layout. Focused around operations and replicated the traffic and industries in Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic area. Layout is two levels with duel helixes and is designed to operate both as a point to point and continous running when not in operations mode.

Looking forward to sharing more and getting involved with the discussions!

Collin

[Riggyz]

Nice to meet you - I'm Ethan!

Started this hobby a couple years ago and have been in love ever since. I like the whole DCC and JMRI control system, but as I get more in depth in preparation for my first permanent layout I need quite a bit of help.

3d printing, 3d modeling, programming, and more - I want to build a layout that's mine using everything in my toolkit!

Might not be the most active, but looking forward to talking with you!