Hi John,
That photo shows 6 modules, actually. The front three form the
double-track wye. These were designed by Jack Troxell (he has his back
to the camera in that photo). He came up with the track plan, providing
the ability to change trains' directions.
I finished the modules by applying ballast and scenery. He was
originally stumped on the electronics, which I was able to solve using
the Tam Valley frog juicers (without them there is no way to make the
double-track wye electrically functional; believe me, I tried).
We used the three wye modules in a large show here in town for the first
time about two years ago. It quickly dawned on us that we needed modules
on the third leg of the wye to make it functional. What we realized was
that there was no way to turn a train in the conventional sense of a
single-track wye. We also wanted the flexibility of setting up any train
on any track and then have it go on to the appropriate main line in the
correct direction (outside for passenger trains, inside track for
freight). Also, to be able to do some simple operations using these
modules, we needed to be able to pull the engine off of a train heading
into the stub ends.
Combined with these criteria, we designed the track plan for the three
modules that you see inside the layout area. They are each 2'x4' modules
for ease of transportation. I built these and finished them last year.
The track work was done the same way most of the rest of the club's
layout was done, which is code 100 Micro Engineering rail, all
hand-laid, including the turnouts (Jack was the one who did the track
work on the wye modules themselves).
Some of our club members use engines that have not been converted to DCC
yet, so they run on the analog "zero" channel. However, since we can
only have one of those on the layout at one time, I added a dummy track
near the end of the stub yard so that people can put their engines on
there, without having to set them on the scenery. This is where Jack's
Rex 0-6-0 is sitting, as can be seen in one of the other photos.
So, the three modules on the inside of the layout have four stub-ended
tracks. The far left and far right ones are just simple tracks. The
center two also have a pair of turnouts to allow crossing over from the
mainline inside track to the outside track, and vice-versa. And, those
two tracks also have another pair of turnouts near the end to allow the
lead engine to "escape" out from its train.
Needless to say, some coordination is necessary to get a train to leave
the stub yard onto the main line, especially if it has to cross the
other mainline. However, that is part of the fun. We've noticed when we
do that, we always seem to attract a small crowd who want to see us
"operate".
The wye modules were a lot of work, and they require some special
electronics, and some specialty knowledge to set-up, but we feel they
are worth it. None of the other clubs in Houston have this kind of a
set-up, so that makes us unique as well.
You can see two articles I wrote for the web site that describe the wye
modules themselves, and the "third leg" modules, which includes a track
plan. Go to
http://www.houstonsgaugers.org/
then click on "Articles", and then click on "The Wye Modules" and/or
"The Third Leg". Lots of photos and text.
Enjoy.
- Peter.
On 07/10/2012 9:06 pm, John Degnan wrote:
I, for one, am impressed! I especially like photo "eventjun2012_4" -
I like the way (shape) the yard entry modules are built and fit
together. I would like to see a drawing of these modules.
I would also like to know what code rail is used on this layout.
John Degnan
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
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Peter Vanvliet ([email protected])
Houston, Texas
http://pmrr.org/ (my model railroad - RSS feed <http://pmrr.org/rss.xml>)
http://fourthray.com/ (my company)
http://houstonsgaugers.org/ (model railroad club)
http://nasg.org/
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