Are you having fun? If so, nothing else matters. What anyone else thinks is meaningless. This is what it's all about. No less. No more.
I am having fun, but I aspire to do better and I am happy to hear criticisms of my work so that I can attempt to improve. But that is my personal choice. I agree that what others think is ultimately meaningless, but I guess that most of us would like to have our efforts appreciated.
I believe most of us improve our skills, simply as tenure lengthens. Essentially as natural progression. Some people strive, hard, to do more. But then you can quickly reach a point where a fun hobby crosses the line into being just work. If that is what anyone needs from this hobby, fine. For most I rather doubt it. We usually want it to be an escape from the daily grind, not more atop it all. I enjoy seeing just about any level of effort. That is part of the fun. And regardless of ability level, we never know where a good idea will be spotted- Inspiration for a project, improvement, for own own endeavors. It is nice if some person(s) do appreciate my efforts. However, I do not bother to seek out such acknowledgement. T-Trak has a solid and quickly growing following, world wide. For youth, shows, people with limited space, health issues, you name it. It surely is not a final evolution, as another idea will come along. But for now?
Aside from our member's T-TRAK modules our club has our Ntrak modules set up at our temporary club house and a Clinchfield layout under restoration so we've got the best of all three worlds and they all have their place, but whichever we are working on we have fun.
So, what's wrong with that? If that's the way someone enjoys the hobby, why insult them. Maybe they don't measure up to your standards, but they don't have to. If they are enjoying the hobby they are doing it right. They have no obligation to please you or get your approval. Actually, this is not true. N scale is far more popular in Japan than HO. Kato would make Unitrack for the Japanese market without us. Would T-Trak exist? Who knows. N-Track was the first modular system and is excellent. The Clinchfield was an outstanding layout. It showed what N scale could do in a failry small space. It wasn't the track, buildings, specific scenery or prototype that made it special. It was the concept of an operation oriented railroad in space that HO couldn't touch. You don't like T-Trak, fine, but there's no reason to insult those who do. Don't build a T-Trak module and you'll be happy. Or do you want us all to agree with you that you are a real model railroader and we are just toy train guys?
Nope. T-Trak is N scale. It can be discussed in either or both venues. Whether or not parallel or diverging topics. Boxcab E50 Administrator
T-TRAK's not exclusively N scale, there are HO, Z and T scale modules being built down this way. http://t-trak.nscale.org.au/other-scales/t-trak-ho http://t-trak.nscale.org.au/other-scales/t-trak-z http://t-trak.nscale.org.au/other-scales/t-trak-t
I have yet to give Ttrak a try but won't be going back to Ntrak. I got most of the track and wiring completed on two 2x4 modules and realized that I could never transport them in my car once scenery or structures were added. I also couldn't do any operations at home. All that and I was $500 in already! Anyone want some modules???
If you don't like "T-Trak", and you don't like "Unitrack"...........why don't you just ignore the thread??? Seems to me you've been trying to pick a fight throughout. I don't model "T-Trak", but I LOVE "Unitrack", and without it, I wouldn't have a layout ( I'm disabled, and it's what works for me ). Why not practice "to each, their own"?? Seems that "T-Trak" ( & "Unitrack" ) get people to running trains that otherwise may not............what's the problem??
Originally Posted by nscalerone If you don't like "T-Trak", and you don't like "Unitrack"...........why don't you just ignore the thread??? Seems to me you've been trying to pick a fight throughout. I don't model "T-Trak", but I LOVE "Unitrack", and without it, I wouldn't have a layout ( I'm disabled, and it's what works for me ). Why not practice "to each, their own"?? Seems that "T-Trak" ( & "Unitrack" ) get people to running trains that otherwise may not............what's the problem?? I stand by what I posted in post #4 on this thread which was: "I see T trak as the antithesis of Ntrak and find it more than odd that the Ntrak organization promotes both. But then Ntrak seems to want to accomodate everyone these days except those who stick to the classic Ntrak standards. Today in Ntrak the tail wags the dog. Anyway tight curves and sectional track is not what made N scale popular. Originally Ttrak was designed for traction operations but has now morphed into longer trains. It just seems to be a step backwards." Maybe some people here should practice what they preach instead of getting their dander up. Maybe if my opinion doesn't suit you then you should just ignore it. Or, as nscalerone asked, "Why not practice 'to each, their own'??". Would you prefer that I say something like, "Very nice." That is what my uncle used to always say. One day we asked him why he always said, "Very nice." His reply was, "Because your aunt doesn't like it when I say, That f%*&@n' stinks." The original poster asked a question which was, "N T-Track Who said it's just for kids?" I have been around Ntrak a long time and can recall when Jimmy Fitz first introduced Ttrak in the Ntrak newsletter after one of his visits to Japan. During that time I have never heard anyone say that Ttrak was for kids. I have heard veteran Ntrakers who saw Ttrak taking up more and more space in the Ntrak Newsletter say it was for the birds but I never heard anyone say it was for kids. However, I passed on that type of response. Rather I saw the question as sort of rhetorical and opted to opine my views on a broader subject. Maybe I should have said what Grey One said in post #7, "Very Nice". Hey... Uncle Ed, is that you?
Seems to me he was simply being facetious. Is it antithesis, or evolution of an organization? I doubt the former and most likely the latter. It's not going to be resolved in any way here. I'd suggest discussing this with Jim and Lee, but they'll certainly not be reversing course. Meanwhile, many are moving away from NTrak. That, is a fact. I have, with very good reason and know others who have or are, to T-Trak or other aspects of N. Each has it's place in the world of today. Time marches on- Nothing is permanent, nor has it ever been. Maybe N will fade altogether. Some day, perhaps even in our lives, one or both modular concepts may be gone. So it goes. I see a good number of people recently looking toward Free-Mo. On30 has carved out a solid niche and more... The only constant in this hobby is constant change, to yet another new way. And when topics start reaching this point, we start planning for them to end.
I'm looking at the various modular systems since I want more scenes than I can fit into my space. "Grandure's Lady" won't let me remove the dining room table or the sofa. Sheesh! The thought is to have a "peninsula rout" with modules I can swap out. T-trak has the most potential / least complication.
This is my thinking with my home T-TRAK layout too. The rear is my generic staging yard modules and the modules along the front can be swapped out depending on what era/country I feel like modelling at the moment, my Santa Fe depot modules are in place at the moment but my next set of modules will be a 1960/70's rural Japanese scene. If I want to use the tables for something else the modules can be in their racks in five minutes and set up again in the same.
Well Ntrak is evolving but Ttrak is not where it is going. There will be two Ntraks. One will be called Ntrak 2000 and the other Ntrak Classic. The terms "Ntrak 2000' and "Ntrak Classic" have already appeared in the Ntrak newsletter. Ntrak 2000 will be DCC and operations oriented. Whether they will keep the traditional Ntrak red, yellow and blue lines is questionable. I would doubt it as it is difficult to conduct operations from anything but the blue line. Probably an adaptation of Bendtrak or Onetrak will maybe emerge. ENL [Eastern N Lines], a conglomeration of several eastern Ntrak clubs, is the impetus behind this. In fact I saw people wearing T shirts at The Bedford N Scale weekend in August 2011 promoting ENL. Ntrak Classisc will be those who are traditional Ntrak with analog DC. Ttrak will be Ttrak. I can't see either Ntrak group taking it under its wing. The Ntrak Classic people are probably to traditionalistic to do it while the Ntrak 2000 people will probably have a hard time fitting it in to their operations concept. And looming ever larger in the future is the question of what will happen to Ntrak after Jim Fitz? As for many moving away from Ntrak I don't think there is just one answer. In fact I have heard that up to this year the number of Ntrakers has not fluctuated that much. I know many were not happy back when Jim dissolved the board of governors and made himself the final authority. Others were not happy with the way the wiring standard change was handled. I certainly was one of them but I doubt if Ttrak did or will see a great influx of people because of it. Rather I see people abandoning the hobby. Not hard to do when faced with the realities of life in this economy.
Of course. But this is a different topic, altogether. It's not a lack of interest, it's there are no discretionary funds available. I have none. As the old saying goes, I'm robbing Peter, to pay Paul. Selling and trading my remaining memorabilia, for what N scale I can obtain to stay active. Which doing so also drains a certain amount of enthusiasm.
T-Trak, EasyTrolley, some of these other systems aren't "replacements" for N-Trak, they're expansions. Fact is even the "basic" Ntrak module is a space hog. It takes up 2x4x8 feet of space (since the legs are integral to the tabletop, and you can't stack anything on top of it). You need a van, truck or SUV to move it. In short it's only an option if you have the traditional suburban lifestyle - cars, a house with ample basement and/or garage and/or spare room space for layoutbuilding. Now the US is traditionally a suburban country so this made it accessible to many. The boomers already bought and built their equity - and even if they're underwater on the note, their wives aren't going to let them downsize to a 2br apartment. So the layout budgets may get tight, but space won't be an issue. For my generation though, we're all carrying a ton of student loan debt, which makes taking on additional debt to buy a house questionable. Lending standards are tighter. And even if the cashflow works out, a lot of people are stuck in lower-level jobs and can't get tied down to an area in case a better opportunity comes up. Some younger homeowners fall into this category too, they're living "lightly" in their house so if they need to move it'll still be pretty clean/stock/as-built, which means no mega construction projects in the basement or a shed in the backyard. That's where T-Trak comes in. Yeah, the small size grossly limits operational potential, which is part of the reason I haven't built any modules myself. But I'm constantly thinking about it - maybe a double-length module, maybe a string of 'em with nonstandard dogbone loops at each end - who knows. T-trak is small enough you can put it away on a bookshelf. On the other hand, it's never even crossed my mind to try an N-trak module. I don't have the space for it and it wouldn't fit in my car anyway. The way I see it, N-trak is strictly the province of the boomers. There's a lot of 'em, so the format should stay strong for awhile. But for 20-somethings, 30-somethings, even 40-somethings with kids and a house (who are "living lightly"), T-trak is your only modular option.
WOW this t-trak thing has me thinking(ouch) would there be a market for laser cut light weight tab&slot module kits? This would be for people who live in apartments or have no tools or desire to make up there own. I know a few of the vendors have laser cutters would these sell & how much would they go for? With a cover they could even be a type of display case.
That's why our Ntrak club has switched to oNetrak: any length between 2 and 4 ft is OK, and the width is usually 1ft. I have a small car and can handle these modules. Nevertheless, I am always looking at Ttrak as an interesting option. The regular Dutch house is not that big, so large layouts and large modules are not an option for everyone. I store my oNetrak modules on book shelves in our bedroom; under the modules, there is a small layout against the wall. Since nobody else builds Ttrak around here, I am not encouraged to build it myself. I also do not have the space to store another modelling project... And I also would want something else than Unitrack, so I must change the rules first before building anything. But the fact that you can put up a layout on your dining table, and that you can try several modelling themes, is attractive!
