Purpose of this Thread: To share pictures of modules Ntrak, Ttrak or any other system systems home grown or ? Edit: I would consider 'Hollow Core Doors' to be modules if you use them together in a similar manner. Rules: No debating the merits of a given system. That thread is here: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?157188-Ntrak-t-trak No negative comments about a given module. Positive comments on how you personally might do something are welcome. Please make sure to qualify it as your opinion / feelings / perception. As always in my threads you can go off topic and / or be funny Give / take credit where it is due. I regret I don't know the names of any of the folks who built the modules I photographed. Note: I normally do not put any restrictions on my threads but I just don't want this one spinning out of control. Thank you for understanding and cooperating. Why I Started the Thread: My favorite part of attending train shows are the huge modular layouts with long trains running. I take more pictures of them than anything else. The variety of scenes, the variation on themes, attention to detail, technical achievements, and a whole list of other aspects just plain thrills me. In addition I will be building three narrow shelf layouts. Images of other peoples work will help me plan my scenery and overall themes. Imagine: A group of creative individuals design, agree to and adhere to a standard - That is impressive! in and of itself. To see it come to fruition is just plain amazing to me. To share it publicly - Priceless Enough said, please do share. Thanks!
Ok, I'll start this show. A work in progress still. But I did find a use for all those old Con-Cor trucks/trailers I had stored in a shoe box in a corner.
My All Time Favorites: Zakim Bridge, (which is a highway bridge in Boston): Power Plant with Hang Glider and Glow in the Dark Covered Hoppers, (Laura on the left): I intend to have a hang glider on my agrarian level. I really like the transition into the three portal tunnel. Stockyards with a mirror to 'double' the visual: I've thought about using a mirror or two on the future layout(s). Agrarian - Laura definitely wants something like this on 'her' level:
I have several that are intended to be a whole city block and a few smaller that are industries. The first is my Chinatown which has a fully detailed rear area of loading docks and back platforms. A coal and oil distributer designed to be rail served. And a two level sawmill with two waterwheels on different levels served by two spur tracks. And a small pond behind a log dam with a Beaver lodge. The smallest module at about 9 by 12 inches which has the start of the feed for a logging flume. All are designed to be simply placed into a layout and blended in with the terrain. Since I changed modeling direction since these were done most of the modules and a few not shown now reside in new homes. Chinatown will be kept as a display piece per the orders of my Wife.
So far, WOW! The Zakim Bridge and Chinatown are wonderful pieces of modelling. The mirror to expand the stockyard looks to be very well executed. Look forward to where this thread goes!
On the NTRAK modules sets I have produced, the prototype scene I wanted to re-create had a single mainline so I went to great lengths to route the yellow and blue lines away from the front. On this set depicting Richmond, Texas, I just broke the two lines away and ran them around back behind a view block made of thick vegitation. At the west side of town the Santa Fe tracks from Galveston merged in and paralleled the SP mainline so I was able to simulate that, although with two tracks instead of the prototype single track.
Russell, I remember the very first time I first saw your Sugarland, TX modules; a Temple, TX show, back in the 90's! Here is the thread to my current Ntrak module build-it includes some pics of my first two modules.... http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine...one-Star-Region-NMRA-show&highlight=arbomambo ~Bruce
Here are some NTRAK modules that I made 10 years ago. All but one still exist today. These modules traveled 45,000 miles to shows over approx. 5 year period. Another view; My all time favorite, it does not exist today. All of it has been moved to a permanent club layout : Oh baby, it's cold outside : Hope you enjoyed. Carl
Oh, yeah, I remember that show. Aust-N-Trak invited me to set up with them. George Hollwedel took a bunch of photos of my modules for Kirk Reddie's book North American N Scale.
I’ve enjoyed seeing these modules presented in this thread and here is one of my 4 ft Ntrak modules. It is a rebuild of one of a pair of modules that I’ve had for over 20 years. The rebuild did a number of things to get the weight down and make it easier for me to handle. The old set had been to almost 60 shows and this one has been to 10 already in the past 2 years. I realized that I had not taken any photos of it up to now so I set it up in my shop just for photos. Still have a bit to do on the scenery. Overall view. The 3 Ntrak main lines pass through a cut in the hillside with most of the scenery being at the mountain division level. This house under construction scene includes an Athearn concrete mixer truck with a drum that rotates. I you look carefully you can see the rod passing between the front bumper of the truck and the surface. The concrete pumping trailer is scratch built. The only on line industry on the module is this propane dealer. The large tank was made from a damaged Atlas tank car. The sign on the roof of the Budweiser distributor came from Miller Engineering. The gas station was relocated from the old module. It is from a Wally’s filling station kit. The Texaco sign rotates. The 7 Eleven store is new and it’s from a Randy Brown kit. Brad Myers Peninsula Ntrak / AsiaNrail My Blogs: http://www.n-scale-dcc.blogspot.com/ http://www.palisadecanyonrr.blogspot.com/ http://tokyo-in-nscale.blogspot.com/
3x12 foot mining module set. Built with Kato unitrack in its entirety! Sold off 2-3 years ago. Have thought about rebuilding a new set one day. Have another mining idea, based on Rio Grande track layout. Could be interesting.
These two four footers were my first modules...built in the mid-90's (they've been recently retired by their current owner)....they were pretty ambitious for a newbie at the time...but was able to pull it off! I was inspired by the trackwork in an HO project railroad in an older Model Railroader; can't remember the name but it was a port module with container facilities... I tried to diguise the join of the two as best I could. I used an SP dark ballast because I listened to one person tell me that's what I should do...I wish that I had used more of a standard gray back then. 'Bruceville'..... Thanks for looking, ~Bruce
I love this 4 footer!...nice flow to the upper level 'mountain line' track and nice flow to either side edge... I especially love the use of the Walthers Art-deco overpass...I'm trying top figure a way to incorporate it into an urban scene-with the Ntrak mains elevated through the 'city-warehouse-industrial' section...all the buildings being at tabletop level....just can't figure how to blend the module tabletop street level on either end 'up' to the level of the modules that would be joined on either side... I really like the way you've done this in a mirrored fashion (tracks at tabletop level and road/buildings/mountain line on upper) I also like the use of velcro for attaching a skirt (?)...is that a local club standard?...sure beats the heck out of push pins! ~Bruce
I'll admit this really doesn't count...yet... but the grand plan has been to integrate this into an N-trak module from the very start. It has managed to be an easily portable 'shelf layout' module (18x36) since I built it, and it's been at the Bedford show the last two years. John Sing has actually done a much better job of photographing it 'in the wild' than I have. I'll put this link here because John also did a wonderful job of photographing a lot of the Bedford show Ntrak modules: http://www.pbase.com/atsf_arizona/n_scale_wkend_2011&page=all
Thanks ! The art deco bridge caught my eye on a dealers table at a show and I just about built the module around it. Yes, the Velcro is a standard for Peninsula Ntak. We have about 200 feet of custom draperies in 10 and 20 ft lengths that we paid $$ for and didn’t like the idea of pushing pins through it. The draperies have the “fuzzy” part of the Velcro sewn in along the top inside edge and the “hook” part is on the top front edge of the modules frames. The drape also overlaps by about 3 inches with the “hook” part being on the front edge on the top at one end, see photo below. This system really helps make an attractive overall look to our layouts. Brad Myers Peninsula Ntrak / AsiaNrail My Blogs: http://www.n-scale-dcc.blogspot.com/ http://www.palisadecanyonrr.blogspot.com/ http://tokyo-in-nscale.blogspot.com/
Beautiful modules everyone! I really admire your work. Do you use them at home or just with / at a group location?
As I had mentioned in my earlier post, this single 4 footer had been part of a pair. Between 1997 and 2002 that pair was also part of a home layout. I have some pics of that here: http://www.palisadecanyonrr.blogspot.com/p/previous-layout-los-angeles.html Also here is a photo of the old pair in a layout in March of 2007. In it’s current version this module will be strictly Ntrak. The second module of the pair has also been rebuilt. In fact, it will be in it’s first layout starting this Saturday. It also has the mountain division added and has a junction that goes off the front of the module to connect to another modular standard I belong to called AsiaNrail. As the name suggest these modules are of Asian prototype. As we plan to use this second module in both Ntrak and AsiaNrail layouts with adjustable height legs, it will be a dual standard module. Brad Myers Peninsula Ntrak / AsiaNrail My Blogs: http://www.n-scale-dcc.blogspot.com/ http://www.palisadecanyonrr.blogspot.com/ http://tokyo-in-nscale.blogspot.com/
Hello all, Saturday has dawned beautifully here in coastal Alabama!...this weekend's schedule is already taken; major scenic steps on the Ntrak module for the June Texas show (only 2-1/2 weeks left!)...gotta squeeze in yardwork and a porterhouse steak cookout in there somewhere! pulled the module out to do the final rough foam shaping...the verticlel' eroded 'rock' face has been glued to the top and, for grins, I roughed out some cracks and crevices to give me an idea of how it's all going to come together.... after a nice Mexican breakfast taco breakfast...the fun really starts!.... I had home depot mix flat interior latex paints to match Arizona rock and Mineral "Cajon Sandstone", "Apache Rock", and "Earth Limestone (Kaliche)"....I'm going to mix batches of sculptamold with these colors (individually), and apply them to the styrofoam structures....hopefully, they should be dry enough to really carve later this afternoon and tomorrow, I'll also add talus and debris to the slopes....the large form will get the Cajon sandstone treatment, and the lower gentle forms will be Apach rock and Limestone. Thanks for looking, Bruce
