I’m building my layout in 2x4 foot chunks, and I’m working on my first 2x4 chunk now. At some point, however, I’m going to obviously create the second module and need to connect the track I’ve laid in module 1 to module 2. Does anyone have a link to any document on how to get this to work? Do I need to have the track laid right up to the edge of the benchwork for module 1 and then just use rail joiners to the matching track on module 2? Or is there some special approach needed? I know I’m not the first to build a modular layout like this, so I’m hoping someone has some advice. Have a good weekend, going to the Greenberg Train show in MD tomorrow, hope it’s a good one.
i belong to a modular ho club. we have a 20’ x 20’ layout that goes to several shows a year. we used to use a 9" snap track section between the modules after using c clamps to hold the modules together. this worked well but didn’t look too good even with the sections ballasted. we have eliminated the track sections altogether by running the track and ties right to the edge of the modules and cutting the rails back one inch from the edge of each module then using a 2" piece of rail to span the joints. this looks much better and it is faster for setting up and breaking down the layout. we also have eliminated the c clamps at the joints by permanently installing 4" butt hinges (door hinges) at the ends of the modules which eliminates the time of having to align the modules.
Leave exactly 4.5 inches of open space between the track on the two mating modules and a piece of Atlas 9" long snap track or an Atlas rerailer can be used to bridge the gap between modules. That’s according to the NMRA’s module standards and recommended practices.
You can download those specifications from the NMRA web site if you so desire. But for a home layout that will never be married up to a club or anyone else’s modules, you can do it like other people have suggested in their answers.
For another approach to module connections, both rail and electrical, please check out www.free-mo.org also for the design/construction of lightweight modules not limited to 4 foot lengths. I have built, and regularly take to shows, a 2’x8’ module that I can pick up and carry with one hand! jc5729 John Colley, Port Townsend, WA
You have four options to consider. But before deciding on which options is best for you, you need to ask yourself one basic question - Are these modules going to be used together with other peoples’ modules in a group or club set-up? If so, then you need to follow their standards. If not, then the next question is do you plan on taking the modules apart and setting them up from time to time or is the module construction method being used just a method to make construction easier and make moving the ‘layout’ easier at some time in the future when you might move?
The four options are
Use a connecting piece of track as others have described. This could be 9", 6" etc. The downside of this that it doesn’t really look that good as retsignalmtr explained. I’ll call this method the NMRA standard method.
Use a piece of connecting rail. As retsignalmtr discussed, you lay the roadbed and ties to the end of the module. Then you simply uses a piece of rail, usually 2" long, to connect from module to module. You need to undercut the ties at the end of the rail so the rail joiner will slide onto the ral without a problem, but it is easily done. When done correctly, it can be very difficult to find the connecting piece of rail, once painted and weathered. I’ll call this the Free-mo method.
Lay the track completely to the end of the module and cut it flush with the end of the module. When modules are joined together there is no connector or railjoiner used and the rails simply line up with each other. Typically, the rail is soldered to either brass screws or PC boards ties or a PC plate so that the track gauge is maintained. This method can be tricky to do for a novice since the placement of the track must be EXACTLY perfect to have things line up and to prevent derailments. It does speed set-up time since no connecting pieces need to be installed.
Anything has to be better than NTrak which tends not only to be sloppy but unsightly; I don’t know why it is but there seems to be some sort of plus or minus factor in the standard - there really is a standard but if you get two or three people together to discuss just exactly what it is you have a good chance of the discussing dissolving into fisticuffs - and therefore you need a multitude of differing sizes on hand in order to find something to bridge the gap. retsignalmtr says that there club uses a precise 2" filler standard and that would work.
Depending on events of the next couple of months I may have to make my next layout modular and portable; I have been deliberating bolting my modules together leaving just enough gap to pass a jeweler’s sawblade, and then cutting through topographic scenery and the continuous rail. For some reason the idea of a final alignment using rail joiners had slipped past me in the dark but that idea has considerable merit.
You have four options to consider. But before deciding on which options is best for you, you need to ask yourself one basic question - Are these modules going to be used together with other peoples’ modules in a group or club set-up? If so, then you need to follow their standards. If not, then the next question is do you plan on taking the modules apart and setting them up from time to time or is the module construction method being used just a method to make construction easier and make moving the ‘layout’ easier at some time in the future when you might move?
The four options are
Use a connecting piece of track as others have described. This could be 9", 6" etc. The downside of this that it doesn’t really look that good as retsignalmtr explained. I’ll call this method the NMRA standard method.
Use a piece of connecting rail. As retsignalmtr discussed, you lay the roadbed and ties to the end of the module. Then you simply uses a piece of rail, usually 2" long, to connect from module to module. You need to undercut the ties at the end of the rail so the rail joiner will slide onto the ral without a problem, but it is easily done. When done correctly, it can be very difficult to find the connecting piece of rail, once painted and weathered. I’ll call this the Free-mo method.
Lay the track completely to the end of the module and cut it flush with the end of the module. When modules are joined together there is no connector or railjoiner used and the rails simply line up with each other. Typically, the rail is soldered to either brass screws or PC boards ties or a PC plate so that the track gauge is maintained. This method can be tricky to do for a novice since the placement of the track must be EXACTLY perfect to have things line up and to prevent derailments. It does speed set-up time since no connecting pieces need to be in
I agree with jktrains and R.T. The very last step in my path to “great, now I can play with the trains while I tidy the rest of the layout up,” was to cut gaps in the rails directly over the places where their underlying framing was bolted together in modules. I even adopted the same practice with my bridge that spans the operating pit to provide me with a reversing loop when I need it.
The gaps are good to keep each module separated for short management if nothing else. If they are cut carefully and skillfully, there is almost no evidence that they are anything more than a regular expansion gap. The break line in the scenery can be covered with buildings and their adjacent sidewalks, shrubbery, fences, and so on.
So, I share the advice to find a positive way to align the modules if they are meant to be transported from time-to-time, and let the alignment work that way. It can be done, and obviated the need for mini-sections and joiners.
Edit- I had to correct a typo, but have seen Fred’s comment. The uneven floor problem is true enough, and adjustable legs will cure that…or keep a supply of door frame shims handy.
Mike - Look for threads uisng the term dominoes. There are several good threads on the layout building forums now. When you use the term module you get response that deal with making your chunk tie in with somebody elses. When you use the term dominoes you get your track plan that can be broken down into several parts. Look for David Barrow and his Cat Mountain & Santa Fe .
I am using 6" sectional track to connect my domines
With all due respect to fwright and selector, the as posed by the OP had to do with connecting track between modules. My initial interpretation of his question is that he’s building a home layout using a more modular construction method than traditional benchwork. The primary question is will he be building a module, laying track and then build another module, laying track, etc. or will he be building a number of module frames, joining them together and then laying track. If the former, then I would go with #2 or #3. If the latter, then #4 is completely reasonable, especially if the only time it would be disassembled is when he moves locations. The other issues such as joining modules together, leg design, height adjustment, electrical and others are beyond the scope of his original query.
I agree with you, jktrains. My comments reflect appropriate ways of dealing with track meets in all the above circumstances. If one is really bent on physically joining the rails, then what you and others have said are quite acceptable, even best practises. What I wanted to point out is that it is not strictly necessary, and depending on one’s view, desirable to do that. Thin gaps can be left even on permanent modular constructions, which my own happens to be.
I don’t see that anyone is wrong here…just that an ecletic approach to problem solving sometimes results in a shift in view and transforms the problem to something much less daunting or troublesome.
Just different ways of skinning a wide variety of cats. [:)]
I have built a series of insulation foamboard portable layouts for exhibits and shows outside the home, but not built to NMRA modular standards.
Much as one would like to avoid it, nothing beats the rail joiner in lining up rails. I have seen a modular layout where they had precision alignment of rails at a module boundary to implement a draw bridge to let their people get in and out of the operating area of the layout, and sure enough, they started having derailments at a show that required some on-site emergency treatment.
When you are joining anything together you will have some “degree” (pun intended) of misalignment, and the longer you make the connecting track, the less kink you get per out-of-wack of the module join. I have taken to making the connecting track as much as 2 feet long, and I make my own track and painted foam roadbed or I suppose you could use Kato Unitrack. Think of having modules and “inter-modules” of track-roadbed pieces to link up the modules. Works just great and needs not tinkering with C-clamps and hinges and alignment pins.
if you decide not to use rail joiners make sure you file the inside of the rails at a 45 degree angle which makes it a lot harder for wheels to pick the joint and derail.
it is a good idea to do this on all rail joints whether using joiners or not.
Make joining sections of track, whatever length you want, straight, curved, whatever. Glued to road bed and ballasted, with rail joiners at both ends that slip all the way back to allow the track to be lifted out. Sprinkle some ballast on the joints to hide them. Oh my god, loose ballast? AAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHH!
The Orlando N-Trak group has done a magnificent job on the N scale modular (not N-Trak) layout. The track at the ends is soldered to PC board, and no rail joiners are needed.
