ebtnut,
Gonna use an RS-3 to push and pull cars from the industrial area with the 15" curve. Will that work?

-Striker

Here's a look at my track plan...


1) Here I'll place an industrial complex of sorts. The outer siding will be for loading flatcars from a steel mill. The inner siding will be for ore cars which will off load their resources to be processed at said steel mill. Also the steel mill will break up the scene. (I hope)

2) Will be storage site for yard loco (NYC RS-3) as well as refueling point for other diesel loco's (NYC FTA & B)

3) Storage yard for cars. It's as simple as that. There will be a yard tower close to where the "yard lead" begins (used quotes because I wont have a real yard lead on this layout)

The main line should be large enough to break out my Class J every so often for fun. It will regularly host the 2-6-2 and 2-8-4 running some sort of mixed freight (possibly from the steel mill eh?)
I'll probably put in a railway company building in the area between the #2 and #3 sidings. That's all for now, let me know what you think! 

Thanks for the input so far!

I have two sections of 36" EZ track, I had planned to use them as part of my main stretches.
I've used Anyrail to make my track plan, how can I upload it to the forums?

Also this board will need to be mobile. I'm a grad student who will work on this while home, but my folks would like to be able to move the board into another room while I am not home. Is there anyway to create collapsible benchwork? If so can someone provide a diagram or point me to an article etc?


Thanks a million!
-Striker

Hi all!

I've been an train lover all my life and have only dabbled in model railroading; essentially it has always been "playing with toy trains". However I am now moving to my first layout on a 4x8 board. Purpose is simply for practice.

What I've got currently:

Loco's:
NYC FTA
NYC FTB
NYC RS-3
PRR GG1
N&W Class J 611
An unletterd 2-8-4 which I plan to give N&W numbers and letters
PRR 2-6-2 Prairie

Rolling Stock:
x20 Cars of various roads and types
Of note is my C&O 250-Ton Crane which I plan to convert to NYC or PRR (still deciding)

Other:
DCC Dynamis System I received from a relative as a graduation gift. Not sure how wise it was of them, but hey I'll take it!

That being said I'll be getting my board and accouterments later this evening.
For now I wanted to ask a few questions which may seem stupid or silly, but hey I'm learning! =D

1) So I'll be using Nickel Silver E-Z Track, should I bother soldering all the rail joiners to increase the effectiveness of the DCC System?
2) I was going to run wiring to a few points on my layout to spread out the power distribution, I assume I should attach the wire to the rail joiners?
2a) On that note can I just buy copper wire from say a Home Depot or do you guys recommend using a specific brand or type of wire?
3) Do I need to block out this layout? I assume not because the engines running on it will be DCC.
4) I have seen other model railroaders use a few inches of foam board on top of their base board, is this recommended? (I was going to do so)
4a) Should I then glue my E-Z track to the board or nail it down? (Either way it will be permanent and I get that, again this is a practice layout)

That's about it for now. I hope I haven't come across as too much of a fool.

-Striker

Thanks everyone for the responses. Right now I'm working with E-Z Track and plan to pickup at least one other re-railer section. I also plan to get some of the red terminal connecting wire so that I might power my layout more evenly. I am able to run my N&W Class J on the outer loop and my NYC FTA+B on the inner loop at the moment, however they suffer from the power shortages previously mentioned.

-Striker1945

P.S. For those wondering my layout is currently based on this track plan which I found online here:
http://www.thortrains.net/4holay4.html
My layout is based entirely on the 4th plan (bottom right).

Alright so I've been a model railroader for a few months now. I started building with the Bachmann Cavalier set and have expanded from there. I have been buying some E-Z track to play with and I have also been acquiring DCC fit locomotives for my eventual transition to a more permanent and larger layout (NOT USING E-Z TRACK). However I have one issue and that is power. The trains tend to lose power/speed on the far section of my layout. I know it is because I'm not providing power all across the layout at regular intervals. My question is this: Using the Bachmann power-pack included in the Cavalier set can I simply splice copper wire onto the transformer wire ports and then run those wires out to the rest of my layout?

I've found another Cavalier set online for only around 150$. Im tempted to just buy that considering I could always keep the second N&W Class J for parts or even sell it on ebay. Thanks for the other links though folks! I appreciate the assistance 

-Striker

Hi all!

I purchased the Cavalier set with N&W 4-8-4 Class J and 3 Passenger cars 2 years ago and have loved running it at Christmas every year. Now I am beginning to put together a layout with a dedicated loop for my N&W Class J. I would like to add at least two more passenger cars to the consist, but haven't found a place to acquire them. Ive seen MTH's set of (I think) 5 cars, but I am limited by money. Any suggestions?

-Striker

I recently bought the Cavalier set for my below my xmas tree while I reconstruct my main layout which was taken down before I went to college. The train ran well for a good hour and then the middle passenger car derailed. I had no clue what made it derail so I took the train from the tracks and disassembled the track. I re-built the small oval I made with the track included and I checked all the connections to make sure it was all smooth and then set the train back up and ran it. The train made one or two runs and then the same passenger car derailed. I was yet again unsure as to what was going on. On closer inspection of the car I noticed that one block of wheels doesn't turn as fast or as much as the other block (on the same car) I was wondering if that would affect the car and cause it to derail consistently?