Reg Whelan's Information

Here are some pics and a movie of a model railway or train set that Gavin Barber and I built as a project.

Ok! Ok!

I know I should have built a controller with a built in inertia control (fixed). LOL.

For those who don't know. An inertia control is capable of delivering  very small pulses of power to make the engine move so slowly it is sometimes so slow the loco seems to be barely moving. When the speed control is rapidly turned to a top speed the train doesn't respond as Karl has made the train in the video do. I didn't actually do a speed check but I have, in years gone by, scaled the speed of that loco to in excess of 200 miles per hour.

With an inertia throttle the control knob doesn't directly control the speed. It simply sets the speed you want the train to run at. That means That a train starts moving very, very slowly, and builds up speed slowly just like a real train hauling a load does. You can be somewhat sneaky with one of these and limit the top speed a loco is allowed to travel at. Put that adjustable setting inside the control box.

Here you can see the open bench work construction.

The actual project was doomed before it was started so we won't go into that.

The railway was built in N guage. We did this to be able to get more operation into a small space.

To provide running distance the line was built mostly on gradients with one section of the rail passing over the other, a folded oval layout. The cookie cutter method was used to cut the ply base board and it was supported by risers attached to the benchwork framing. This allowed for later scenery to be built that didn't allow overlap between areas.

In the video the train is started from a siding and enters the mainline and climes to an overpass onto a flat area meant for further siding and facilities at a later date. Passing on the train begins a long decending loop and passes through a tunnel and under the overpass emerging at what was to be the main station area with a passing siding to allow for multi train operation. After leaving the station area the train passes the siding it joined the main from and repeats its journey.

Gavin and I helped Karl build build the layout to that point. Scenery was meant to be added by Karl and his Step Father but I don't think it was advanced any further than when we left it.

Click on an image below to enlarge it.

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