new batch of track arrived

a considerable amount of kato track has arrived. I found a very reliable kato track dealer on ebay (shop here). now i have enough to build the yamanote station area (4 platforms) and the associated corners. I just need to find secondhand flexi for the hidden fiddle yard so that I can create a loop.

time to dig deep

Now that the base board is done.. I'm going to have to find some funds to buy lots of track. All the track on show will probably be kato unitrack as its easy to fit together and looks good. It also has the added benefit that it fits well with all kato scenery. The ares that will be hidden (ie the shuffleyards and turning sections), will be built using secondhand flexi track as the look.

Initial base board complete

Here is a pic of the inital baseboard. Both of the ends easily slide away form the middle, so that once this section is complete, i can easily insert another section and continue modelling.



I thought I would also upload some pics of 2 of my locos

Arduino automation

A friend at work pointed me towards an Arduino board. If you're like me and a bit geeky and want propper automation then this is the way forward. It allows me to program my electronics with easy timers and random functions. It can then flick points using a %V controller circuit across an SPDT.
www.arduino.cc for more info.
You can pick up different size boards easily from ebay.

I have borrowed an arduino board from my friend so once I have something up and running I will post it here.

Automating the model railway..

Its been quite hard finding info on how to do this.. but I found quite a lot info at this site...
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/

This article interests me as it will be perfect for the yamanote station for the trains to run in and out of the platforms
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/AutoRevCheap.html

ideas for a layout

I'm still deciding what to do as a layout, but I think one section would be a yamanote line station with a shinkansen line above attached to it. The Shinkansen line would be the main line for the complete layout, while the yamanote line will be localised to this area.