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Yep, and with two new ones - Malmsbury and Penzance.

@@modelrailmusings5981 cool cant with to cheek them out tomorrow

Be careful though, they are upstairs in the area that closes at 2pm that day.

@@modelrailmusings5981 i will be coming early before half past 9 tomorrow

I am glad you liked it. They really look different in real life!

Thank you. It is a really nice location, just crying out to be modelled! It will be on display at the AMRA Model Railway Exhibition, Melbourne Showgrounds, 3-4 August 2024.

@@modelrailmusings5981 There has been some sad news recently in that the stationmasters house was torched a few weeks ago. This was done by a pair of visiting teens. No remediation or even temporary weather protection has yet happened. I understand that an assessment is underway.

Thanks, glad you like it. The system does have its pros and cons, and the dummy wheels are probably the worst of them. I can live with it because the tiny size keeps it fairly well hidden, and (in my opinion anyway) it is outweighed by the huge improvement in reliability over conventional T. Another big plus of this weird and wonderful approach is that building a complete train from scratch is only a few day's work. The full roster took about two weeks. I had a look at yours too, and being able to run full-length trains in HO is a rarity for a non-club layout, so good on ya! I have never seen multiple ironing boards used as legs - I tried a lot of possibilities over the years, but that one never occurred to me.

The track is not tied to any particular scale, as it gets hidden beneath a paper running surface. I have used it from trains in 1:720 up to cars in 1:160. That 1:1000 figure is arbitrary anyway, since their models are not of any actual prototype.

The second option, unfortunately. It was the key design decision for this layout, taken on day 1. Having fully functional double track would look totally wrong here, losing the narrow-ribbon-through-the-countryside effect. And welcome to the rabbit hole! I think that makes me the Mad Hatter (aka the Fat Controller).

Thanks. You user id sort of implies that!

The track costs me about AUD $10/m, and my most ambitious layout so far has about 9m of track, so it is almost pocket change. The trains are just lumps of plastic with embedded magnets, so the same there. The electronics cost more, but not a lot so. Even when I was looking at doing it all commercially, the final price to the customer for a system was lower than T or Z. I use Eagle to actually do the PCBs, but with some serious custom software generating the designs. I only have to do the panelisation (and turnouts, alas) by hand. And yes, I use OpenSCAD for all the trains and structures, including the artwork for the carriage sides. As for reliability, when I was filming the last video, I just set the layout running then spent three hours moving the camera around and trainspotting - not a single hiccup, which is exactly what I want when single-handing two layouts at an exhibition.

Just getting back into the hobby after 3+ decade out. Even 5 decades ago the price of turnouts was high so I did smaller narrow gauge systems. 3D printer costs the same as 10 turnouts and I still have packets of Code 40 rail. Did you hand paint those figures? I might try Kicad and JLCPCB

@@AlwaysCensored-xp1be With this system, the real issue with turnouts is the amount and complexity of the wiring each requires - typically 6-8 three-wire cables from each, and 2-3 pairs of relays to do the switching. Plus solving a Sudoko puzzle to get the section lengths right so the currents balance out under all possible switch settings. Fun! For the figures, I used pre-painted brass 1:400 airline passengers from Eduard, and just gave them a wash of light grey to tone down their overly-bright colours. If you try this yourself, one thing to watch out for is the track getting hot. I bent over backwards to avoid that, starting by using 2oz copper. I use DirtyPCBs for mine, since they don't charge an arm and a leg for panelized boards. JLCPCB are fine for the controller boards.

@@modelrailmusings5981 Magnetic force proportional to NI, I'm Kicading a two layer single turn PCB, 0.5mm track width. Microstepping was a clue, stepper motor four coils, no vias if single turn. Decades ago I was doing induction keys on cars, had trouble with original keys they were melting, turns out they were iron based not brass and I had invented induction furnace on a car ignition switch. Yep hot, but stepper motor drivers have current control.

@@AlwaysCensored-xp1be I find 0.3-0.4A works well, and adjust the section length and supply voltage to get this value. 4-turn coils were the best compromise I could come up with, so I have real doubts about using just one. The key parameter is the coil spacing. this in turn drives the magnet spacing and everything else, so I use a coil spacing of 4mm (2mm considering the staggered coils on the bottom). That works out to a magnet spacing of 3mm, so 3mm disc magnets just naturally snap into the correct arrangement. It also gives a basic step size of exactly 1mm, which is really convenient.

Thanks. I hope to show this one in Melbourne and Adelaide this year, and the older Dauntsey Lock and Monbulk Creek in Sydney.

Thank you. The reliability and maintenance issues with conventional T were driving me insane, which is why I went down this path.

Yep, it took a bit of effort, but I look back on my past automation attempts in N and just shake my head.

@@modelrailmusings5981 Yep those old DC brush motors are cheap. Coreless are a bit better, but I have some 8mm stepper motors I want to try, narrow gauge don't run as fast as mainline. Yesterday I saw some 8mm outrunner brushless drone motors, serious power. I tried decades ago to make 6mm dia outrunner. Rotor n magnets were fine but 4mm stator was impossible. Hopefully going up a scale n 3D printing will make it possible now. I can remember my first N scale layout, tunnels were the worst for rail cleaning and 0-4-0 just don't have enough pickups.

There are min and max size and weight limits, adjusted by magnet size and the need to handle tight corners, and but anything that falls within that range is potentially doable. This video deliberately tested those boundaries. I particularly like the 1:220 NG, which almost can almost cope with the roundabouts on the road test track. The current draw is 0.3A-0.4A for 1.0-1.5m sections at 12V-15V. That works out to 3-4W/m as a literal answer to your question. The basic driving frequency is just a few Hz, but I modulate that at up to 2kHz for microstepping. I do know someone who has used LEDs with tiny induction coils to achieve carriage lighting on a small one of these tracks, but I believe he used a separate induction loop to power it.

And for my slot car video, giant clothes pegs, pencil sharpeners and 9V batteries too!

Mine are just a bit smaller that that, and only use double sided board! A little company in the US (IDL Motors) came up with the idea, but alas, they weren't modellers.

@@modelrailmusings5981 How many turns per layer? I used to use 10 turns but at 30mm dia for induction charging. Those phone chargers I think are 125 or 134KHz, magnets might get too hot at those freqs. Regulatory issues are a pain. 3phase stepping on fixed coil spacing would mean variable frequency drivers. Lots of emissions?

@@AlwaysCensored-xp1be Just 4 turns per coil. I balance the current and voltage by the length of each section, generally 1.0m or so with 0.3A and 12V, so the 3-4W of heat is spread over a lot of track, joiners and wiring, enough that heating is not a problem. It would almost be DC, except that I use microstepping in the audio range to get the effective step size down to 0.25mm, which is how I manage the slow speeds. Emissions aren't an issue unless I were to sell the things commercially.

That is where it all began for me. Worked well under test, but not so well on the layout. Because of the arrangement of the scenery, I had to mount the track on a very slight slope, and that was enough to throw off the reliability. Lesson learned and reinforced on later tracks.

@@modelrailmusings5981 Have not been able to stop thinking about this system. Before I made PCB coils I was hand winding them around Teflon cylinder and super glueing them to hold shape. Only 4 turns so could be made flat stuck on kynar tape. If wire goes through centre then flex track could be made from a few layers? The trick is winding perfect coils every time.

@@AlwaysCensored-xp1be Hand winding for this application would be totally impractical. The sheer number of coils and the need for precise positioning would doom the idea. My coils are on 4mm centers, staggered between the top and bottom layers so there is one every 2mm. My most recent layout has 8m of track, or 4000-odd coils. Dauntsey Lock has more than twice that.

@@modelrailmusings5981 Machine wind them? Your PCBs would be like set track? If two seperate flex PCBs used, bend between the coils? Those fridge magnets sheets are on about 3mm spacing. Coils in rolling stock? Found your Thingiverse locos. You painted a lot of GWR locos. Installed lighting in basement today, making room for my new printer. Kato mini diorama modules, could do the same with yours, 3 pin connectors each end.

Yep, on and off since 2014, originally just aiming for roads, but started looking into it for the trains themselves due to the poor reliability of conventional T. Or N or OO for that matter. Have fun with the vids!

@@modelrailmusings5981 Yep, I intend to do TT120, room for supercap/lipo to run the coreless motor. Not like the N and Z I used to do. With TTn42 Qld tender locos even room for speaker.

I changed over to this approach a few years ago and haven't looked back. For me it is cheap, about $15/m, but I design it myself and have it manufactured for me. The only commercial version has severe limitations, and while I have looked at making and selling it myself, there are serious regulatory hurdles that make that impractical.

Thanks. Google Earth makes building this sort of model so much easier. While Malmsbury is close enough to home that I can visit, my English layouts rely on it!

Not quite sure what you are asking here. Dauntsey Lock is a finished layout (with a few videos made after this one), and only comes out of storage for a trip to an exhibition. No further work is planned on it. However, I am literally just finishing up another new layout, and I should be posting its definitive video in a few days.

I finally got around to linking the TH-cam channel to my website, and there is a lot more info there. But oversimplifying a bit, the track consists of three sets of interleaved coils. When the first is powered, all the magnets in the train carriages align themselves above them. Then I switch to the second set, and everything moves along one step. Then the third, then keep repeating. The models are just lumps of plastic with magnets on the underside - simple and easy to make.

@@modelrailmusings5981 that is really clever. Thank you for that. I'll take a look at your site later as I'm really interested in doing something with this on a project of mine in the future.

@@JAMESDEMU-RailwayModeller The only commercial version is by teenytrains.com, but I am unsure of their current status. I do know a number of modellers that have done the same sort of thing using their products, but just round and round without stopping. And, of course, not GWR!

I didn't really plan to do anything like that, as I tend to be much better at written descriptions and explanations. I did add a link to my website to this TH-cam channel, and there is a detailed explanation there.

I already use cylinder/disc magnets, sliding along the smooth flat surface with very low friction. Any sort of rolling magnet would change its north / south orientation and fail to work properly. Trying to arrange working bearings of some sort would be very difficult.

@@modelrailmusings5981 rubber coat the magnet or have it drive oring tired wheels? I use cylinder magnets magnetised across the diameter for brushless motors and RC airplane actuators. I have been trying to do it in model trains but never thought to use external coils.

@@AlwaysCensored-xp1be A major issue is simplicity and ease of construction. I am currently building the trains for my new layout, about 90 vehicles with 6 or 8 magnets each. The models are only 6mm wide and the open wagons in particular only about 3.5mm high. That isn't a lot of room to work with. Another issue is steering - the track gives plenty of forward and backward oomph, but not much in the way of side force. Any sort of rolling wheel will tend to keep the vehicle moving in a straight line, so they will come off on the curves. The curves tend to be the limiting factor in the design, so that is what I have to plan and build around.

@@modelrailmusings5981 That's tiny, Way smaller than I thought. Hmm, Wonder if horse could be made to walk, magnets in hoofs. Bigger scale maybe 1:76/87. Cart stops horse falling over. Horse drawn tram?

@@AlwaysCensored-xp1be I have tested horse drawn vehicles for another layout I have under construction, and have seen a video with a horse riding track in HO scale, but the legs definitely don't move! Driving any sort of mechanical feature such as Magnorail's pedalling bicycles would be difficult, as there isn't enough excess drive force to harness. Magnorail has magnets pulling magnets, so can handle heavy models with power to spare for extras. With this system, the coils in the track are very weak and need powerful magnets to make up the difference.

Thank you. The wobble is less noticeable in real life, and my later designs also improve things a bit. Conveying the tiny size is difficult in a video, so they tend to look crude in closeup but OK at normal viewing distance. I do try to add a scene with a coin for scale, but sometimes leave it out if there are other issues with the shot.

My old camera only handles 1280x768. I tried my phone with 1920 x1080 for some of the more recent videos, but it glitches slightly. Sigh.

Keep in mind this isn't standard T Gauge. The linear motor drive system means that every vehicle is self-propelled. They don't actually have couplers, so it is really a string of locos moving together in formation. To "uncouple" I park the train over a section break then turn off power to one section. The rest of the train can then move away. Same thing in reverse to couple up again.

The size of the points and the wide track spacing work out about the same as an ultra-compact N scale track plan, so call it 30cm for a bare-minimum tuning fork layout or 60cm for something more interesting.

I cannot quite get this down to T scale. In order to manage the high speeds and cornering, the cars need a full complement of 4x3mm magnets, so have a minimum length of 12mm. As for the yellow alligator, why, what color is yours?

@@modelrailmusings5981 Before we ate him for Christmas dinner, (times are a bit tight in stupid post-Brexshite Britain), he was a very dull grey. A boring alligator.

I have looked at doing a commercial version, but while straightforward technically, there are just too many regulatory and other hurdles for it to be worth my while. Alas.

Please don't give up. You are on to something big. @@modelrailmusings5981

​@@KJAJOBRIEN TH-cam isn't really the place for an in-depth discussion. If you are sufficiently curious, you can contact me through my website and I can go into more detail there. modelrailmusings.weebly.com

I did seriously consider it, but there are just too many regulatory hurdles and other headaches. Sigh.

In practice, it covers anything from 1:450 to 1:500, just as N scale covers 1:148 to 1:160.