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 Posted - October 22 2019 : 4:56:53 PM
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Apologies for the long unintentional silence......
Just before I got mysteriously locked out of the group I mentioned what was then a planned forthcoming appearance at a UK model railway show in October
We took along this Tyco US-1 Trucking with Life-Like trains and buildings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tPemMzwEDU
A lot of prep had gone into planning the new layout, for as well as getting the road and rail to all fit together as we wanted into the space, a lot of time had been spent acquiring and assembling the stuff we needed:
A huge box load of original supporting Tyco piers were bought from a dealer in USA and custom built to give the right 87mm height that was chosen (lower than the old Life-Like roadway piers to make the interaction with trains ands trucks below that bit more exciting)
The old Life-Like hooped roadway piers were also too wide to take the road over the railway and also run close to and parallel with another roadway, so some new custom ones were drawn by a chum. The CAD file was then used to get them laser cut from plywood and finally I assembled and painted them
Another chum in the States, helped me obtain some very Lionel-esque Life-Like operating bits that I had not got. These were fixed up and made ready for the table top display. Some of them can be seen in this video but there are some others that will hopefully appear in later parts of the film that will follow in due course.
What my You Tube chum has done is film some of the amazing Tyco operating loading and unloading features. The ones shown are all from the trucking series, of course, but members of this group will see how closely they are derived from the railway range.
Some facts – Layout Size 12’6” x 8 6”
Three double track roadways with six trucks running
Two trains on two levels and two automated grade crossings where trains stop the trucks and activate flashing wig wags and bells
One customer operated signal that stops the train.
12 man hours to set up. Just 2 to pack up and load in the car.
Next outing will be the slot car event at Gaydon, Warwickshire in May 2020
Thanks to everyone who has helped and encouraged me and my chums to get this far.
Best wishes,
James
Edited by - Highwayman97 on October 23 2019 03:40:31 AM
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Country:  United Kingdom ~
Posts: 128 ~
Member Since: December 10 2016 ~
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Posted - October 22 2019 : 7:31:24 PM
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Incredible US1/train layout!!!
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." - Matthew 5:16
Youtube Channel: www.youtube.com/rpmodelrailroads
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rp_model_railroads/
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Country:  USA ~
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Posted - October 23 2019 : 04:07:11 AM
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One can only imagine the degree of intensity
Required to assemble such a creation and have it
function perfectly. How do those US1 vehicles
Stand up to the amount of use they go through?
Quite the three ring circus, there!
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Posted - October 23 2019 : 05:02:25 AM
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Chops,
Thank you!
They run sweetly and reliably. Little track cleaning is necessary, once the layout is up and running, although from time to time I scrub some of the pick up ends, which can soot up where they touch the contact rails.
All the trucks that come to me are cleaned, de-fluffed and oiled. Tyres replaced and the pick ups have to go once they are rutted!
Before each show, the trucks and trains are all carefully run and checked over.
The US-1 trucks don't get hot and will trudge around all day without issue, although I like to change them every few hours just for the sake of it.
I ran a Proto series loco on the lower deck for most of the day and these are heavier than the nornmal RTR ones. This made the rail part of the grade crossings noticeably dip in the middle after a few hours, so I have modifield the wig wag device, that goes under each crossing to have a central plinth that supports the crossings from underneath. Now they are fine!
Live and learn!
James
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Posted - October 29 2019 : 07:06:45 AM
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There are now two more videos on you tube showing the layout.
Thought I best share them - Enjoy!
2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPwAeeHvnZA
3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tPemMzwEDU
James
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Posts: 128 ~
Member Since: December 10 2016 ~
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