North Raleigh Model Railroad Club

Educational Activities

The club has also been a leader in the development of Standards and Recommended Practices (S&RP) relating to N Scale modular railroading, especially in the area of Digital Command Control (DCC). Much of this effort has been adopted in the national standards for NTRAK and T-TRAK modules, and DCC control of layouts.

The North Raleigh Model Railroad Club presents a clinic at each of its monthly meetings on various model railroading topics. There is also a 5-Minute Modeling Tip at each meeting covering a specific topic that helps simplify common modeling tasks. The clinics and programs are presented by various members of the Club as well as invited guest clinicians.

The topic presented is generally the choice of the member preparing and presenting the clinic. Clinics/programs can take the form of a physical demonstration, a PowerPoint presentation, or a group hands-on activity. If the topic is related to prototype railroading then photographs of the prototype and models of that prototype can be presented.

Several members have presented clinics at national and regional model railroad train shows and conventions.

Research on various aspects of modules meeting the NTRAK and T-TRAK Standards & Recommended Practices have resulted in improved methods now widely adopted throughout the N Scale modular railroading community. Several of these methods have been published, both on this web site and in the commercial press.

A comprehensive list of clinics and programs are available on the Clinics and Programs page.

Apex NC Diorama / T-TRAK Module

A few years ago the Club constructed a Diorama of the downtown Apex, NC area as it existed in the mid to late 1970's, featuring the tracks of the Seaboard Air Line and the Durham & Southern railroads (both now CSX), along with appropriate railroad buildings, industries and stores along Salem Street.

After exhibiting the diorama in locations such as the Halle Center in Apex, the NC State Fairgrounds and other locations, the diorama was converted into a working T-TRAK module for use in our T-TRAK layouts. To do this required the construction of a turnaround module for the north end of the diorama, and a junction module for the south end so the diorama could fit into a standard T-TRAK layout.

More than a dozen members of the Club participated in the construction of Apex diorama, the Apex Loop module and the Apex Junction module.

Photographs of the completed Diorama and its development into a T-TRAK module are posted at Apex Photos.

One of our members, Joe Peacock, recognized a need when he heard children at train shows voicing the request "Please, please, I want to run a train", they would ask of Mom and/or Dad. This led Joe to conceptualize, construct and then operate a small portable layout — the Junior Engineer Layout (JEL) — that can easily be setup and used by non-club affiliated children at public train show events.

During the Junior Engineer session the child(ren) are shown how a train runs, changes tracks via switches, sets out and oicks up cars at industries, makes a station stop, etc., with the child(ren) operating the train.

Following the session the Junior Engineer is given a certificate confirming his/her participation in the program.

The Junior Engineer Layout has been a popular attraction at our train shows.

Click the link below for full information about the Club's Junior Engineer Layout, constructed by Joe to meet the need for a layout where children can operate a train (and their parents to photograph them operating) under the supervision of a Club member, and learn about railroading at the same time

The North Raleigh Model Railroad Club has been a pioneer in the development of methods of controlling trains on N Scale modular layouts, all the way from the original DC control to today's wireless Digital Command Control (DCC) control.

With Direct Current (DC) control you could control only one train per track. NRMRC developed a means of speed matching a second train on that track though the use of a section of track called a "slowing block". The next evolution of DC control was the use of analog wireless throttles, which required a unique address for each electrical district in the layout.

The advent of Digital Command Control in the mid-1990's changed everything. DCC permitted the control of individual trains irrespective of location on the track. Multiple trains could be controlled on the same track. The club began researching best methods and practices for the DCC design of larger and larger multi-electrical district layouts. This eventually resulted in the development of the design parameters for what became the world's largest modular layout at the Derby City Express convention in Louisville KY in 2008.

Many of the results developed in this period are now part of the Standards & Recommended Practices documents for both NTRAK and T-TRAK standards. Several other individual items are part of Application Notes available on the NTRAK and T-TRAK web site, as well as this web site.

Specific achievements with DCC are listed below:

• Detailed and extensive development and testing of DCC wiring and commons (grounding) to ensure system stability and reliability of DCC operations on NTRAK layouts of all sizes.

• Published on this site detailed instructions for installing DCC decoders in a variety of locomotives.

• Developed and published on this site guidelines for DCC Design for NTRAK Layouts.

• Provided Digital Masters to major national and regional conventions and meets.

• Developed operating rules for bi-directional operations on DCC-controlled tracks when formal dispatching is not in use.

• Developed methods for card order prototype operations on club layouts with DCC control.

• Designed, developed and constructed special layouts for speed matching locomotive from different manufacturers. The layout featured detection sections in the circular track that provided input to a computer program that tested the DCC locomotive's speed and then matched it to the top speed set by the modeler.

• Developed methods for Dispatcher controlled prototypical operations on NTRAK layouts using either printed or radioed instructions for train operations.

• Prepared several documents outlining methods for accomplishing the successful setup and operations of NTRAK and T-TRAK layouts that were published on this web site. Many of these documents have been transformed into Application Notes (AppNotes) on the NTRAK and T-TRAK web sites.

The NRMRC has been involved with several other projects relating to educational activities and the development of improved methods of layout design and operation. These include:

• Each September since 2003 the NRMRC and its Eastern N Lines Partnership clubs had participated with a NTRAK layout at the Old 97 Rail Days celebration in Danville VA. Over the 18 years this event has been held the clubs involved have researched and evolved the layout from a pure rectangle with trains running round and around to a layout with "legs", "turnarounds" and "junctions" that permit full prototype operations of trains, as well as making much more efficient use of the available space.

• Over the years the club has researched and developed methods of easing the repetitive tasks involved in setting, taking down and transporting modules. Some examples are:

• Folding Module Legs A problem encountered was carrying the correct number of legs to a show location to support modules, and then matching them up to the appropriate modules during setup. A design was developed that allowed converting modules to include folding legs, which allowed east setup and saved a lot of time. Today, only one module still has to have its legs attached as its original design was not amenable to adding folding legs.

• Lightweight Modules The original specification for the construction of NTRAK modules resulted in a very rugged, but heavy unit. Currently available materials allow the construction of a much lighter-weight module, yet still rugged. Click here for a full description of how to build a lightweight NTRAK module.

• Leveling Sticks Each module in an NTRAK layout must be leveled to 40" above the floor. A set of sticks made from 1" x 2" wood were setup with blocks mounted at the 40" height for regular track, and at the 43-1/8" level for the Mountain Division track that allowed easy checking and setting module height.

• Joiner Track Gauge Where there is a standard for the length of the joiner track that connects the tracks between modules, in practice the distance varies somewhat depending on the modeler's adherence to the standard. A modification to an electronic micrometer has been developed to precisely measure the length of joiner track required, which is then selected from a track box equipped with joiner tracks of various lengths. This Joiner Track Gauge is fully described at xxxx, and shown below.



• Packaging for Transport Modules must be transported from their storage location (e.g. home) to the layout's location and back, in vehicles of various sizes. The club has developed methods of connecting modules together in a manner that eases the problem of transportation while also protecting them from damage. This has been particularly effective with transporting modules in the club's trailer.

• Track Configuration for Improved Operations With the evolution of layout design over the years there has been a corresponding review of track configuration on NTRAK modules for more prototypical and flexible operations. This has initially resulted in the addition of crossover tracks from one track to another at critical points on modules, and ion the addition of the Orange track placed at the front of the Red track.

• In addition to the Junior Engineer Layout it is common practice for members operating trains when they see a child intently watching the trains to hand the child a throttle and together with the child run a train around the layout. It is not uncommon to have to almost "pry" the throttle out of the child's hands when the parents are ready to leave.

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The NRMRC is a Not-For-Profit Corporation incorporated in North Carolina.
The various logos and heralds shown here are the property of their respective organizations.

Last updated: Friday April 17, 2020

North Raleigh Model Railroad Club
Webmaster: John M Wallis (Email)