PEMBROKE

MAKING IT UP AS I GO ALONG

RENE GOURLEY

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

Software development

Q1: WHERE’S

PEMBROKE?

Q2: WHY PEMBROKE?

THE LONG ANSWER…

Canada Atlantic

Railway

1905

Scratchbuilding

Branchline

Pembroke

Proto:87

PROTO:87

Started 1997

Model Railroad Planning

For 10x10 bedroom

Built to move

Problem section joint

In the river

Not tight

Limited operations

Limited information

Based on Goad plan

VERSION 1

Dam is not that high

Bank near station

was not square

THEN THIS…

Uninteresting shoreline

YOU SHOULD

NEVER

INSTALL

VERSION 1

AND I WAS TURNING THAT AGE!

THE SPACE (2011)

Version 1 (for nine years)

Modelling desk

Home office

Storage

Guest room

No insulation

Ugly lighting

Kid’s model

THE SPACE (2012)

Insulation

Insulated Floor

5’ high shelf at

top of foundation

THE SPACE (2013)

5’ high shelf at

top of foundation

Guest room

Cork floor

THE SPACE (2014)

Storage

Nice lighting

Storage

Home office

Modelling desk

Layout

TRACK PLAN

Alternative to

computer!

Version 1

ended here

Roundhouse

Staging

Total of 16

turnouts

Influenced by Lance Mindheim,

Trevor Marshall, Mike Cougill

“Freedom Layout”

Take advantage of sick kid

“proof of concept”

Learned a lot!

EARLY

OPERATIONS

These tracks need

to be long!

Ran out of

staging tracks

Roundhouse and

turntable make

this layout a lot

of fun!

WHAT’S THE

WORST THAT

CAN

HAPPEN?DE-RISK FIRST WITH A PROOF OF

CONCEPT

3D PRINTED SWITCH

TIES

Rail braces and slide

plates printed on ties

Ideal for 3D printing

- Quality less of a concern

- Thousands of possible

combinations

- Costs continue to come down

Half tie

HIDDEN THROW ROD

Throw rod hidden

under tie switch

rods to scale

P87 Stores point

reinforcing

Hard to get this right

Points want to rotate

3D PRINTED

TURNOUT PARTS Near scale switch rods

Finally settled on

plastic shim

BALLAST GROUT

Real dirt from ROW

in Pembroke Lots of dust

Mica

50:50 grout:dirt

PAPER SHELL

SCENERYPacking paper secured

with hot glue

Gaps open at edges

REFINE AS

YOU GO

AVOID ANALYSIS PARALYSIS

WORKING SWITCH

STAND TARGETS

Bullfrog

Switch stand target

Egregious hack!

More elegant solution

After 10 of them

(mostly all different) I

was pretty good at it

LED LIGHTING

“Warm” white

“Cool” white

Inexpensive on ebay!

Low profile

No layout

Started with three, added

one, then another before

happy

TURNOUT CONTROLS

Lego POC

3D printed in

sintered nylon

Needs to be thicker

Probably didn’t

need Bullfrogs

SKY EFFECTS

RGB Wash to

simulate sunrise

and sunset

Eliminate

shadowsNot purple

Purple

Waterproof 5050

RGB LED strip

Flip switches

ZERO-PROFILE

STAGING

Should look more

like a window sill

than staging yard

No ties. Code 55

PC board

rabbeted into

plywood

“Honey, why are

there a bunch of

tracks on the

windowsill?”

WHAT’S NEXT…

Lazy susan staging turntable base

Magnet-driven roundhouse doors

Hand-cranked turntable

Locomotive “kits”

Two controllers per train

Lots of debugging!

TAKEAWAYS

Don’t let your layout languish

• Either have a layout or a shelf

Proof of concept

• Explore new ideas, materials,…

• Verify if you have the skils

Damn the torpedoes!

• Refine on the layout

• Make progress