Some interesting videos that amused me this week. Of course, one has to start with Jago Hazzard. Do you want to buy a station?
Where to build London’s International station…. Pick any one from eleven?
For the bus enthusiasts amongst us. A short and long look at the venerable RT class.
Moving over to modelling, a sensible use for Airfix kits….
And a rather interesting modular system. This seems as viable as most of the other mini-modules that people are pushing now, even if some geometry is needed. I wondered whether one could make larger hexagons, to make a more interesting layout? Depends on the Kato track geometry, I guess.
And finally, the Sacramento Northern on video. The opening scenes in the countryside are just crying out to be modelled.
esngblog 
Potpourri 1108 had two segments that really hit home for me.
Residing here in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, the Sacramento Northern video was very familiar to me. When I lived in Oakland, I used to ride my bicycle through that canyon shown at the beginning of the video and later in the part with the tunnel (which still exists, but is sealed off).
Additionally, I’ve been involved with a group building an N scale modular layout of the Southern Pacific branch line mentioned at 22:44 (map line to Danville and Diablo at right that fades out is the SN connection to the SP branch at Concord) and 25:07 (steam train on SP) While we haven’t yet modeled the SN connection, we have drawn up module plans to do so. Electric car 1005 that is shown at several points in the video has been preserved in operating condition at the Western Railway Museum in Rio Vista. An N scale body shell of it is available from Shapeways.
As for the Hex-Trak video, this is old hat for me as well. The YouTube poster is doing S scale 1:64 (3/16″/foot), so N gauge track is 2 foot gauge prototype for him.
For my own layout,. I’ve got three hexagon modules that are junctions (see attachment). These go back to the 1970s and have been used in numerous layout setups ever since. I’ve also added three 60Ë half hexes to compliment the full hexes and thus lets me make a full circuit with several branches coming off that cental core.
As for dimensions, the hexagons are fully symmetrical and measure 666mm (of course!) across parallel faces. That allows a radius of around 500mm, with end easements through the points.
Other modules can be added between the hexagons to expand the layout. Most of the scenic areas on the hexagons share the same footprint and are interchangeable. While the example shows Asian scenes, I’ve also used the wye and 4-interface hex (cleverly named Where4: So I have both the wye [why] and the where4!) with the aforementioned Southern Pacific branch line project as the end junction points. If you’re interested in seeing more of this concept, I’d be happy to share some layout diagrams featuring this hex geometry that we’ve set up over the years.
I’m going to view all the other links you show in due course.
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Hi Paul, that’s all very interesting. I’d be interested to see the hex geometry that you used. Attachments don’t seem to work on here, but a mail to barthyd at pobox.com would be much appreciated. Cheers, Jon
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