As there is a thread about layouts, I thought it was apropriate to open a thread on this forum too, as not everyone may have read the thread on the NGRM forum.
I am not going to copy the whoel thread, instead I will write about the idea behind it, and can post updates from this point on.
YURZE ORE MINE AND SMELTER 4 mm. scale narrow gauge
The idea for this design comes from the website of the late Carl Arendt. (www.carendt.com). Carl has dedicated much of his life to so-called micro layouts, including a website on this subject and the release of several books. For many the site is an inspiration to build a layout within a limited space.
When Carl died in March 2011, Lucien Eijdems was approached by Ton de Vos if he was interested in building a layout together, commemorating Carl. For those who do not know Ton, he is the builder of a large number of cranes and ships on the dutch H0 Kai-M layout that has been exhibited in Holland a few times. Ton chose the design of Yurze Ore Mine and Smelter. He built the baseboards, laid the track, built the electrical part and the necessary buildings, after that Lucien would provide further decoration with green and figures, painting, lighting, etc. and exhibit the layout as Ton has health issues that prevent him from participating in exhibitions for more than one day.
EXPLOITATION
This small layout uses a hidden sector plate in order to exchange loaded and empty wagons at both ends of an ore line. A small locomotive pulls a number of loaded cars from the bunker of the iron mine of a track on the sector plate, then pulls the train around the 180 degree curve with trestle to the smelter. Here the locomotive runs around the train and pushes the loads into the smelter (and on the switched sector plate). Then the locomotive attaches to a row of empty wagons on the other track on the sector plate and pulls this train to the ore mine, where it is pushed on the track of the now empty track on the sector plate. Then the locomotive pulls out the loaded wagons again and starts from scratch.
There is a possibility to drive the train a couple of laps around the track before it goes to the mine or smelter. There is also a track along a storage shed and a small engine house.
TECHNIQUE
The design of Carl was about 40 x 90 cm in size, but as far as we know never really built. Ton has been busy with Peco rail material and he managed to build the design with a few minor changes.
The whole is built with a 5 mm MDF frame construction on a solid base of 40 x 90 centimeters, where the necessary openings for the bridges are recessed.
The points are manually operated with a ruler placed under the track that is pressed or pulled towards you depending on the position of the point. With that movement a microswitch is actuated that provides the frog power. Experience has shown that in the long term you can not count on contact by the point blades only.
The sector plate has double track, one for loaded and one for empty wagons. The plate is operated by a somewhat longer stick or ruler, which protrudes on both sides out of the layout and hence can be operated from both sides. With the shift of the plate contact with the adjacent tracks is made, and a lever actuated by the plate blocks the tracks that are not connected, preventing stock from running into a gap and falling down.
The controls are designed for analogue operation and wired as such. Shortly before its first exhibition in 2013, a Roco digital starter set was bought and connected to the layout. This worked out fine for two days, with no faults or malfunctions. This also made it possible to drive two trains, something that is considerably more difficult on an analogue layout. The layout can be used both analogue and digital.
For lighting some Conrad LED strips are used placed in a fascia above the whole layout, This works fine, but in dimly situations it lacks some additional light. Another LED strip from IKEA was added before Ontraxs. On the front of the layout Ton has made a name plate by cutting each letter form 5mm MDF.
SCENERY
All buildings for this layout were built by Ton using Evergreen profiles and Slaters stone sheet in the same way as he has built for Kai-M. The buildings were primed and painted by Lucien with ordinary gouache and weathered.
The landscape is constructed from the base upwards and downwards with foam boards, and completely covered in a mix of glue, water and newspaper, then covered with a mixture of brown paint and glue. The landscape is covered with static grass, using a homemade electrostatic device (whisk + tea strainer).
For the rest, no special materials are used, trees were built using