Around about 2003, the members of the TNW decided that a new layout, designed to take advantage of DCC, and completely owned by the club was needed.  NCE’s Pro Cab system was selected to be the DCC system for the layout and that supplied the initial power and control.  In 2007, a second booster was added to help feed power-hungry sound equipped locomotives and a power management system was installed to help limit the effect of short circuits.  Additional boosters were added as a new locomotive shop and roundhouse have come on line.  More recently, a wireless base station was brought in to add wireless control of locomotives. Members who wish to run trains wirelessly can purchase their own wireless Throttles (also known as Cabs) for use with the system.  The club does own wired throttles for those who don’t wish to buy their own.  We are also working on a layout extension that will remain in the clubhouse.

The layout is supported on adjustable legs made from PVC pipe.  Those legs are inserted in the bottom of each module, through holes cut in the light steel house framing.  The framing is cut and (in most modules) riveted together for the module base.  On top of the frame, a minimum of 2 layers of 2” foam insulation board provides the base for the scenery.  This makes for a lightweight module and allows us to get quite a few in our club trailer.

Below you’ll see basic power scheme for the layout.  You’ll also notice that there are two layout diagrams.  The small lines in the sections are representative of the modules.  When we set up the Large Layout, it incorporates all of the modules from the Small Layout.  The Section labels are for the power blocks.  The darker lines indicate Section Junction location.  If a short occurs in one section, the others will continue to function uninterrupted.