Trackers in the Black Hall

Thanks Bob, Matt, Steve, Matthew, Justin, and all of the other Trackers involved!  It's shaping up to be a fabulous layout! 

I agree with Bill!  Thanks to all you folks for your hard work and dedication to providing a special treat for all of us fortunate enough to be at this York Meet.

Question for the Trackers.

There is not one set type of track that has to be used on the modules to make them match up? From the pics I can see a few different types.

The standard is for tubular track, Lionel or equivalent (such as K-line. I know many prefer the K-line track as the ties are plastic eliminating insulators that may wear or go bad causing issues). Other track is optional. Standards are currently being updated and spruced up. Members with non-tubular track are to provide transition pins/track. 

I don't have the Tinplate Trackers module standards memorized, but the National Capital Trackers standards seem to be about the same.

Is that so?

The NCT standards are based on the Tinplate Tracker standards, but allow a lot more variation. As SJC mentions we have a committee addressing updating the standards. We have already implemented changes to the wiring. (Stop by and see our new wiring harness.) The Trackers are probably the only O gauge modular group that allow you to run any track, you can see tubular, fastrack, realtrax, Atlas, Gargraves, Ross and possibly some others all in the same layout. Because of 25 years of the sins of anything goes we are trying to tighten up a bit, it will be a challenge but it should make things operate smoother.

Steve

Matt I wish the forum had a like button cause I'd like your response!!! 

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

I'M PACKED AND LOADED!! CRAMMED INTO ONE NISSAN SENTRA IS THE FOLLOWING!!! 

100 MTH/Lionel/Atlas freight cars

Milwaukee Road F7 ABA

Northern Pacific F3 ABA

Northern Pacific GP9s

Weaver Milwaukee Road Baltic 

Milwaukee Road Little Joe

Milwaukee Road scale passenger set

AND....

I can tie down my beloved Milwaukee Road 261 by Lionel onto the hood of the car!!    

Are we ready for long trains!!!!! I won't be able to sleep tonight!! 

The forum does have a like button now. Regardless, even though I have zero time in on the planning and execution of this event (saving my man hours for being a watchman, train runner, and tear down guy on Saturday), I would probably be banned from the forum if I posted what I really thought regarding that post. 

PANAGOS!!! We're racing trains on Friday!! I decided on early Milwaukee Road because if I brought my 70's Milwaukee Road I'd have to model derailments out west. Kind of like the Penn Central modeler! 

Just found it bro!! 

Matt!! Any pictures of one of my spectacular crashes?!? I've had a couple of memorable ones! 

This has been a super thread, and I am really looking forward to next weeks

pictures,   what about this wiring, harness, will this secret be let out

to forum , later on ??? ( does this help, under the layout wiring),  thanks a bunch

gentlemen,  I wish I could be there!!

Trackers layout is phenomenal.  If you didn't get to see it today, or even if you did, go see it tomorrow.  

There is no secret, we have one on display in the Black Hall you can even take a picture of it. It is 8 wires 12AWG with Anderson PowerPole connectors.  I'll post the document when I get home.

Steve

It was awesome!!!!!

Peter

One INCREDIBLE layout!! 

Wow!  A must see!!!

Never seen a "portable" layout like it.

What a fabulous layout, I was able to get away from my booth in the orange hall for a few minutes. I wound up staying in the black hall for 40 minutes, it was worth every second. I also wanted to say I'm honored to be friends with Bill, he is one of the nicest guy's I've ever met. 

Alex

Thanks to everyone who came to see us. We were busy the entire meet, almost all the way to 2:00 on Saturday, stacked up 2 deep at times, especially friday.

Wonderful layout!  Definitely made for some interesting train watching with it not being just a big loop!

Andy

Thank you to the Trackers for setting up the layout. Althought for train guys it is a labor of love, it is still a great deal of work and I could tell everyone really enjoyed it.  Thank you again.

The best Tracker layout I have ever seen...great job guys!

Love the Civil War scene!!!    Enormous layout!!!!!!!  TANKs!!!!!

Really loved it.....thank you again.......I will post my pics at an upcoming Photo Fun, to help us get through "York withdrawal".

Peter

Two words: awesome. 

OK, that's one word, two syllables.  Still applies.

Definitely a first rate--and huge--layout.  A "must see" for anyone who has the opportunity.

Loved seeing your layout. Everybody would love to have a layout that size. Thanks again for going and setting up at York. Keep up the good work.

David

The diorama of the civil war was absolutely incredible!  Thank you Trackers my wife and I enjoyed it very much!

NatCap was using the original standards. I think they were linked to my personal site where I keep an archive of the original standards. Even back then (now over 20 years) variations were allowed within module sets, but the interface at the ends of the set had to meet the 8.5-inch mainline spacing. Several operators had Gargraves track, but used adapter pins to mate up with the tubular.

The standards are at http://home.earthlink.net/~mcjackson/TTManual.htm for reference.