"Canyon Station" as a Japanese HN Module specification
Photo Gallery
Module Concept
This module is built based on my trips to the south western region of United States several times. In those areas, both American Narrow Gauge (914mm, 3 feet) and Standard Gauge (1,435mm) co-existed in the early 20th century. For example, Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) operated several railway lines in those days. Most model railroaders outside US do not know that such dual-gauge track existed in USA.
That's why this module has a dual-gauge portion, 16.5mm and 12mm tracks are used. In fact, 10.5mm track should be used for the 914mm track from fine-scale modeling standpoint. However, I intentionally selected 12mm track because I wanted to connect my existing HOm (12mm) layout I built before, so the use of 12mm track is not a simple mistake.
The module concept and background is the following - "a fictional Canyon Station is located in south western US where both Standard and American Narrow gauges co-existed. The station is located very close to fictional Canyon River. This station is the beginning of the narrow gauge railway line that connects to some scenic areas of the other side of the river. There is a small bridge maintenance workshop nearby station."
In my layout plan, this "Canyon Station" theme consists of three separate modules, the canyon bridge module, the bridge maintenance workshop module, and the station module. The bridge maintenance workshop module is completed so far and two modules will come later.
Please refer to the following link for the specification of the "HN module" in Japanese.
Building of the module
Step 1: Track and turnout selection
Turnouts from three different manufactures are used in this module, one from Shinohara, one from PECO, and three from Tillig. The above dual-gauge turnout with16.5mm and 12mm tracks is manufactured by Tillig.
Backside of the turnout
Since original turnout's frog portion is not powered, I modified it to the powered frog using supplementary power supply from Turtoise point motor. The powered frog part I build is shown below.
The separated frog with wiring.
Step 2: Module base building
Track base board
Trimmed track based board with holes.
Tracks are located on the track base board.
Wiring from the back side.
Track base board is put on the HN module base.
HN module base with wiring holes.
HN module base
HN module with four legs. The length: 1050mm and the breadth: 420mm
Step 3: Scenery creation
A big rock hill is built by the mix of middle rock part I created for another module before and many smaller plaster-made rocks
Small rocks are temporally placed around upper rock base.
Small rocks with IDs.
Upper rock base is supported by wood frames.
Allocated rocks are bonded by plaster
The rock hill before painting
The rock hill before painting
Ground surface details
Painted rock hill on the module
Track shoulder
Module end
Track painting
Step 5: Finishing
Ground surface painting
Completed module with trains
Completion of the Canyon Station module
In-module space for storing small parts in the case of hand carry
US Diesel Loco FP7 (red) and GP9 (yellow)
At the joint HN module club member meeting at Kyoto in 2017.
FP7 diesel loco is 16.5mm
This module is connected with my friend's
module that also provides the same dual gauge track. The dual gauge is not a part of HN module specification.
The bridge maintenance workshop with workers at lunch.
Swiss's Glacier Express of MGB, Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn, is on 12mm track
