The Hunting Hill Portable Railway Practical Use

This is a guide to use of the HHR. The guide is intended to be self-standing, and not require other reference material for usefulness. Another railway description exists and contains information not included here; but much of that information is not directed at what is needed for erection and operation of the railway, thus is not necessary for the railway user. So this guide addresses praxis, rather than design or construction.

A user of the railway is encouraged to comprehend what is here before erecting hardware; some of the contents of the guide have been learnt the hard way. The key pay-off of following this guide is the avoidance of misteaks and hardware damage.

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This guide is not complete and comprehensive, which was an original objective; it may be expanded. However, what is here is deemed to be useful information.

Damage - a general comment
Configuration - deciding on what trackplan to erect, determining the horizontal extent of the railway, i.e., how much space is required
Site - considering where the railway is erected, mainly vertical undulation considerations
Racks - unloading and loading modules
Erection - how to set-up and take-down a railway
Operation - procedural guidelines, operational types of track, where and when to light up

The railway is configurable. Deciding which configuration to erect is the first step of use. The constraints are the space available, and the modules available. All the configurations shown in the trackplans that follow are possible with existing modules.

The space required depends on which railway configuration is to be erected, together with whatever space is deemed necessary for human access.

The availability of modules, usually the lack of them, is because of a frustrating reality. After construction of the railway to the state implied by this use guide, the module construction procedure is well established, and a whole set of jigs and fixtures exists. Thus, making a module, although not trivial, is not difficult either. The frustrating reality problem is the storage and transportation of modules once they exist. Storage means permanent, year-round, space; and transportation means adequately roomy vehicles and non-damaging restraints for the hardware. Originally unanticipated in their significance, storage and transportation have become bêtes noires that inhibit further manufacture and the consequent availability of modules.

If just a couple of people are running trains, then steam can be raised on the main tracks; sidings are not necessary; and railway preparation time is minimized. All that is needed is the basic oval, configuration P, as shown in the image below. This trackplan shows the modules needed, and also shows that the overall space required is 43 by 31 feet. The trackplan is identified in its bottom left corner, and the ticks are one foot and ten feet markers. Click on the image.

All the existing modules are labelled uniquely and the trackplan shows how they fit together. Arbitrary assembly order is possible, in a similar way as that of a beginner's H0 train set. Thus, there exist ten double track curved modules labelled 201-210; these are used in the places labelled 2nn on the trackplan. Other modules are unique, for example junction 904. Curves 602 and 604 are identical, interchangable, single track curved modules. Both oval tracks are dual gauge, the outer track G3 and G1, the inner G1 and G0.

All of the junctions are single track modules. On the trackplan, these junctions each are paired with a single track curved module, e.g., 901 with 601 or 603. Taken as a pair, these two modules have the same interface footprint as a single double track curved module, i.e., a 2nn. Thus, since the junctions have no actual track-switching function in configuration P, their positions in the oval are not critical and can be swapped with those of 2nn modules. For the module availability reason described already, it is necessary to use junction modules in configuration P simply because only ten 2nn modules have been made.

Configuration P can be made smaller by omitting the two 1nn straights. The space required envelope then becomes 37 by 31 feet.

If operations get busier, then it makes sense for the trackwork to become more complex. These images show the module trackplan for the basic oval with the addition of two steamup sidings, configuration A, and the inner track steamup siding in use at a train show.

There are other things to note. One is that the straights in the sidings can be in any order; their positioning on the trackplan is arbitrary. Also, as for configuration P, configuration A can be made smaller by omitting modules: the two 1nn straights, ISn, and OSn. This works because all four of these modules are the same length, nominally six feet. Conversely, the opposite process of making the oval straights longer, requires four additional modules, two for the oval (which exist), and two for the sidings (which do not exist).

Configuration F shows two further modifications to the basic oval. One is the simple change of putting both steamup sidings on one side of the oval. The second modification is the addition of staging sidings. Staging sidings remove train consist assembly from the live train action; and provide train preparation space and storage until the trains are needed for steamup. The sidings in configuration F clearly could be improved with more junctions and spurs; however, what is shown can be assembled from existing modules.

Configuration U shows another modification: positioning the steamup and staging sidings on the curved ends of the oval, rather than along the straight sides. This change permits extension of the oval straights by adding modules, but without affecting other trackwork such as the length of the sidings. There are four extra 1nn modules; adding these, two per side, extends the straights in the oval from six feet to eighteen feet. The steamup sidings, although shorter than in the configurations above, are quite adequate for normal operations; and the unused siding modules are utilized as staging modules.

Configuration U has a slightly scattered structure. The reasons for this are a hesitancy to make more modules because of the storage and transportation problem; and also of the configuration's use of all modules made to date. This re-use and re-purposing includes prototype modules P1, P2, and P3, made as test-of-concept pieces prior to commitment to making the railway; module BS1, a junction salvaged from a garden railway and converted to a module that fits this railway; and ISM, which was made obsolete as a result of a design conceptual shift. Despite this unkempt design, initial uses indicate that configuration U is good and practical for busy use such as at a train show.

The information in this section is intended to guide configuration choice. In summary, since the basic oval is essentially constant, choosing a configuration reduces to placement of the four junctions {901 902 903 904} within the oval. The positions of these junctions determine where sidings can be placed. After oval erection, the railway is usable whether or not siding modules actually are put in place. And siding usefulness will depend on the demand for track time.

The sidings shown in all the configuration trackplans have both entry and exit junctions, rather than being spur sidings. For this pass-through capability, the junctions must be sited so that there is a 67.5° angle between 901 and 903 for an outer siding, and between 902 and 904 for an inner siding. This angle is generated by three 2nn mainline constant curve modules, which can be seen by study of the configuration trackplans. A crucial wrinkle to note is that each 3nn transition module has an 11.25° turn, which is half of the 22.5° turn of a 2nn module. The length of each siding, and its module makeup, is dependent on the length of the mainline oval between the siding's entry and exit junctions; and this length varies with the choice of erected configuration. Of the trackplans shown, only configuration U can have both extended straights and pass-through sidings, due to a lack of manufactured siding modules. Other configurations shown here can have extended straights, but their sidings must be spurs.

Clearly, the site for a chosen configuration must be sufficiently long and wide. However, consideration also must be given to vertical changes on the site. The floor of a room in a building will be largely flat and level, but may have a dividing step and two levels; an outside site may be sloping or undulating. The portable railway separates the module topside design of railway trackwork from the module underside design of physical support. And this separation provides flexibility that can accomodate significant site vertical variances. Modules have a number of 1-1/8 inch diameter sockets, usually six, as part of their underside physical structure; these sockets are intended to be used to support the module by any practical method.

The normal supports for the railway are adjustable telescoping legs that plug into the module sockets. These telescoping legs allow a track height from the ground in the approximate range two feet to three and a half feet. This flexibility allows both choice of nominal railway deck height, and accommodation of site undulations within the range capability.

If the railway is erected on grass, or any other potentially squishy surface, wood pads, or other load spreaders, are worthwhile. The telescoping legs have small feet that can sink into the ground overnight, nullifying initial levelling efforts, and requiring later clean-up of the feet; both of which are a nuisance. The image shows erection on a site which used the full range of height adjustment, and, unseen, some wood pads under some of the legs.

The totality of modules that have been made to date are stored on three storage racks. These modules all are shown on the configuration U trackplan. Each rack comprises a wheeled cart and two ladders, one at each end of the cart. The ladders are built up from individual rungs that plug together around two thin columns that form the sides of the ladder. Each module rests on two rungs, one rung in each ladder. The rungs comprise two "chimneys" and a horizontal support beam; the chimneys transmit the weight of the modules down to the base of the rack.

This structure has proved to be successful, but is not without weaknesses. In particular, the ladder structure is light, and strong enough for its purpose, but does succumb to rough handling, resulting in bent components or broken glue joints.

Personal instruction is best for learning unloading and loading the racks. 

Personal instruction is best for learning how to set-up and take-down a railway. Unintended damage, requiring workshop repair, has been a problem.

Operating The Hunting Hill Portable Railway

These notes make suggestions about how to think about and operate the HHR. The busier it gets, the more useful the concepts become.

The railway comprises four operational types of track: the blue running oval is obvious; the other three, steamup, staging, and transition junctions, need a little thought.

Given the dynamic conditions of running trains, the guides that follow are breakable rules. Other than safety considerations, the objective throughout is simply to keep the trains running.

• A train on a running track should be running, or in transition to a siding.
• A train on a steamup siding should have its fire lit, or ready to be lit. The train should be ready to take over its running track as soon as the track is available.
• The staging sidings are for train preparation. In particular, no fire should be lit in a staging area.
• A stationary train should not be parked on a junction unless that is unavoidable due to train length.

• The top priority should be given to train transitions between the running tracks and the steamup sidings.
• The next priority is to clear a train that has completed running from a steamup siding, and get a new ready-to-go train into position.

For busy operation, there should be more staging sidings; but that means making more modules, more legs, and another storage rack. Hmmmm. On the left is Early On: But then on the right it Got Bigger: