As I was about to really get into starting the new Forest End module construction, out from left field came an idea that the members of Cascade-Z-Modelers might want to start developing table-top modules similar to those recently covered in the June 2016 issue of Model Railroader magazine. The magazine covered building of T-Trak-N modules and provided plenty of inspiration with the dozen modules that they built up and shot for the Trackside photos section of the issue. After a bit of research, I quickly discovered the t-trak.org website and its set of proposed standards, including a standard for Z-scale modules.
Not one to leave anything alone, I immediately proceeded to develop a variant of the standard that increased the module somewhat to create a somewhat more useful basic module canvas taking the T-Trak-Z module width up from 330 mm to 440 mm, and the depth up from 11.25" to 13.6". The depth dimension was influenced by my decision as well to increase the common corner track radii from T-Trak-Z's 195 mm / 220 mm up to 245 mm / 270 mm since Rokuhan track comes in larger radii than Micro Trains track. The basic module seen here includes the two 440 mm long mainlines and a magnetically attached backdrop made with an artist board and initially painted with a sky blue color.
Another fundamental change that I made was to design the overall presentation of these modules in a configuration whereby the sceniced modules were all outwardly facing while a backside set of utility modules connect up to create the free-running loop. Below is an illustration of this concept showing the backside modules providing a simple staging area for each mainline.
You might have noticed that the radii of the backside corners are slightly smaller, specifically they are 220 mm and 245 mm. This is intentional to reduce the overall depth of the configuration for a more comfortable fit on typical convention display tables. In the end, I actually built up two modules as end modules complete with 180 degree returns. Such end modules will always be the end caps for whatever configuration we ultimately build up, even arrangements with additional corners to create L, U and other configurations.
After having some basic modules for only a week or so, we collected together to attend the 2016 Clamshell Railroad Days event in Ilwaco, WA. The following images sample what we had running even though it is clear that much more work would be needed to bring them up to Model Railroader magazine standards :o). With the next show many months off, the team now has some quality time available to them to really have some fun with these - so far, seven basic modules have already been adopted with at least a few more requested so far.
