Tutorial for setting up custom gauge?

[boston1832]

Hi,

I’m attempting to master Templot for the umpteenth time and not getting too far. I’d really like to help myself get there but at the moment I don’t really know where to start looking. I want to design a small HOe layout, i.e. 3.5mm scale in 9mm gauge to represent a 760mm gauge Eurpoean railway. It’s similar, but not the same as 009 hence the templates for that won’t do.

I’d like to know if there’s a tutorial on the process of setting up a new gauge, i.e. setting the scale, sleeper sizes and spacing, track centres etc. and saving all the requisite details as my default.

I’ve just about mastered a (very) few of the basics using either the preset gauges or the sample 009 templates but it seems pointless progressing further unless I can produce something that’s actually to the dimensions I need.

Regards,

Chris

 

[Phil O]

Hi Chris,

Narrow gauge track and especially S & C is a mine field. 009 is n gauge track gauge (9mm) with roughly HO/00 scale sleeper and timbering. No two companies had the same standards.

If you have all the prototype information for your particular railway, then it's fairly straightforward to produce a few library templates for your requirements.

I believe that there is the odd tutorial or two on here for producing templates to a specific gauge and/or scale.

If you have the information, I'm willing to take a look at it, for you.

 

[Martin Wynne]

Hi,

I’m attempting to master Templot for the umpteenth time and not getting too far. I’d really like to help myself get there but at the moment I don’t really know where to start looking. I want to design a small HOe layout, i.e. 3.5mm scale in 9mm gauge to represent a 760mm gauge European railway. It’s similar, but not the same as 009 hence the templates for that won’t do.

I’d like to know if there’s a tutorial on the process of setting up a new gauge, i.e. setting the scale, sleeper sizes and spacing, track centres etc. and saving all the requisite details as my default.

I’ve just about mastered a (very) few of the basics using either the preset gauges or the sample 009 templates but it seems pointless progressing further unless I can produce something that’s actually to the dimensions I need.

Regards,

Chris

@boston1832

Hi Chris,

Welcome to Templot Club.

There isn't an up-to-date tutorial for creating a custom narrow-gauge template. But here is an old one from 2008, with a video (silent), and some notes explaining it:

See: https://85a.uk/templot/archive/topics/topic_376.php

After 16 years a lot of the video screenshots will be out-of-date, but most of it still works exactly the same.

Bear in mind that Templot defaults to UK bullhead track, so European flat-bottom track will require a great many changes. You will need to have all your prototype data to hand. The video is for 7mm/ft scale and 2ft gauge, so you will need to change those settings to match your requirements. If you get stuck just ask on here.

cheers,

Martin.

 

[boston1832]

Thanks @Phil O and @Martin Wynne - much appreciated. I realise that the "standards" for NG are basically a different one for every company, and data for my prototype (the Yugoslav JZ system) is very thin on the ground despite there being a number of substantial books describing the system which had a network of several hundred miles of main line. I've enquired on the main German-langauge NG modelling forum but even there nobody seems to have much accurate information, so my priority is to make up something that looks right and runs well.

Their rail section is tolerably close to 2mm Scale Association code 40 FB and I have a sleeper length, but have had to assume a sleeper width of 215mm for standard sleepers and 250mm for turnout timbers (based on UK 2'6" gauge practice from lines with similar axle loadings, which was the only data I could find). In reality the difference in 1:87 will be imperceptible, so I'm doubtful that it's worth differentiating. Stock will mostly run on Liliput/Roco/Bemo running gear which seems to be a) pretty consistent and b) fine enough to be happy on the test pieces of code 40 FB track I've assembled.

I'll have a look at the video and see how far it takes me towards my objective, but I'm sure I may need to ask a few questions. One of the concepts I don't understand is the relationship between the gauge table and imported sample templates. I have sample 009 templates that I've been playing around with, but that gauge is not listed in the gauge table in Templot. How does that work? Do the sample templates have a gauge identifier and if so, where's it set? Is it possible to create a gauge from these and add it to the list?

If nothing else, I've learnt what "RF" means today!

Thanks again,

Chris

 

[Martin Wynne]

I have sample 009 templates that I've been playing around with, but that gauge is not listed in the gauge table in Templot. How does that work? Do the sample templates have a gauge identifier and if so, where's it set? Is it possible to create a gauge from these and add it to the list?

@boston1832

Hi Chris,

To create a custom scale/gauge setting, click one of the set custom ... buttons:

You can have up to 4 different custom settings. After setting a designation name and some basic dimensions for scale and gauge, it will appear in one of the 4 custom slots at the bottom of the gauge list. You can click that item to get an initial new template.

However, the list is just a convenient collection of initial pre-sets. Most of the settings in Templot are template-specific. i.e. each template can have its own setting. Even for the track gauge. The only settings which can't be changed other than via the gauge list are the designation name and the model scale.

What happens in practice is that you make your settings for say the timber width, etc., and then store a library template which is subsequently saved in a BOX file. When at a future date you want to use the same settings you load the BOX file and copy the required library template into the control template, ready for future work. There is no need to go back to the list of pre-sets.

cheers,

Martin.

 

[boston1832]

What happens in practice is that you make your settings for say the timber width, etc., and then store a library template which is subsequently saved in a BOX file. When at a future date you want to use the same settings you load the BOX file and copy the required library template into the control template, ready for future work. There is no need to go back to the list of pre-sets.

Hi Martin,

Thanks for your explanation and continued patience. I suspect my understanding is coloured by a lifetime as a software developer and the conventions that come with that - I was viewing the "gauge" as an entity which had templates associated with it whose properties were governed by that entity. You're saying - I think - that the gauge is a set of parameters whose current values will be used to stamp out the next template and can be changed at any time between templates, which makes sense now.

I need to refresh my understanding of the storage of the templates and how a Box relates to what I'd think of as a "project" in conventional developer-speak. I've skimmed over this to get onto layout design but suspect that I've missed a lot in the process. The 2mm Association video series seemed to go into this in detail and I foolishly didn't pay a great deal of attention to that part.

 

[Martin Wynne]

@boston1832

Hi Chris,

I'm a toolmaker and hobby programmer, not a software professional. Explaining Templot to one always causes me some alarm.

There was never an overall design or concept for Templot. It just grew over 40 years as I needed bits of code to do things for me.

If you haven't seen them, these two pages may help:

https://85a.uk/templot/companion/origins_intent.php

https://85a.uk/templot/companion/basic_working_methods.php

cheers,

Martin.

 

[boston1832]

@boston1832

Hi Chris,

I'm a toolmaker and hobby programmer, not a software professional. Explaining Templot to one always causes me some alarm.

There was never an overall design or concept for Templot. It just grew over 40 years as I needed bits of code to do things for me.

If you haven't seen them, these two pages may help:

https://85a.uk/templot/companion/origins_intent.php

https://85a.uk/templot/companion/basic_working_methods.php

cheers,

Martin.

Hi Martin,

Thanks for that. It’s always interesting to see other disciplines approach software development as it’s sometimes the victim of sledgehammer/nut issues, rather than what you’ve done here which is the Do One Thing Well philosophy (which was one of the original Unix development mantras, I believe).

The links are very informative and the second one particularly useful in getting to grips with the philosophy. I suspect that working through it myself will make me a good deal more comfortable with the concepts.