# CLA Branch in Z Scale



## jargonlet (Dec 21, 2011)

I have finally acquired enough stuff to start working on my Z scale layout. I am hoping to have it ready to take to shows this fall. It is 3'x5' and has a double mainline, one of which is a folded figure 8 that loops around on an upper layer. I plan to run Norfolk Southern a few years after the Conrail split but with AZL releasing the ES44AC and the SD70ACE I will be running some more modern stuff sometimes based on what they actually release. It will be set somewhere in the eastern US but not any specific location.


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## /6 matt (Jul 7, 2015)

Looking pretty good! Are you going to implement any switching opportunities?


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## jargonlet (Dec 21, 2011)

I do plan to have some switches in the track plan but am still working that out. I have the track plans worked out for the mainlines but am still working on the sidings. I have one siding planned for sure and am going to do a pair of crossovers. I am handlaying #8 turnouts but since I changed my track plans a few times I may have to incorporate some micro trains turnouts to make stuff work in some of the tight spots.


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## jargonlet (Dec 21, 2011)

I realized that I had installed the foam grades opposite of where they should be. I was barely able to fit a 2% grade 1.25" high on a 3'x5'. I got one section of track played and do have some more but am waiting for some switches to finish the track work. I have a train show coming up in about a month I plan to debut it at even if it is just ballasted track and green grass. I plan to lay what track I have this weekend while we are snowed in.


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## RH1 (Jan 4, 2016)

Looks like a good start! Will be interesting to see how much you get done in a month...


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## jargonlet (Dec 21, 2011)

Tonight I got most of the track layed on the layout. I tested all of the solder joints where the flex track is joined and have a smooth connection when I run some of my American Z Line stuff over them. I won't be able to do anymore track work for a few more days. I also got started on the mountain. I went ahead and put the tunnel portals in place so that I could start on my landforms but will have to take them down when I paint the track. It's nice to get a perspective on how the layout looks with track that is side by side on level ground and also one going up and one going down. I used some leftover woodland scenics 2" risers to easily make the beginnings of the form of the mountain. I probably won't update for a couple of days as my plan for the next step is to start wiring the layout and to paint the tracks but who knows with being snowed in with this blizzard. My time is split between n scale and z scale but we will see.


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## /6 matt (Jul 7, 2015)

It's looking darn good. Can't wait to see this come along some more. What kind of equipment are you gonna run on this? Also out of curiosity whats the minimum radius on this?


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## jargonlet (Dec 21, 2011)

/6 matt said:


> It's looking darn good. Can't wait to see this come along some more. What kind of equipment are you gonna run on this? Also out of curiosity whats the minimum radius on this?


Thanks! I got most of the rest of the track laid last night. I am hopefully going to get the rest down tonight and get the landforms finalized so I can start on the fascia. I had originally planned on doing the mid 1950s but with everything in z scale there is a very limited selection I decided to do 1999 to current with my rolling stock. I keep buying modern n scale with the intentions to run them but only seem to run late 1940s. It seemed like a good time to make the switch since modern equipment is more readily available and starting on z scale I'm basically starting fresh. I have between 40 and 50 pieces of rolling stock and three Conrail SD70's.


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## jargonlet (Dec 21, 2011)

I also forgot, the minimum radius is 220mm which about 8 1/2". In addition I have about 20 pieces of rolling stock from the 1950s era and a AZL mikado. The mikado needs a 220mm radii to run and the sd70 needs a 195mm. I kept everything to a 220mm standard so that I could run anything currently made and probably anything that will be made. i used the micro trains road bed track to draw out the turns to keep everything nice and even. I don't know if I mentioned but I used woodland scenics grades to keep an even 2% on all grades.


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## jargonlet (Dec 21, 2011)

I was able to finish laying all of the mainline tracks tonight. I still have the sidings to do but I need some more flex track as I am down to one piece. I didn't get to working on the landforms tonight but I plan to do that and wire up the buss wire tomorrow night.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Awesome. That is the 'largest' and most complex Z scale layout I've seen.
There is often a small mostly simple z oval at train shows but nothing
that comes near to your work. Very nice. You must wear powerful
lenses to do all of that fine work.

Don


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## jargonlet (Dec 21, 2011)

DonR said:


> Awesome. That is the 'largest' and most complex Z scale layout I've seen.
> There is often a small mostly simple z oval at train shows but nothing
> that comes near to your work. Very nice. You must wear powerful
> lenses to do all of that fine work.
> ...


That is partially why I am building this layout. I would have liked to build it a bit bigger but with space constraints with transportation this was the biggest that I could do. 

I don't use any lenses or helpers of any type. Anything I do is just by what I can see.


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## Magic (Jan 28, 2014)

That's some great looking track work. Going to be a great layout when you are done. :appl: :appl: :appl:
Your eyes are much better than mine, I need powerful lenses and I'm doing HO. 

Magic


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## jargonlet (Dec 21, 2011)

I didn't get to work on any of the landforms but I did get both mainlines wired up and tested. Although I didn't get to do any extensive running I did get to run a few loops on each line and only have one rail joiner that needs redone as it's a little out of gauge. I have 15 days left until the show and the layouts debut.


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## jargonlet (Dec 21, 2011)

I finally got enough work done to post an update. Tonight I painted the entire layout brown with the exception of the grass I have put down which will need some touch up work. Also the siding looks like the ballast is a lot wider then the siding. I have some that was access that will get cleaned up.


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## jargonlet (Dec 21, 2011)

I will be scratch building a highway bridge to go here across the tracks. Hopefully I will get to this in the next couple of days. I will do the ballasting before I do that. I need to get the basic ground cover down before that. I like to do my ballasting after I get a bass scenery done.


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## jargonlet (Dec 21, 2011)

I got the fascia put up tonight. It's amazing how much weight the fascia adds. The seems went together really well. This is a big step as I can now get the mountain put together. The show is this weekend and I can work on the layout up to Thursday night.


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## jargonlet (Dec 21, 2011)

When I posted the size of the layout originally I said the layout was 3'x5'. I'm not sure why I thought that, probably a lack of sleep as I only get to work on this layout late at night. The actual dimensions are 2.5'x5'.


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## jargonlet (Dec 21, 2011)

I didn't get as much done before the show this past weekend but I did get it as ready as most of the z scale that I see at show. I think I am going to make a write up that I can hang on the side of the layout telling about z scale. I don't think a lot of the people knew that it wasn't n scale. We have another show coming up the second weekend of march. I am working strategically to get stuff accomplished before this show. 

As for the layout at the show, it was well recieved. It was the first time the majority of people had seen a z scale layout. Trains ran all week without derailment, uncoupling or stall. Here are some pictures from the show.


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## Mark VerMurlen (Aug 15, 2015)

Looks really good! Nice job!

Mark


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## HO LOVER (Nov 25, 2007)

Wow, looking forward to this when it is complete. I just got back into trains after selling all my HO stuff, going N gauge this time.


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## /6 matt (Jul 7, 2015)

Any progress on this? Ive been loving this layout.


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## jargonlet (Dec 21, 2011)

I have made some progress on the layout. I extended the mountain out of the hillside to divide the two halves of the layout. I also picked up a couple of backdrops that I need to add to the layout. I took it to a second show a few weeks after the first one. Things ran pretty well all weekend but it did have some minor running issues. The building was a lot warmer than home or the other show and I account the issues to that. I also need to get a couple of joints filed down a bit better. Some of the AZL covered hoppers were derailing and the Intermountain hoppers weren't. I think that they may need a little extra weight to match the Intermountain cars. 

I have not done much work on the layout since the last show. I had been putting in a lot of time almost everyday for a couple of months leading up to the first show. I wasn't getting burned out but I did need a break and had other non model train things to get done that I had put off. I have since started working on trains again but I foresee the possibility of a big move within the next year that would be a really good opportunity for me. I am currently trying to finish up all of my non layout projects (loco kits, rolling stock kits and kit bashes, structure kits). If the move would happen, I won't get to work on model trains much or any for a while. Night before last, I finished repainting and recalling 17 Kato Coalporters that I stripped and painted into Conrail livery. I have a bunch of projects to finish up and then I will turn my attention back to layout building. I need to post updated pictures of the layout. Unfortunately I didn't get any of the z scale at the last show. I was pretty busy between running the z scale and 14'x8' n scale layout with three main lines.


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## Tony35 (Mar 18, 2016)

This is going to be a nice little Z scale layout
Nice work so far


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## /6 matt (Jul 7, 2015)

Out of curiosity, what flex track did you use? I went looking at z scale track and had some sticker shock lol.

I'd love to see the progress whenever you get the chance man.


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## jargonlet (Dec 21, 2011)

The flex track is Micro Trains as are the turnouts. The turnouts have the roadbed like the rest of their track line. Unfortunately none of my turnouts are switchable since the glue got in the mechanism and screwed up the contacts. Everything was already down and ballasted at that point. Sticker price is a bit scary but I did almost the entire layout with three packs of flex track. The only that isn't flex is a couple of sidings. It's not that pricy when this 2.5'x5' layout is the same space scale wise as roughly an 8'x15' ho layout. I believe I mentioned it before but I will again. I used the itty bitty lines cork roadbed. It matches up perfectly with roadbed track and flex track. The double mainline track would be very hard to work with on curves since it is not cut in the middle and doesn't have provisions to split it in half.


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## jargonlet (Dec 21, 2011)

I still have not gotten around to getting pictures of the layout. I have been busy with other things. I recently got a large box of super trees and am making a ton of them for n scale and z scale. Here are a couple of pictures of the brass interlocking tower I built for the z scale layout.


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## jargonlet (Dec 21, 2011)

I have been off of the forum for quite awhile but I am back now. Since the last show that I had the layout at, I have had a transportation change. What this means for the layout is that I no longer have my own transportation for it. Due to the change in transportation I have not put any work into it since. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to tear the layout down and start over. By downsizing the layout from 2.5'x5' to 2'x4' I can transport it again. I spent some time doing some math. I can do the same track plan in the smaller space with a little less track and slightly smaller curves. My larger rolling stock like the SD70 will still run on this new radius. As long as I stay above 220mm I can run anything I want. I will keep 220mm as my minimum across the entire layout like before.

This was my first foray into z scale. Due to never doing z scale, I had some wasted space and some things that didn't work as well as I would have liked. Starting with a fresh slate is very refreshing. I was able to save all of my structures and 95%+ of my track. 

Currently the layout is in its' infancy. I have new bench work built with a layer of foam glued down. I am waiting for my cork roadbed to come in. It should be here early this week. I have been planning and am ready to start laying track once it comes in. In the mean time I have been going through my z scale collection to get everything in line for the layout. I have also been going through my structures and kits and working on those again. The tower was already built but I built these other two kits this week.


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## jargonlet (Dec 21, 2011)

I have not made any progress since my last post. I am still waiting on the cork roadbed to come in. That should be here on Wednesday of next week. The only progress made is that I cleaned up my old track and will be able to use almost all of it.


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