MRT SIG Topics

The following topics are examples of some of the areas that the MRT SIG will be involved with, along with some of the questions this SIG will attempt to answer. As these answers are provided, in the form of new pages in this MRT SIG Wiki, this page will be updated to include references to those pages, so you won't have to guess as to what is here, or how it is arranged.

The list of topics/categories mentioned here may be amended frequently.

3-D Printing

Questions related to this topic:

• What size printer do I need?
• What type of material is used in the printing process?
• What precautions do I need to take (ventilation, dust, heat)?
• Where do I get the designs of what I want to print?
• What software do I need to produce a 3-D printable file?
• What type of computer do I need?

Here's a listing of articles related to this topic:

• 3D Print Servers: A Method to Connect 3D printers to the network.
• More to be provided: Synopsis TBP

Ask a question or suggest an article to put here

Animation on the layout and in the rolling stock

Questions related to this topic:

• What types of devices are available for animating a railroad (e.g. Raspberry Pi, Arduino, others)?
• How do I connect these devices?
• Are they compatible with other devices?
• What type of power is used?
• Where would they be used?
• Where would they be installed?
• Are they weather resistant?

Here's a listing of articles related to this topic:

• To be provided: Synopsis TBP

Ask a question or suggest an article to put here

Lighting of the layout and rolling stock

Questions related to this topic:

• Basically the same questions as for animating a layout.

Here's a listing of articles related to this topic:

• To be provided: Synopsis TBP

Ask a question or suggest an article to put here

Batteries

Questions related to this topic:

• What types of batteries are there?
• How big are they?
• How long do they last and are they rechargable?
• What are the power outputs?
• What might be best for converting a track powered locomotive to battery power?

Here's a listing of articles related to this topic:

• To be provided: Synopsis TBP

Ask a question or suggest an article to put here

Transformers to provide power for track, buildings, and other features

Questions related to this topic:

• What types of transformers are there?
• How should they be hooked to my track?
• How do I block out sections of track with multiple transformers?
• How do I create a reverse loop on a powered track? (It should be mentioned here that Bridgewerks, https://bridgewerks.com/, and Mark Sauerwald, would be excellent sources of information on this topic.)

Here's a listing of articles related to this topic:

• To be provided: Synopsis TBP

Ask a question or suggest an article to put here

Locomotive engines, but also other rolling stock

Questions related to this topic:

• What types are there (Moguls, diesels, steam [coal or wood burners], electric, others)? (The Live Steam SIG, mailto:livesteam-sig@rcgrs.com, is more involved with locomotives that actually use steam as their motive source.)

Here's a listing of articles related to this topic:

• To be provided: Synopsis TBP

Ask a question or suggest an article to put here

Landscaping and layout design

Questions related to this topic:

• What are the considerations in designing a layout?
• How do I deal with the slope of my yard?
• What type of rock should I use for pathways and plants?
• What plants would work well in my layout? This is a biggy! Like what soil do they need, how much water, how much sun, can you walk on it, can you trim/prune it, what size it, how fast does it grow, ... ????

Here's a listing of articles related to this topic:

• To be provided: Synopsis TBP

Ask a question or suggest an article to put here

Weather concerns for buildings, rolling stock, controls, and other things

Questions related to this topic:

• What is the best way to prevent damage from rain, sun, wind?
• And animals? (And people, as long as we are here?)

Here's a listing of articles related to this topic:

• To be provided: Synopsis TBP

Ask a question or suggest an article to put here

Useful techniques for building, converting, maintaining all sorts of things, usually as a video or slideshow

Questions related to this topic:

• How do I mill lumber for my houses?
• What's the best way to paint my car or building?
• Videos on how to solder wire to a track or building.
• Slideshow of battery conversion steps (loco specific usually).

Here's a listing of articles related to this topic:

• Painting Plastic: Materials and steps to take in painting slick plastic, usually from model cars, trucks, etc.
• To be provided: Synopsis TBP

Suggest an article to put here

Pictures and videos

Questions related to this topic:

• How do I make a decent video or slideshow of pictures of my layout?
• What software is available to edit them, to include snippets and annotation?
• How do I mount a camera on the train or by the rails to take a decent video?
• How about using a drone with camera to take a video?

Here's a listing of articles related to this topic:

• To be provided: Synopsis TBP

Submit an article, pictures, videos, or other references to add to this wiki.

Miscellaneous

Questions related to this topic might be questions that crop up frequently in many conversations. Things that do not really impact the creation, maintenance, or operation of a layout, but are confusing, ambiguous, or simply not well defined. Such as:

• What scales are there?
• What gauges are there?
• What’s the best paint and structural material (plastic, wood, foam, cement, hypertufa) to use on a building or other structure?
• What would be the proper way to mix cement or hypertufa for a building or roadbed?
• How do I level a track – both laterally (side to side) and horizontally (the rise of a bridge or trestle)?

Here's a listing of articles related to this topic:

• To be provided: Synopsis TBP

Ask a question or suggest an article to put here

Wiki Article Development

Questions related to this topic:

• How do I create a new article or page here?
• What category or topic should my article be associated with?
• How do I link my article to files, images, and other articles or pages on the web?
• What other articles are there already that related to my article?

Here's a listing of articles related to this topic:

• Sample Article Structure: Provides a template of an article to be submitted to this wiki. Please provide comments/suggestions to improve it.
• Wiki Usage and Editing: Describes how to find or create a page in this wiki. Provides some help on setting up and editing the page.
• Link Reference in the Wiki: Describes how to link other web pages within your article.
• Wiki Help Simplified: This is a page of simplied(?) explanations of various aspects of the wiki and an attempt to organize and prioitize the help needed to produce an article.
• DErik's Test Page: I use this to test and experiment. You can create your own page to do this, but check out what I have done here. It might help. Be warned though. This redirects to DErik's Test Page Renamed.
• DErik's TOC Xprmnts: Trying various combinations of text, headers, and creating a table of contents to see how it affects getting a "preview" when you pass the mouse over an article link reference.
• More to be provided: Synopsis TBP

Ask a question or suggest an article to put here

Anything else?

Suggest other areas of technology to add to this wiki.

Many of the information articles and instructions will be written by the MRT SIG specifically for the RCGRS members. This will allow the SIG to focus on specific questions raised by the RCGRS members. And it will allow the articles and instructions to be embellished with additional information or examples to further clarify the methods or options, and to add graphics to enhance the understanding.

But in doing so, references may [need to] be made to other articles already prepared by other sources. These might include magazines articles (Garden Railways, Trains.com, other Kalmbach publications), other club newsletters, or vendor publications such as for 3-D printers or Arduino usage. These references my need authorization from the publisher or author, which will be obtained if necessary and possible. Otherwise this SIG will have to publish its own as best as it can.

Authors and Contributors

• Don Erikstrup
• Eric Timberlake

Please use the discussion tab above to leave a note or comment.
New or modified article by DErik (talk) being reviewed