Model Railway Forum

Hi all, newbie here. Back in 2002 I bought the Marklin 81460 Santa Fe Mini-Club Z gauge set. I actually bought it on a whim from a shop in Brussels airport selling all sorts of models and novelties. I was travelling every week for work and would always browse the shop and, look enviously at the Z gauge sets they had in there on my way home every Friday. One week I think my flight was delayed, there was a sale on and I’d had one too many beers at the airport bar. So I took the plunge and bought a set home with me! I bought the T1 track pack a couple of weeks later, set it up on the dining table and ran it a few times, then it was consigned to the wardrobe for the past 18 years.

Over the Christmas break I got to thinking about it, took it out of the wardrobe, dusted it off, set it up on the dining table and ran it for a while and, now I’m bitten by the bug again. I’ve always wanted a permanent layout but, before I was travelling for work every week and never had time. Now I work from home and have much more free time in the evenings and weekends (plus the occasional slow day at work) to work on a layout so I think it will happen this time.

I haven't worked out how to post images yet but as soon as I have I will post a track plan. I have a lot of questions. Firstly around base board materials and gradients but I will save them for the relevant forums.

Mod note: Topic moved to the Z gauge section of the forum.

Hi Milzee - welcome to the forum and welcome again to the hobby. Look forward to reading more of your layout development in due course. If you would like to show us how you are doing then open the reply box and use the Add Image to post link at the bottom left hand corner. If you get stuck let us know. R-

Thanks Rodger. I missed the image URL link. Here are a few pics of the table top set up. Start of a long journey I feel.

Welcome to the forum Milzee. It's an easy bug to catch, but also good fun. Friendly helpful bunch on here so any questions you may have feel free to ask away.

Welcome Milzee

Z gauge is tiny and you can pack a lot in to a small space.

Baseboards.. Always consider the baseboard to be the foundations of your layout. Much like the foundations of your house. Made poorly and the layout above will suffer. Made well and the layout will last a lifetime.
Gradients... Regardless of scale, consider 1 in 30 as the minimum and make the gradient shallower where a curve is included in the rise as these introduce more drag on the loco. (1 in 30 is whatever unit of measurement you wish to use - mm, cm or inches etc and 1 unit of rise requires 30 similar units of length)

Mod. Note: You may in the future like to start a new topic in the Z gauge forum area.

Thanks Brian. I think I will make sperate posts on build materials and gradients so everything doesn't get mixed up. The track plan I will be using is below. It’s not that complex but I want to focus on my scenery and accessories modelling skills. I looked at the T2 and T3 track packs and in my opinion they don’t add much to the middle of the layout – they just add extra loops. Also they are quite expensive and I want to save my budget for baseboard materials, scenery and accessories. I only paid about 100 EUR for the set back in 2002!

In terms of period my research says the Santa Fe ran through New Mexico in the 50’s and 60’s so to be true to the loco I’ll be attempting a semi-arid mountain/desert landscape with some derelict abandoned buildings and possibly a water feature. The plan is to have the sidings elevated into a cutting on the side of a mountain with a disused mine head next to them. The double track at the bottom will be a station section with a ghost town. The top left quarter of the main loop will be a tunnel under the mountain the sidings are cut into. I'd also like to run a river along the base of the mountain past the ghost town and under the elevated sidings with the siding going over a wooden truss bridge. Not sure about that last bit though.

Does all this sound too ambitious for a first attempt? I have some experience of building plastic kits (mostly cars and planes) and also did some wood and fibre glass modelling at a larger scale with radio controlled boats. I also mucked around with Linka a bit in my youth and am a bit of a Lego fanatic (I have the 6500 piece 4 foot Millennium Falcon in my lounge). Hopefully this mish mash of skills will give me a good starting point for this project but I think it will be a steep learning curve.

Welcome Milzee loads of knowledge on here. Just thinking what an incredible layout I could have on my baseboard if I used Z.

hi, i have z gauge, and up to now think i was the only one on this forum. Nice to have another. john

Welcome. I look forward to the development of the z-gauge layout.

Most problems that people have (gradients, scenery, fixing down track, baseboards, size, wiring and control) are probably solved the same way no matter the scale from z to 1:1 so ask away and someone will have encountered a similar problem and be able to offer as solution. Working in z scale may add extra problems, but the friendly crowd in here will be sure to offer possible solutions.

Welcome Milzee - You joined a great forum - lots of help, information and fun. BB