One of the Smallest T Gauge Model Railway Layouts with Self-Propelled Model Trains by Martin Kaselis

We know that the most popular scale of model railways in the world is HO scale. It is a rail transport modelling scale using a 1/87 scale. We also know that model railroading is still possible in much smaller scales. Some railway modellers have concentrated on N scale (1/160) and some model railroaders have entered miniature worlds in Z scale (1/220). In recent years, a much smaller scale for model trains has emerged, namely T gauge (1/450 or 1/480). All over the world, there are real masters who are building model rail layouts in this tiny scale.
In this video, Martin Kaselis, a railway enthusiast from Australia, presents his tiny world of T gauge model trains. The special feature of his model railway is not only the small scale, but also the highly technical drive system of the model trains, which is based on electromagnetic induction.
His model train layout is called “Malmsbury”. Malmsbury is a minor station, about 100 km north of Melbourne, Australia. It has some local fame due to the nearby viaduct, called the “Malmsbury Railway Viaduct”, which although small by European standards is the largest masonry viaduct in Australia. The line was constructed in the 1860s and was the only country line in Australia built to British mainline standards.
The model railway layout built by Martin Kaselis is 6 feet by 2 feet (approximately 1.8 m x 0.6 m). It is a fairly accurate representation of the location, with the station and viaduct fitting with no compression. On Pilentum’s website, you will find a satellite image taken by Google Earth that illustrates the area around Malmsbury station.
The chosen time period on Martin’s model train layout is around 1960 at the end of steam, on the Victorian Railways. Some of the trains are from slightly earlier or later periods. The track plan is a simple double track oval with half the track hidden behind the backscene. It is a fully automated exhibition layout, with eight trains taking their turn in the scenic section.
All the trains and structures are 3D printed on a basic Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printer in thermoplastic polymer. Furthermore, the 3D printed model trains contain printed paper sides for the carriage and wagon details.
Instead of conventional propulsion, the model trains are driven by a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) motor. For all those who are not familiar with this technology, it should be mentioned that the PCB serves as the motor components’ mechanical structure, electrical connection and housing. This technology operates on the principle of electromagnetic induction, where the interaction between the rotor and stator magnetic fields generates rotational motion.
Using a PCB linear motor system to propel small scale model trains offers a very different set of capabilities and possibilities than conventional drive systems. The technology is proving to be very effective for those models in T gauge, avoiding the usual problems of unreliable mechanisms and poor electrical pickup between the rails and wheels.
The track is built from sections that are electronic circuit boards with many small coils of wire. Martin’s model trains are basically just lumps of plastic with modern neodymium magnets on the underside. Self-adhesive label paper with suitable artwork provides a smooth running surface and a better appearance than the bare track. The coils are wired as three interleaved sets, and as each set is powered in turn all the vehicles move along by a fixed distance.
The main benefits of using PCB linear motors are that there are no problems with dirty track or wheels, reliability is excellent, it allows low speeds and long trains, and automation is very easy. The main drawbacks are that there are no wheels or rails so the models just slide along a flat surface, the motion is slightly jerky, trains cannot pass too close to one another due to their powerful magnets, and the electrics get complicated when turnouts are added.
One disadvantage for Pilentum’s viewers is that buzzing and humming sound generated by the trains and by the PCB linear motor system. Because the sound is annoying on the one hand, but absolutely authentic on the other, Pilentum decided to dub the sound of the video partly with music.
You have to know, the combination of track and train makes an electric motor with a lot of very loose, rattling parts. The volume drops suddenly as the visible train advances because several other trains are repositioning themselves behind the backscene at the fiddle yard. When they reach their correct places, only the train at the front continues to move.
Martin Kaselis Website
modelrailmusings.weebly.com
PCB Linear Motors for Model Trains
hackaday.io/project/185347-pc...
Martin Kaselis KZbin Channel
/ @modelrailmusings5981
Video Chapters
00:00 Pilentum’s Intro
00:19 Introduction
05:12 Model trains driven by electromagnetic induction
28:31 Overall view and fiddle yard

[@kanukistani2984]

Sounds like a 1980's PAC man game. Its impressive that so much detail can be fit into a scene as small as this one! That said, its hard for me to truly appreciate a train set that has no rails and needs a microscope to watch. Just a personal preference though. For what it is its pretty cool.

[@VauxhallRailfan]

Crikey that’s small Also for the people below, is that all the information you get from this video?? Not the fact this is so tiny and still looks awesome??

[@maximumengineering5419]

Would love to see the staging yard and related movement that gets the next train queued up. A peek behind the curtain, if you will…

[@modelrailmusings5981]

Right at the end of the video...

[@maximumengineering5419]

I guess I gave up too soon. Thanks. I did watch the end. A few times…

[@shazam6274]

A nice "Hand of God" shot at the end would really put the size in perspective !

[@valentinsn-ostalgiemodellbahn]

Just amazing, how this masterpieece works! The layout is incredibly detailled for such a small scale!

[@BayernMoba]

Sensationell 👏👏👏👏👍👍👍👍♥️

[@plamoanddiorama8528]

Interesting new development of techniques! This hobby keeps amazing me with new stuff since I got back into it a year ago.

[@ronniebrown9379]

The technology isn't new. They've been using magnetic propulsion for years on monorails and high-speed trains.

[@Demun1649]

@@ronniebrown9379 Yes, but that is in 1:1 scale, not 1/450.

[@zygmundzygmundowski]

Great stuff!

[@PierreMAILLET-gs6xm]

C'est beau un train. Tchou! tchou! le p'tit train !

[@SB5SimulationsFerroviairesEEP]

Very Good! Stéph.

[@peterfair8544]

A True Creator - Scale Time & Colour Science + Art of sitting still 💗

[@paulusthegrey]

Ingenious!

[@user-hu6mw4ez3v]

Милые крошки!!!

[@Demun1649]

Translated as "Dear little ones!!!" 👍👍👍👌👌👌

[@SouthDown]

I'll need to look up the technology to understand how this works, but the results is remarkable.

[@user-br9hv5ku2o]

Super layout and amazing what can be achieved in such a small space. Some overall shots of the layout to show how small it is relative to the real world around it would've been good and as a modeller I always like to see staging yards and under layout shots.

[@modelrailmusings5981]

There is a short sequence at the very end that covers two out of those three, and one of my own vids is a short how-it-was-made montage that covers the third at kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqnYhZx5h9uJiaM

[@Demun1649]

To be truthful, the buzzing and various scales of noises, is much more preferable to the dubbed MUZAK. It is THERE, the MUZAK isn't. You don't dub over the top of the DCC noises of horns, diesel start-ups, that disturb the ambience of so many model railway exhibitions. Martin is a pioneer, and is developing ideas, and solutions, that other scales will, eventually, wake up to.

[@Romin.777]

Nice tech for a sort of car system in H0. :) Littlebit of weird sounding space age cars though..

[@stevenkarnisky411]

Scenic possibilities are wonderful! Whole railroads/ railways could be modeled with entire cities. I would be bored with the limited possibilities for switching/shunting and being unable to have more than one train at a ttime on display.

[@modelrailmusings5981]

This one was designed as a very simple watch-the-trains-go-by layout. I take a pair of layouts at a time to shows, so one of them has to be simple enough to look after itself. The layout before this one has 3 sidings, with the automation having trains pick up and drop off cars. The next one to be finished is a steam era terminus, where every train has to shunt and be turned, again automatically.

[@thetessellater9163]

What is that giant silver disc up on the hill above the station?

[@Demun1649]

It's the Bank of Australia!!

[@johnnyeveritt5695]

Agreed : Me too. Maybe I can get clarification from someone but really ... What is the POINT ? And there we thought that Z-Scale was bordering on the Lunatic-Fringe ! 😳🙄

[@Demun1649]

But us T'ers are the nice end of the Utterly Crazy Gang.

[@modelrailmusings5981]

Popular opinion has it that all model railway people are crazy. But seriously, this is an exhibition layout designed to show a series of trains running through wide open countryside, as a deliberate contrast to most large scale layouts that have a much higher track-to-scenery ratio. Every country's modellers have their own common style of exhibition layout (US=modular, UK=terminus-to-fiddle-yard, etc), and this intentionally breaks that mold. Visitors to those shows pay to see a good variety of layouts, so having something really different is a big plus. Also, I exhibit my layouts in pairs, so one really has to be simple enough to look after itself while I keep an eye on the more complex one (i.e. the one doing the automated switching/shunting). I build about one layout a year, and this one fills another role as a testbed for the complex backscene and large number of structures on the next one.

[@douglasreiche4649]

Okay. So I watched this video. Everything is going in a straight line. What happens when you come to a corner or you want to turn around?

[@pilentum]

I guess, that's impossible.

[@AtomicVisionary]

It's a really neat scale, but it's too small for me to work with. So I'll stick with N scale and N gauge.

[@danhilts3069]

Why no train on the track under the viaduct?

[@modelrailmusings5981]

The viaduct crosses a small river and a water-supply aqueduct, not another railway.

[@PierreMAILLET-gs6xm]

FFF c'est aussi un groupe français.

[@user-ci8hq4nk9e]

우리나라 옛날 수인협궤열차 디젤동차다

[@PeckhamHall]

T gauge is on rails, I thought. Is this 1/1000 and not 1/450?

[@modelrailmusings5981]

You are correct that conventional T Gauge is just like other scales that way, only smaller, and yes, with proper wheels running on proper rails. This one is a completely different approach that avoids the reliability, maintenance and running issues that are that system's weak point, but at the cost of having to give up those proper wheels and rails. The track doesn't actually care about the scale, as long as the size and weight of the models is within certain limits, and the 1:480 used on this layout is basically the sweet spot for trains. I have also used it down to 1:720 and up to narrow gauge 1:220.

[@PeckhamHall]

@@modelrailmusings5981 so it is T scale on nano gauge?

[@modelrailmusings5981]

@@PeckhamHall I suppose you could say so, but "nano" is not a recognised gauge or scale. Their 1:1000 figure was basically plucked out of a hat. Their models don't actually represent a real prototype, and by size they would probably be more like 1:700 or 1:800 anyway.

[@PeckhamHall]

@@modelrailmusings5981 cheers for replying, my friend. 😊 thanks

[@user-ci8hq4nk9e]

비둘기호

[@patriksiegfried5050]

A cette échelle, je préfère quand même avec des vrais rails... c'est un peu trop clair ces rails, ça manque de relief

[@lescobrandon3047]

No more T scale for me. I came back to my apartment and found that my loco and cars were gone. I called police about the burglary. Then one nasty cop talked to the cleaning lady and found my train in the vacuum cleaner bag. Kidding.

[@squeaksvids5886]

I’ve a T gauge HST that actually uses conventional electrified rails.

[@everettthepetractionguy4222]

I'll stick with HO scale. 😂

[@Demun1649]

You won't be able to run trains with 15 coaches, or freight with over 30 wagons.

[@modelrailmusings5981]

The scenic area on this one is equivalent to 33' x 8' in HO, and I was able to model the whole area with no compression - a luxury that is very hard to come by in the larger scales.

[@Demun1649]

@@modelrailmusings5981 Boom, Boom.

[@Romin.777]

​@@Demun1649No problem with Märklin from the 60's

[@Demun1649]

@@Romin.777 What scale, and did you do it? Or see it done at an exhibition on a large layout?

[@tompekarna]

this background 'music' is unnecessary

[@cornfield755]

A Coin for scale is, in my opinion, an overused and frankly unhelpful metric. You actually had a ruler in your thumbnail, which led me to believe I could watch this video in relative peace. This is clearly something I get over-exercised on, I must learn to relax. From what I could enjoy in the first 47 seconds, the model looks fantastic, however I will watch no more.

[@emdB67]

Yes, definitely should've used a Banana for scale. 😆

[@Demun1649]

@@emdB67 Or taken it outside to a real preserved railway, and laid it down between the rails?

[@Demun1649]

@@emdB67 You need to jump back in. We miss your modelling skills.