Virtual MRR Simulator

The only way to simulate a virtual model railroad would be .... to build a real model railroad. First shown to the public at the November 2006 Medford Train Show, I was surprised at how few people really understood the visual pun. But those that did --- oh what big smiles they had. And then there were the special ones who came up to me and nodded with a huge grin while saying "Only in a Mac, of course."

Displayed in the MacTrain-ulator is a model of the Wartburg castle my wife and I visited in Germany. (Actually, it is just half the model, as the whole model is too much "hardware" to fit inside a Mac Plus!) Below are close-up views of the castle model. Note the tour groups being lead by the four guides in white jackets with red pants and hats -- including one at the head of the converted gondola.

For those interested, here are two more views of the model to give an impression that can't been had when viewing it with the "software" of the MacTrain-ulator.

Finally, a peek at some of the hidden "hardware". First... I had to figure out a way to remove the Wartburg model for cleaning the tracks at the rear and in the unlikely event of a derailment. I decided on adhesive magnetic strips mounted on the board with matching ones on the underside of the castle. It was -- the right decision. The building is easy to remove and replace and it stays put when the MacTrain-ulator is being handled or moved. I recommend this method as easy, inexpensive and versatile!

Second... The electric circuitry. Powered by a 7.2V racing car battery pack (held in place with strips of velcro), the voltage is controlled by a System Joerger speed regulator for nice slow speed operation. (Thank you, Jeremy Brandon!) In addition, the back wall of the case has a DPDT switch for reversing the direction; a DPDT (Center Off) switch to either draw power from the battery pack or to feed power to the battery for recharging; and at the extreme right, a socket to plug the recharger into, so the MacTrain-ulator case need not be opened to charge the battery. I ran the MacTrain-ulator for a two day show on a single charge and still can run some more! [And, for the eagle eyed: Yes, it is a Mac Plus with the Apple personnel signatures engraved on the back wall.]

Now for confession time... The MacTrain-ulator 2.1 is -- as the numbering implies -- not the earliest extant version. As with any software / hardware combination, there were bugs to be worked out along the way. It is for this reason that Version 2.1 was the first one introduced to the public. But Version 1.1 has a few interesting characteristics that it may be worthwhile sharing. The MacTrain-ulator 1.1 has two glaring software glitches: The first is a software bug that displays the colors incorrectly. And not just wrong shades, but what might be described as unearthly color/light combinations.

The building complex seems to have glowing outlines, the plant material has a phosphorescent emanation that is reminiscent of nocturnal algae blooms seen at sea, the locomotive and reefer appear pitch black with vivid highlight coloration. Yet the people are displayed with a ghostly whiteness.

And even these changes were fleeting with unpredictable aftereffects. In particular, in the 2 preceeding photos and the one following, notice the changing coloration of the locomotive/reefer and of the walls and roof of the castle complex known to locals as "Tungen Cheack".

For the more technically minded, the problem appeared to be an intermittent uv3-65nm feedback loop causing an increased visible wavelength emission from electron excitation in the underlying phosphor substrate. Ultimately, this problem was removed from Version 2.1 by the use of an alternate fluor-illuminary hardware replacement.

As well, here is a close-up of the software depiction of the Stisk’Lok. rendered as a somewhat crude virtual depiction of a Märklin classic. What can not be seen in this static presentation is the rather perverse inclination of the software to run this little gem only in reverse. Another apparent problem of Version 1.1 that was eventually corrected in Version 2.1.

A) I wanted to create a small oval of flex track for the MacTrain-ulator. Past experience has taught me it is easiest to plan for the final track joining (“closing the loop”) to occur along a straight section; this makes trimming the rail ends and final assembly much easier. But what if there is no straight run of track?

By chance, I was looking back in an old Ztrack magazine and came across an article by Lajos Thek that describes a neat trick for assembling a small oval of flex track in which there is no straight portion. [Letters below refer to the following photo.]

1) An Oval [A] of corrugated cardboard (*) is cut so its outer edge is the precise size and shape that the inner edge of the track ties will lie upon. This will act as a guide for placement, so it is important for the curvature to be “true” and to have no dips, bumps or kinks.

2) The Oval is placed on a piece of gray board and the Oval outline is drawn on the gray board.

3) Temporarily place the Oval aside and draw two parallel lines [D] each of which is perpendicular to the drawn oval at roughly opposite points. [In the photo below, this is shown on the oval, but it should be done on the gray board itself.]

4) Make cuts in the gray board approximately 2 -3 inches long at those two perpendicular intersections and connect the cuts along a “skew” line [the cut represented by the 2 red lines] to create two mating pieces of gray board [B + C]

5) Replace Oval on B + C and temporarily affix in place with screws, pins or what-have-yous.

9) Place a length of flex track on the [C] Zthek Roadbed. Use flex track that is longer than necessary and trim one end flush with one of the roadbed ends; leave the other end a bit too long and loose [F] to allow for final adjustments.

11) Place a length of flex track on the [B] Zthek Roadbed. Use flex track that is slightly longer than necessary and trim the ends flush with both roadbed ends. At this point everything will look like the photo below.

14) As you slide [B] and [C] together, notice the tracks are parallel to each other and the rain joiners line up with their opposite mates.

15) Make a trial run to be sure everything fits before doing the final trim at [F].

16) Carefully trim track at [F] being sure it is flush with the roadbed end; add rail joiner and join tracks by sliding [B] and [C] together while keeping tracks parallel to each other.

(* The corrugated should be as deep as the combined thickness of the Zthek road bed and the ties. This allows the oval to act as a precise aligning “tool” for laying both the roadbed and the flex track. If thinner, one needs to be much more careful to be sure the track has no kinks. I also soldered my rail joiners along the way; if the corrugated is too thick, it interferes with soldering access along the inner rail.)

B) There are two kinds of Styrofoam: Extruded (the pink and blue kind used for insulation) and Bead (the kind often used for packaging electronic and other consumer goods). Extruded styrofoam is excellent for model railroad layouts; it lends itself to forming terrain contours and is relatively easy to work with. Bead styrofoam is difficult (if not impossible) to accurately cut, is messy to work with and is generally not useful for model railroad layouts.

But should it be absolutely avoided? With a little experimentation, I have found bead styrofoam can help create interesting terrain with minimal work.

I used Bead styrofoam to form the landscape contours adjacent to the Wartburg / Tungen Cheack wall bases. I roughly cut the bead styrofoam to size and purposefully gave the top side an uneven surface by cutting /tearing/ picking at the beads to create an uneven effect. After affixing a carefully chosen piece of bead styrofoam in place, I give the entire surface a coat of a medium gray paint. Once dry, I used a lighter gray to highlight some of the beads. Most of the surface is then coated with a white glue/water mixture and ground foam is applied. This hides the majority of the beads and the crevices between, but the surface still has an interesting undulation caused by the irregular bead surface. A judicious application of foam bushes creates further variations in height.

The resulting “peek-a-boo” gray beads no longer look like styrofoam spheres; they add a topographical element that would take much more effort to replicate with extruded styrofoam. If a deeper crevice is made by picking out beads before painting, this adds even more visual depth by creating additional contrasting shadows to the terrain; in some cases there is almost a cave-like impression formed.

c) A lesson in simplicity: The labyrinth.

When I traveled in Europe, I experienced a wonderful labyrinth created with living hedges. (Similar labyrinths are often now made in American corn fields after the harvest is complete.) I wanted to try one in such a diorama. On the left is my first completed design. Although technically interesting, with numerous tempting paths no matter which entrance is used, I realized it was much more complex than necessary. I started over and created the simpler labyrinth on the right. Although it would not be challenging (at least for long) in 1:1 scale, it is visually interesting enough to give the correct impression in 1:220 scale, but not so intricate as to be a distraction from the overall scene. Simplicity is sufficient, as the first photo above of the MacTrain-ulator V1.1 clearly shows; and as visitors to the MacTrain-ulator V1.1 repeatedly confirmed.