Ztrains: Z Scale Basics: Three Notch Railroad

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Let's Modify Some Micro-Track® To Fit This Plan

We're staying with the 2' x 3' layout size here for the Three Notch Railroad layout. The reason we call this the Three Notch Railroad... for this layout we'll be shortening 3 sections of Micro-Trains® 110mm straight track. Folks working in other scales have been doing this type of track modification for years in order to create track plans not possible by using stock track pieces alone.

Thanks to Jim O'Connell who presented this track modification technique in the January / February 2008 issue of Ztrack Magazine.

The Three Notch Railroad serves a small industrial park which features factories producing various chemicals, polypropylene, fertilizer and assorted agricultural products... it's a busy little place! This track plan features a continuous loop with an interior passing siding and a single spur that services a pair of factories.

Show Me The Scenery

Show Me The Track Only

Qty	Track Description	Micro-Track Part #
3	110mm straight track	990 40 902
1	110mm feeder track	990 40 905
1	110mm straight uncoupling track	990 40 906
2	Left turnout	990 40 910
1	Right turnout	990 40 911
8	195mm radius / 30° curved track	990 40 903
3	195mm radius / 45° curved track	990 40 903
3	220mm radius / 45° curved track	990 40 913
4	490mm radius / 13° curved track	990 40 912
2	2.25 inch straight track	Custom Cut
1	3 inch straight track	Custom Cut
1	Rail joiners	990 40 909
1	Road bed joiners	990 40 908

Ready To Cut... Get Those Miter Boxes!
One of the goals of this track plan is to get you comfortable working with, and modifying, Micro-Trains® sectional Micro-Track®. This is a great little plan to get you going in this direction. I strongly recommend you pick up an inexpensive miter box and razor saw for the track cutting. As with most construction projects... having the right tools makes all the difference in gettinggood results.

The miter box and saw shown here are from Micro-Mark and cost $12.95 for the pair. These are really handy to have at your disposal for cutting the track in this article as well as for any other scratch building you'll be doing.

Ok, how do I do this? We've created a photo tutorial for you below, breaking down the process of track modification to just a few steps. Take your time, look over the photos and associated text and you'll be an old pro in just one evening! As with any new project... practice makes perfect. You might want to make up several extra track sections to share with friends or for your own future use. The cutting principals shown here work just as well for curved track pieces as they do for straight track pieces... get creative!

1. Nubs Baby, Nubs...
The track "nubs" shown in the tutorial are situated on either end of each section of track. You want to make sure that you include these nubs in the section of track you remove. These nubs are what hold the rails to the road bed (in addition to the track spikes) and unless you cut one set of these nubs off, you won't be able to slide your two road bed sections together.

2. Bisecting The Layout
The four lane highway shown here is a useful tool for visually bisecting your layout and adding interest. To further enhance this visual device... the use of tall buildings or factories will help you to define both halves of the layout.

3. Have Some Roads Run Parallel To Your Track
The small unpaved road at the bottom of the layout as well as the two lane paved road in the upper right hand corner serve a couple of purposes. Since they run loosely parallel to the tracks I feel they give a good, flowing feel to the tracks. In addition they both trail off of the layout, giving the feeling that this layout extends beyond its 2' x 3' borders.

4. Which Glue To Use To Join The Cut Track?
I've become a fan recently of Loctite Rubberized CA. It has some gap filling properties and more important, according to Loctite, it is "rubber toughened" to resist impact, shock and vibration. I like it!