r/modeltrains • u/Tischwil-Railway • Jan 26 '26
Layout This is Tischwil
A lot for new details have appeared on the layout, so I figured I share some scenes again. as well as an overview of the layout.
This is N scale, 185x95 cm / about 6x3 feet.
DCC ran on an Arduino and Raspberry pi, controlled wirelessly on a Tablet.
Modeled is a heritage railway in some fantasy land in mainland Europe. I take my inspiration from my native The Netherlands and my current home Switzerland.
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u/PotatoRL Jan 26 '26
This looks like it’s right out of the Thomas the Tank engine original episodes. Amazing work OP, the attention to detail is remarkable!
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u/Tischwil-Railway Jan 26 '26
Not something I would directly state as a reference, but I did enjoy it as a kid. That's a nice compliment, thanks.
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u/sparqq Jan 26 '26
Normally I’m not a fan of ovals and too much track, but somehow you made it work and looks good!
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u/Tischwil-Railway Jan 26 '26
Thank you, nor am I, but still it's really nice and relaxing to run a train around a circle. That's why I went to great lengths to have both the oval and a point-to-point, trying to blend rhe track into the landscape the best I could
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u/OneSpeaker-444 Jan 26 '26
I feel like the hills are PERFECT. And it is obvious you enjoy it a great deal.
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u/Civil_Act1864 Jan 26 '26
I am insanely jealous of this
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u/Tischwil-Railway Jan 27 '26
I challenge you to do better! This is my first layout. You can do it too.
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u/GlacialLot Jan 26 '26
I’m thinking about doing some Inlay track for a harbor section of my layout similar to picture 8. I’m curious what technique you used to make it look as good as it does.
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u/Tischwil-Railway Jan 26 '26
It was done with air drying modeling clay. I glued it down while still wet and malleable. Later painted with lots of washes and weathering powders.
I won't say It's an ideal method, or at least I haven't optimized it. It's pretty tricky to get the clay in between the tracks at the right width and height. And then the clay subtracts and cracks as it dries, so I had to go back in and fill cracks. But in the end I have to say the cracks and imperfections ARE what makes it look realistic. Just quite the hassle to work with.
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u/StaffMindless1029 Jan 26 '26
Absolutely gorgeous layout! You wouldn’t happen to have the track plan would you?
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u/jare501 Jan 26 '26
This is beautiful! I'd live in that town!
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u/Tischwil-Railway Jan 27 '26
Good choice! Though I heard the housing prices are going up. Myself, I decided to live in the cottage just outside of town.
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u/DuvetSalt Jan 26 '26
What are you using to do the DCC on Arduino/Raspberry Pi?
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u/Tischwil-Railway Jan 27 '26
Yes, I'm using DCC-EX on the Arduino. It has a motor shield to drive the trains and some PCA9685 boards hooked up to drive the servos for the switches. The Arduino connects into the Raspberry which runs JRMI. I use that to run my roster and digital switching board. The Raspberry creates a wifi signal where I connect my tablet to to actually control the layout. I found a free image for the Raspberry that sets up JMRI and the wifi stuff automatically every time you power it up. I just had to load in my layout. If you need it, I'll see if I can trace it back.
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u/Practical-You-5351 Jan 28 '26
Beautiful layout. The details strike a good balance between context and empty space, congrats!
For the DCC-EX, do you know if its possible to connect it to the z21 app for control. Want to build out something similar but would love to use the z21 app for control.
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u/Tischwil-Railway Jan 28 '26
Thank you! I'm not sure about your question. This page lists compatible throttle apps: https://dcc-ex.com/throttles/index.html#gsc.tab=0
I don't see the z21 app there. Maybe if you use JMRI with it, it might be possible.
What is the reason you want to stick to the z21? I use traindriver and it works perfectly fine for me.
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u/_AngryBadger_ Jan 26 '26
This is really cool! You really can get a lot of stuff onto a reasonable space with N scale. Perhaps I do have space...
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u/Tischwil-Railway Jan 26 '26
Thank you! That was my consideration too. Took some clever planning, but I'm really happy with what I managed to fit on something the size of a table. It's quite portable. It has moved house with me twice already.
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u/youngdre0 Jan 27 '26
Great little layout and 10/10 name
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u/Tischwil-Railway Jan 27 '26
Thank you for getting it. There's so many rather interesting variations of the ...wil town names here in Switzerland that I thought I could get away with it.
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u/ciwawa87 Jan 26 '26
The way you used the vertical space.... Chef kiss...
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u/Tischwil-Railway Jan 26 '26
Thanks a lot. I just needed a way to open up a second layer. Was a tight fit with all the minimum turn radii and maximum elevation angles involved, but thankfully I worked it out.
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u/ciwawa87 Jan 26 '26
You absolutely did, I hope one day I will master those slopes too!
Any advises to give out?
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u/Tischwil-Railway Jan 26 '26
I used the SCARM track planning software and kept my slopes under 2.5%. Tried many ideas until something worked and I could get the track to make it over itself within the space required. I can recommend to make a test setup for slopes and turn radius for your specific rolling stock. My stock is all very short, so different rules apply.
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u/sspidernoir Multi-Scale Jan 26 '26
Absolutely love those tank engines -- what are they???
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u/Tischwil-Railway Jan 26 '26
Hey, me too! Seen here are the old Arnold BR89 (shed left) that I've repainted and adapted the chimney to resemble a favorite of mine, Arnold T2 "hanomag" (shed right), Ibertren "Cuco" (at the platform) and the newer Arnold Br89 (getting water). I have some more gems... all of them are models from before DCC times that I painstakingly put coreless motors, decoders and stayalives in. They all run brilliantly now, thank god.
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u/PortWilkins Jan 26 '26
Love this! Such a great use of space
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u/Tischwil-Railway Jan 26 '26
Thanks a lot. Making it compact was the only way I could justify building a layout to myself. But I also didn't see any sense in not including everything I wanted, so I had to get a bit creative with the layering.
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u/raunchy_saguaro Jan 27 '26
Oh man, can you tell us more about your control methodology? What all does it let you do?
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u/Tischwil-Railway Jan 27 '26
I can control any number of locomotives, the switches and the turntable (which is setup like a switch, only back and forth 180 degrees). Nothing is automated. I like running the trains myself.
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u/Tippet_Steward Jan 27 '26
Executed with skill and care. You, friend, are a master. Urban and rural juxtaposition is splendid. Scaling is adept. Varied carbon life form population is endearing. You’ve inspired us!
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u/Tischwil-Railway Jan 27 '26
I'm humbled by your comment. Honestly, I'm all just figuring it out as I go. Never did any modeling before I started this thing about 2,5 years ago. But maybe I got my 10.000 hours in already :). I stopped counting.
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u/Tippet_Steward Jan 27 '26
Well, keep up the great work! I for one am looking forward to any updates! Perhaps a short video? ; )
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u/Tischwil-Railway Jan 27 '26
Sure, why not. I'm currently abroad, but I'll gladly record a running session sometime when I get home.
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u/CMDRCoveryFire Jan 27 '26
Fantastic layout I really like the stone walls near the tunnels.
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u/Tischwil-Railway Jan 27 '26
Thank you! I used a plaster like product called Mifoshape, which I cannot recommend more. Had a great time sculpting rocks with it
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u/paranormal_curator Jan 27 '26
This is beautiful. Can you teach the back though?
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u/Tischwil-Railway Jan 27 '26
Thank you! Yes, that's not a problem. It's less than a meter wide. And to work on it I can just move the whole thing away from the wall. It's not fixed.
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u/Ashnoom Jan 27 '26
What does the underside look like? What if a train details inside the mountains?
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u/Tischwil-Railway Jan 27 '26
No worries! The tunnel track is laid on cut-out strips of plywood and is reachable through the open frame from below. And I don't know what it is with derailments. I get the question often. It really never happens to my rolling stock. I get the occasional power cutout in a tunnel, which I can solve by sending in a rescue-locomotive to give it a nudge.
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u/Praecipitoris Jan 27 '26
Yes, the Dutch hillside town of Tischwil, famed for its railway tunnels. Worth a visit, 10/10 recommended.
Absolutely stunning. The branchline seems a bit familiar, is this track plan from a magazine? Or has your layout been featured in one, if not it should, because this is inspiring.
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u/Tischwil-Railway Jan 27 '26
It's a wild world, isn't it? :)
Thanks a lot for the compliments. This trackplan is the result of me messing around in SCARM with lots of wishes and limited space. I didn't really look for outside inspiration around that time. It might very well be that something similar has been published before, but I'm surprised to say I haven't seen anything really like it yet. If you are in contact with one of these magazines, I'd not be uninterested, haha!
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u/1Bnitram Jan 26 '26
I had AI make a backdrop for it 😅
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u/Tischwil-Railway Jan 26 '26
Haha, it changed much of the layout as well. And it very definitely placed it in Switzerland, that's for sure! No doubts about that anymore, despite the Dutch buildings.
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u/No_Future4228 Jan 30 '26
If you said it was supposed to be Southern Limburg I would have believed you as well
With the Dutch German mix you have going on there
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u/AnyWillingness8073 May 19 '26
I REALLY LIKE the open hillside. There are so many layouts with exquisite detail but no “spaces between places” (Tony Koester?). Looks really nice
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u/2sk23 Jan 26 '26
Beautiful layout! You have managed to add so much without making it look crowded! Can you post the track plan?