Nelevation - an automatic smart fiddle yard

[Caz]

Came across this bit of electrical wizardry, not yet in production but seems to be getting close.  No price yet but it's going to be pretty expensive I'm sure.

A N gauge elevator system to feed full trains to the layout, as initial design seems to be able to hold 20 complete trains of a loco and nine carriages, looks really promising.  Think it is going to be at Tings.

The website leaves a little to be desired as it is not very clear but see http://www.nelevation.com/

NOTE:  When it puts the subscribe pop-up over the page, find the close X at the top right corner and left click on it to get rid of the pesky thing.

[Bealman]

Sounds a bit like Peter Denny's train elevator that he built out of Meccano yonks ago!

George

[Jack]

Only Me might know something about it.

http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=20578.msg329695#msg329695

[Newportnobby]

Couldn't see it due to the huge immovable 'sign up for our newsletter' banner and I wasn't prepared to sign up

[MikeDunn]

Let's be fair ... it's white letters on a light grey background !  Hardly obvious ... I had to hunt, as I wasn't best pleased by the ad slapping itself in the middle !

A better colour would be an idea 

[Ben A]

Hello all,

It is a very nice piece of kit.  I will try to upload a photo later on that I took the other day when I was invited round to see it, and take part in a "test build", which was very straightforward.  No gluing, soldering or filing required!

I have known the designer, Allen, for some time as he lives near me and was responsible for the Ribblehead viaduct N Gauge layout that appeared in Model Rail last year.

cheers

Ben A.

[ScottyStitch]

Unfortunately the website doesn't seem to provide any details with regard to it's physical layout, nor it's price.

A deliberate tease?

[GrahamB]

I'll certainly be having a look at TINGS.

Cost will certainly be a key question. I'd also be interested to see how portable/robust it is for exhibition purposes.

[MalcolmInN]

Let's be fair ... it's white letters on a light grey background !  Hardly obvious ... I had to hunt, as I wasn't best pleased by the ad slapping itself in the middle !

A better colour would be an idea 

A triumph of demented webdesign over simple information,
an 'in yer face' popup is not a good start ( but all too common these days )
Banner movies of no particular information, so in desperation I clicked "About" more in hope than expectation, wow scary pics of the inventor, so I left, no wiser, a marketing failure if I ever saw one.

Something about 20 trains ? hmmm, what was the old adage ,, "if you need to ask the price, yer canna afford it son. "

PS MICK ABOVE THE SIGN UP BUTTON on the right IS ONE SAYING "close" WHICH IF YOU CLICK IT CLOSES THE TAB


Must be that old laptop of yours playing you up again!

Nope, I'm with Mike, if it needs special instruction like that it should not be there in the first place,
my lappy did observe it, out of its normal X marks the space,
it still annoyed me (even more cos it tried to be so clever !), not a good start, a simple link/invitation on the website somewhere would have been enormously more polite.

[Ben A]

Hello all,

Poor Allen!  I am not entirely sure his website is even fully finished yet and already people, having discovered it, are letting rip!  I have told him that the banner is annoying people, though I chose not to mention that his photo is "scary" as that seems a little personal and, indeed, unnecessary.

The cost will, to some extent, depend on uptake since like all things the cost of producing the extrusion tools and other items will be amortised across the production run.  Until he knows the likely demand I am not sure Allen is able to give a "hard" price.

A back of the envelope calculation suggests that a fiddle yard able to cope with that number of trains, and with all tracks at least 1.4m (the length of the prototype model) would cost around £600.  This does not include the cost of the baseboards required and the wiring, or make allowance for the time to build.  I have no idea how much the Nelevator will be, but surely not less than this.

It also saves a considerable amount of space.  A traditional fiddle yard offering equivalent storage would need 1.4m + the width of 20 lines plus about 1m at each end for the fan of points - so at least 3.4m (11') long; the Nelevator is 1.4m (4'2") long and the width of just over two tracks.  The Nelevator just drops into a slot in the baseboard.

It obviously isn't for everyone, and some would maybe prefer to buy points over a long period of time and spread the cost, but I think there will be a sector of the market for whom this is a very attractive solution.


cheers

Ben A.

[ScottyStitch]

Hello all,

Poor Allen!  I am not entirely sure his website is even fully finished yet and already people, having discovered it, are letting rip!  I have told him that the banner is annoying people, though I chose not to mention that his photo is "scary" as that seems a little personal and, indeed, unnecessary.

The cost will, to some extent, depend on uptake since like all things the cost of producing the extrusion tools and other items will be amortised across the production run.  Until he knows the likely demand I am not sure Allen is able to give a "hard" price.

A back of the envelope calculation suggests that a fiddle yard able to cope with that number of trains, and with all tracks at least 1.4m (the length of the prototype model) would cost around £600.  This does not include the cost of the baseboards required and the wiring, or make allowance for the time to build.  I have no idea how much the Nelevator will be, but surely not less than this.

It also saves a considerable amount of space.  A traditional fiddle yard offering equivalent storage would need 1.4m + the width of 20 lines plus about 1m at each end for the fan of points - so at least 3.4m (11') long; the Nelevator is 1.4m (4'2") long and the width of just over two tracks.  The Nelevator just drops into a slot in the baseboard.

It obviously isn't for everyone, and some would maybe prefer to buy points over a long period of time and spread the cost, but I think there will be a sector of the market for whom this is a very attractive solution.


cheers

Ben A.

Ben,

My post wasn't a criticism of the inventor/developer in any way. I just found the website a bit vague, and therefore wasn't sure if I had missed the pertinent details regarding the cost or a picture/drawing of the actual item, or if it was deliberate to create a "buzz" of intrigue prior to TINGS.

As an aside, the banner didn't concern me as the "close" caption was entirely visible on my machine.

Regards

Scott.

[GrahamB]

I'm getting the feeling that this is probably aimed at the club layout rather than private layouts. For a double track layout two of these would be needed. £1,200 is a lot of money to "hide" from SWMBO. 

[GrahamB]

The one I have seen Graham has a double track in it on separate elevators (the website also states dual tracks), I am unsure what the production model will come with although would presume a dual track system as that's what it's all built around, however anyone going to Tings could possibly ask or you could even drop Allen and email directly.

Looks like I've misunderstood then. I'll be at TINGS so it will be good to see one for real.

[Ben A]

Hi all,

I emailed Allen with the points about the annoying pop-up banner and he is taking (or getting it taken) down.

As Paul said, the one we saw had twin tracks, ten roads each side, but of course Allen will be the best person to answer all these points at TINGS.  I think there will be a lot of interest in this idea, and even if people aren't quite ready to committ immediately I can see it being the kind of thing you could plan a layout (or actually, a series of layouts) around.


Just don't overlook Revolution Trains in your haste to talk to Allen!!!

cheers

Ben A.

cheers

Ben A.

[MikeDunn]

No offence to Allen, but this kind of project is something a competent modeller with computer skills (Arduino / Raspi or similar) could do ...  I look forwards to learning more, as surely there must be more to it