April Layout Progress

Progress already!! The Benchwork area that i am working on has been cleared,some organizational effort put forth and a trackplan sketch that i could scan was put together.Ihave applied for railimages atatus and am just waiting for an email so i can post the trackplan sketch.
It feels good to be working on things again.Hopefully i can get that sketch in soon and get some critiqing from you all.I can use all the Brainstorming i can get

 

Progress already!! The Benchwork area that i am working on has been cleared,some organizational effort put forth and a trackplan sketch that i could scan was put together.Ihave applied for railimages atatus and am just waiting for an email so i can post the trackplan sketch.
It feels good to be working on things again.Hopefully i can get that sketch in soon and get some critiqing from you all.I can use all the Brainstorming i can get

 

Hi guys.

I've been away from this thread since we started. Many things (toothache, IRS, honeydo list, etc) have conspired to keep me out of the basement in April.

I'm impressed with the amount of work others have done, and want to add my welcome to the new people that have joined our little non-party group.

It now appears that I've cleared the decks and can get back to the train room. One thing my absence has shown is that I have an area in my staging yard that gets wet when the dining room floor above gets mopped. The ceiling in the train room is sealed up and has been for years. The problem is not there. The area of leakage occurs only in the shop area on my return loop. I think for now, I'm just going to staple some plastic sheet to the rafters over the yard to force any moisture to run off to the basement floor. It's not too serious, and I'll find a permanent solution later.

So far, I've laid four turnouts at the east end of the staging yard, and about 5 feet of track times six tracks of staging. I'm going to try to finish gluing the staging tracks and west end turnouts down this week.

Will post again Sunday.
Dave

 

bigwavedave posted that he learned that the two tracks of flextrack are not equal.

While I've known that for years, I'm having a brain freeze. I can't remember whether the fixed rail should be on the outside or inside of curves. I know it's supposed to always be one way or the other. Can anybody else remember?

Thanks,
Dave

 

Tell your wife to quit just pouring the bucket of water on the floor before she mops and just mop like normal folks!!

 

The fixed rail goes on the outside.

 

Dave, Perhaps I can help you come up with a Solution for your leaky floor.I am a professional Ceramic Tile Installer with about 20 years experiance.What type flooring do you have above the area that is leaking?There may be a very easy Solution to this that will get you back to important matters (like your layout) Quickly.A man's gotta have priorities ya Know!!

 

The newbie got it right. I have the fixed rail on the outside. Yeahhhh! .

I soldered two flex together with the fixed on opposite sides.. Better leave that one straight...

Dave

 

Mike, Thanks for the rail reminder.

Hoss, LOL! I don't think my wife knows where in the house the mop is kept! Then again, her income allows me to pursue my hobbies. I did have a talk with the cleaning lady though.

Tileguy, The dining room floor (over that corner of layout) is hardwood over plank subfloor. Over the last 100 or so years, the shrinkage of the planks, and the flooring itself has created many tiny gaps that allow the floor to leak like a sieve. We tried sealing with urethane last year, but that obviously hasnt' worked entirely. I stapled plastic sheet underneath the rafters yesterday morning. The cleaning lady mopped in the afternoon, and there appears to be no new waterstains.

I think I'm good to go.
Dave


Dave

 

Maybe you've already done this, but you need to have a place for the water that's caught on that plastic sheeting to drain off. Otherwise, it will fill up and the entire thing will fall on your layout....plastic, water and all.

[ 18. April 2003, 19:29: Message edited by: Hoss ]

 

David,Best option may be as follows.
Use an acrylic latex caulk to fill all gaps from below that you can see.Do this at night with lights on upstairs and while its dark downstairs.You will see light filtering through. after this drys a day.Paint the entire area with Drilock Paint(available at any Ace hardware store) The Drilock is white which will brighten the room+ it will keep moisture of any kind from passing through.It looks much better than Plastic and is better than a temporary fix while costing a minimul amount.And we dont want to cut into your train budget too much

 

Easter Week progress-
built Car Shop, Back Shop, and Printing Plant. Weathered the brick on all three, but no other weathering. All Cornerstone kits. Easy work for us beginners, and I think they look great.

 

Easter Week Progress - none. Sprinkler system and yard work took precedence.

 

progress since last report... none.
all funds are being saved for A. the model railway show next month. B a $200 rail trip possibly sometime next month.

infact the only thing besides run trains around in circles is make a load for a gondola from easter egg wrappers which i quite like. ( photos soon )

 

Hmm Progress for the week.Layout sketch completed and posted.Train room cleaned and organized.Test track installed and all locomotives test run.Oh and i have a Brass Loco coming apart on the bench.
Also I managed to inventory all my track,switches,electrical etc.so when i do get the final footprint down,i know what i need when i run the 60 miles to the hobby shop

 

Might think about getting that fixed...

One thing I do that I highly recommend is keep an inventory of all of my stock. This includes engines, rolling stock, track and anything else that's used for the layout. I do this for insurance purposes so I'll know how much money I've got tied up in the layout should the house burn down or something...but it's handy for other things too. I even have digital pictures of most things attached to the Excel spreadsheet....along with lots of other useful information about whatever the item is.

I just have to make sure my wife never sees it. She'd freak if she saw how much money we've put into this thing!!!

[ 21. April 2003, 22:57: Message edited by: Hoss ]

 

AHHHHHHHHHH the joys of being single!!!! . Now if the cattle could quit multiplying, it would be ok with me. My progress, a lil more structure painting, completeing inventory and coverting to low profile wheels and proper weighting, still trying to nail down a track plan.

Adios from texas.
Wyatt

 

Progress for last week. Very little. But, I did get started again. Laid in the 5 turnouts at the west end of my staging yard, and about 15 feet of track. I'm soldering feeders to each piece before I glue it down, so it takes a bit more time than it has in the past.

I hope to complete laying track in the E/W staging yard by Sunday night. I have moved a TV from my office to the train room, so I can keep track of the Cubs west coast trip while I work in the basement. That should be enough incentive to keep working.

Dave

btw, Tileguy: I heeded your suggestion about the Drilock, and will get some when I next go to the hardware. after the track is in, I will tackle the ceiling again.

 

Made a little more progress last night in that I got some more of my WS foam risers glued in place. I hope to have all of that done by the weekend so I can continue with the cork roadbed. However, with our first child due any day now there's really no guarantee that I'll have time to do that....