Rick has asked to to post a few pictures from the Atlas forum, where I showed how I used an afternoon to make a 3" extension to the second deck of my three-decker. First I glued 3 x 3 foamcore triangles to the foamcore fascia. I just used white glue and pressed them into place. After about five seconds, they held by themselves. I used a few pins or scraps of tape where they didn't. Then I played with decoder for an hour, letting the glue dry, before adding the foam core deck: Now I have a whole foreground for the second level! I will probably cut more pieces for the underside for more strength. Never underestimate the strength of foam core. I have a lot of it laying around due to my work. You can see the underside of the third deck in these photos. I used wire racks topped with one-inch foam, against with a foam core fascia. Pete
I am going to email a few of my friends a link to here so they can see your layout Pete. And I might do an "article" for the forums on different techniques for layout building and provide a link to here so they can see your pics. Thanks!!!
Rick, I've added foam core to the bottom of the triangle, scenicked the top. trimmed the edge, etc. More pics later--my wife has run off with the digital to take pics of the "grandpuppies"--eight Black Labs. The 45 degree angle at the bottom does not cut off light to the first deck underneath--one of the reasons I tried this. More pics later, perhaps Tuesday, as I'm booked tomorrow. Pete
Here are the pics as promised. The first shows the foam core covering the long edge of the triangle on the second deck. We (Jeanne and I) did this for strength, and also so that any trees we plant won't be visible when we poke them through the surface. The trim is a simple 3/4" L-shape. The tape at the bottom was to keep any water or glue from dripping down onto the first level. The tape marks disappear with a coat or two of latex. We'll paint it white to reflect light downward. The second shows the added landscape, which will make photography much easier, and add some foreground interest when we complete landscaping with fields, direct roads, orchards, etc. You can see the seam between the old and new, which we'll cover later. The old was already partially landscaped, so I didn't run the tape covering the seam all the way over it. The rock wall was assembled from photos of Alaska. We will hide the seams and color discrepancies with glued on WS bushy things. These photos were all shot under room lights (5 secs @ f22), but will show the construction result. I shot this third just for fun. It was a "blind" shot, as I couldn't get my head in far enough to see the viewfinder. Again, you can see the seam, and how just 3 inches more depth adds to the photo possibilities. Pete [ 19. January 2004, 23:55: Message edited by: Pete Nolan ]
I am not familiar with your setup but I have some questions, as I am looking at moving soon and hope to find one with enough room that I may still have a room for myself as I do now. You say 3 decks, are the 3 decks inter-connected or run independently? Do they go around the whole room or is there a widened area for the trains to loop around or turn around? Which leads me to some thoughts about running a couple of decks that follow 2 walls above my main train board with hopefully enough room to loop or autoreversing. Considering room size and possible weight issues weight may not be too much considering I am using N-scale, it seems one or both could be feasible.
Pete, Thought you would enjoy hearing this. I emailed this link to a few of my friends, and one of them wanted a light bit of benchwork that he could easily remove, an access hatch really and he was impressed with your foam core construction.
Allen, It's a nolix, climbing from level to level. I'll respond more fully later. Until then. check out my Railimages account. I think it's still on the first page. Rick, Hey, foam core rocks! I'm into light construction methods, if you haven't already guessed. Wait for the next "J-Town" method! Pete
Allen, Here you go: Starting at the roundhouse, we'll travel the front edge past the long yard. It's level through the long yard and Cape Cod Bridge, then starts climbing along the front edge. Past "Downtown, it climbs the back wall to the "high bridges." That gets it to the second level 15 inches above the first, in the upper left hand corner of the diagram. It's level along the front edge above the main yard, but starts climbing at the loop. The plan originally went over the roundhouse, but was truncated when that blocked too much light. After the loop, it climbs again, crosses above the high bridges on hidden track, then is mostly level until it's above Downtown (by the entrance door). At that point it starts climbing a bit on the back wall, crosses the harbor on a hidden (actually just disquised) track to the third level, which is 15 inches above the second level. This deck is level. This diagram shows a single track entry in the upper left corner--I built it with two tracks, eliminating the reversing section. At the top, again over the roundhouse, it just starts back down on the other main. In all, the double-track main can serve as one huge loop. I haven't put crossovers in because I wanted to run a while before deciding where they are needed. My last layout had too many crossovers that were rarely used. Hope this helps. Pete
Just out of curiosity, now long does it take a train leaving the yard at Allston to do a full round trip and get back to Allston?
Hoss, At 40 MPH (scale), about 25 minutes. That's continuous running. If you have to stop past the Cape Cod Bridge and add a helper, and then stop again to drop it on the third level, a little longer. Often, if I'm not doing "dirty" work, I'll just let two trains run all evening long. Start one at the top, the other at the bottom, and let 'em run--often at about 25 smph. That's 40 minutes a loop, or a train every 20 minutes or so. It's all DCC now (with an alternate DC supply). My engines run up a lot of miles! I really enjoy just letting them run. Right now I have four "through" trains, so every once in a while, I'll park one in the yard and take out another. At 40 smph, I rarely have a derailment--besides, since hearing is one of the most acute senses, any change in sound immediately brings my attention to a problem, no matter what I'm doing. Pete
Thanks, Rick. It's working out real well, especially when I have 8-10 people in the room. Originally I planned a center peninsula running down the middle of the long side of the room. It gave me a staggering mainline run--about 1000 feet, and very gentle grades--but the aisles would have been too narrow, and there was no place for visitors to gather. I'm really glad I sacrificed the mainline run for more operator and visitor space. Now, if I had 14 feet on the short dimension of the room--well, I didn't, so why speculate? Pete
Pretty incredible. I wish I had that kind of mainline run. I could if my wife would let me have the entire garage...and if I ran two or three decks. Oh well....I gues 9'x17' will have to do.....for now.
Hoss, Before this layout, I had an odd-shaped 11 x 17 room in the house with a one-level layout. After nine years, my wife asked if she could have that room for her studio, and I could start over after I made a room in our three-car garage (typical here in Albuquerque because basements are rare. Here's what I got into that room: It was rife with problems, so I was glad to start over. Pete
