It's time to start posting this... The 'Back-story' T.H.E.R.R. first came to be in the spring of 2007. It is a FREELANCE railroad. No prototypical anything. I run what I want...when I want. I don't care if the locomotives or rolling stock have never seen the light of day in the 1:1 world. If the trackwork would never make the cut in the real world...oh well. It's my railroad...I'll run it my way !! LOL. That being said: It started as a 30x36 piece of plywood with a LL UP train set. It soon grew to a 36x80 HCD set up on my dresser. By summer it had grown to 3 HCD's in a spare room. Two moves later ( We are renters and the economy suxs even for people renting their homes out...lots of foreclosures which means lots of moving for us) :-( I was getting tired of tearing down and rebuilding layouts !! It wasn't long before a friend suggested I take possession of his old travel trailer he was using for storage to make a BIGGER and more permanent layout ! It was about this time I found TrainBoard. Got tons of great ideas and put many to paper and use on 'T.H.E.R.R. Trailer' layout. Things where going well...through 2 more moves. Just hook up to the trailer and move it...park it...level it...and run trains even before stuff was moved into the house...LOL. Then came the winter of 2011. We got slammed by about 3 feet of heavy wet snow. It was at least 2 days before I could even get out to 'T.H.E.R.R. Trailer' This photo was taken 2 days after the snow storm !! When I finally did get out there...my heart sank. The roof had sagged so bad water was running down thru the roof vent and sidewalls! I tried to add steel roof supports...but the very next snow...the roof sagged again. I knew then that it was time to retire the old T.H.E.R.R. Trailer. :-( I stripped everything I could salvage and put it all in storage totes in the shed. T.H.E.R.R. #2 is/was a 32 inch HCD mounted on my bedroom wall. I made a post about it here on TB awhile back. I used the door frame and all and made the layout with the ability to fold up and be out of the way and only be about 4 inches off the wall. It is/was still being used. I will strip the Unitrack off it for the new layout...soon ;-) THEN IT HAPPENED !!... I spotted an older (1987) 29 foot RV that had been stored on the rear lot of an RV sales company. I turned and and drove straight to the back...after seeing a For Sale sign in the window from the highway. I couldn't believe the price the guy wanted. I even had THE Wife get out of the van and check that I wasn't seeing things ! I called the guy immediately. That's when I got "The rest of the story". It seems a bunch of illegal immigrants found the RV being stored and decided to make it their new home !! After they where found out and arrested the owner was notified and went to check the damage and immediately put it up For Sale. I was able to obtain the keys later and went in to check it out. I wont post pictures of the inside back then...Lets just say it was disgusting. No utilities and they where staying in there at least 3 months ( I'll let you use your imagination for a really gross mental picture !! ). Grrrrrrrrr !!! I talked it over with THE Wife. We decided we didn't care about the interior so much. We weren't going to use anything but the power inverter, AC and heater anyways. The rest would be all stripped and the walls sheet rocked. I finally got with the guy who owned it in May. We had been 'wheeling and dealing' on the phone for 3 months. He also told me he had put some 'STA-BIL Fuel Stabilizer" in the tank when he stored the thing...5 years prior ! That stuff is some awesome additive when storing gasoline power anything !!! I really was buying this RV on blind faith that it would even run. The guy showed up at the lot and accepted my final offer. I wont say how much I paid...but will tell ya it was well under $1000.00 !!! I got a clear title and the keys. I bought a battery and two 5 gallon gas cans at Wal-Mart. After hooking up the battery and dumping 10 gallons of new gas in the old beast...I shot some starting fluid in the carburetor. It fired and died. (At least I knew the engine wasn't frozen up). One more shot of starting fluid and she started ! After a bit of rough idling it smoothed right out. I drove it home with a friend following close behind...stopping only to top off the propane tank and put $100.00 worth of gas in her. THEN THE REAL FUN STARTED Lets just say it has taken me over 6 weeks just to get it where it is today. Being 63...disabled with chronic arthritis...and top that off with a heart attack and congestive heart failure after a car accident last year...it sure has slowed this old SOB down. Its depressing at times I tell ya !!! :-(
BUT ON TO BIGGER A BETTER THINGS !! !! The settlement check from the accident means I have some cash flow that THE Wife.( The CFO of T.H.E.R.R. ) has given me a budget on. So far I have bought 10 unfinished base cabinets at Lowes. All the drawers will have the drawer faces taken off...and the drawers removed and the drawer faces put back on with hinges. The sink bases have no drawers...just the face plates. All the smaller top panels are going to be hinged so I have access to everything under the benchwork and some fold down panels to mount all the electronics on. The rebuilding inside 'T.H.E.R.R RV' is more exhausting then ripping almost everything out of her. My son came into town for this past weekend and he and I got the heater all working great. He used to work in HVAC and says this heater is in excellent condition for its age. That's one worry less. We will find out come winter... LOL. The rooftop AC works great btw...which is good since this is a miserably hot summer so far...even at 6000+ feet in elevation in Arizona !! I had checked with an RV service guy. He assured me the skeleton of this Pace Arrow RV is all square steel tubing and the roof will support even the heaviest of snows. I didn't feel 100% about that since all the interior support walls where torn out. So as you can see in the last photo...I added two 1 1/2 inch square steel tubing supports INSIDE...just in front and behind the roof AC. I feel a bit more secure in the fact that the roof should hold up well now in the winters. I don't want a repeat of 'T.H.E.R.R. Trailer' roof problems !! Well...enough for now. Thanks for reading so far. I am going to take a few days off from working in there. I ache in places I didn't even know a guy could ache in !!! I will continue to update my progress on this post. Believe it or not...I.m still having FUN !!
Ahh a ready to run train room. Literally. I like it. And no need to tear down for a move, even better. Just put it in gear and drive it there in comfort. Looks like there will be a a good amount of mainline run, at least a scale mile or more. And I see my idea of using cabinet bases as the foundation for a layout has come to life. Nice finish to the layout front and room for enclosed storage under the layout. The drawers can be the point for most of the control cabs and wiring connections. The idea I have is to mount all that on a board that slips into the drawer with a long enough wiring harness that allows the drawer to be slid in and out and quite possibly to use a multi wire male/female connector to connect to the layout wiring. That way if a switch controling a switch machine goes bad the connection can be broken easily, and the insert removed from the drawer to take to the workbench for repairs. This is going to be fun to follow and see what you work out.
Well done, George! A man after my own heart. And the lady's not too bad either - she knows how to keep a guy around and happy. I almost envy you having a blank slate.
Thnxs John... I got the idea when THERR was in the travel trailer. I bought a half dozen of those 4 drawer plastic cabibets from wal mart to use in there for storage. This time around...because of the window height at the back...the total height of the layout is about 36 inches. The kitchen cabinets are 35 in height. I think this is really going to work out fine. I bought a mechanics stool (you can sorta see it in the bottom right of the last pic) and can scoot up and down the aisle pretty well.
Thnxs Jim... A thumbs up from a modeler like you means a lot. Your layout has given me lots of inspiration thru the years. I only hope I can achieve a small portion of your talent.
Hi Gary... I have a rough drawing of the track plan. I'll see if I can scrap it up...scan it...and post it. I'll be using Unitrack this time around which will allow be sme latitude in changing things as I go. Most of the plans from the get go are in my head...which is a scary place...trust me...LOL
Just wish there where shows closwer then 1000 from my house. This things has a 454 chevy motor. I am sure I will be able to literally watch the gas gauge go down :-(
I LIKE IT!! I have always wanted to do that very thing.............when I saw there would be "progress shots", I immediately subscribed to the thread. Best of luck!!
So far I have: A Digitrax Super Empire Builder Xtra Set. I figured that out fairly easy. I bought a few extra Digitrax UP5 Universal Panels so I can move up and down the aisle easier with the trains. A Digitrax PR3 USB Programmer/Interface that I have no clue how to use but bought in hopes of programming decoders easier. And 2 PM42 Quad Power Managers that I hope will save me from pulling what hair I have have left outta my head down the road. Now All I have to do is figure out all the wiring...and I have no idea where to start. The plan is in my head...but all scrambled at the moment...LOL.
I am buying both new and used Unitrack whenever I see some for sale. I have nowhere near enough yet. The trackplan shows a double main...but will be single main with passing siding until I get more track pieces and can connect passing sidings together making them even longer until some day it all comes out as double main That's the plan anyways. It works in my head...hopefully it will also work as I start laying it all out on the layout...hmmmm