Here is the thread on my 'Hanging HCD' I made after the roof on the original HCD mobile THERR collapsed !! https://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?threads/new-hanging-hcd-layout.60812/ Still have the Hanging HCD in storage. May revive it in my room for when winter comes and I dont wanna trudge through the snow to go play with trains in THERR RV...LOL
The Secret Places Sub is tucked away in the basement under a tarp to keep the cats and their litterbox dust off. Eventually I'll be able to play around with it, but I have one class to go for my bachelor's degree in Emergency & Disaster Management, so for the last 9 (yes, 9) years, it's sat idle.
Wowsers...9 years ! Thats gonna take more then one lap of a track cleaning car to get it ready. On the other hand...its there and it looks good.
Here's a link to the tread showing my former layout. It was built entirely on HCD's. https://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?threads/a-few-layout-pics.116164/
I'ld forgotten about your old layout. That one was a thing of beauty....especially with it being all HCD's
My HCD layout is also in storage. It's in a friend's garage along with the rest of my stuff while I find a place of my own. I moved from Santa Rosa to the Central Valley to a new job. It's a lot cheaper out here than in the SF Bay Area and there's more trucking jobs...and trains to watch. This about as far as I got with mine:
Getting back into N scale after 40 years away. I'm in the basement trying to design a layout for a Winter /Christmas layout to bring up to the living room for the Christmas season. After building the test layout on a 38x90 board, I realized that it wouldn't make it through the doorways without being turned almost vertically. It took me longer than I'd like to admit to realize that a door would fit through a doorway. Hence HCD. Before I go any further, what kind of challenges am I looking at as far as tipping it sideways like 25 degrees? Also, is it practical to consider cutting the layout lengthwise carrying it up that way and reassembling it upstairs? Thanks Chaz
You can use a 36x80 HCD...OR...You can use a 32x80 HCD. Most guys I have talked to use the 32x80. My THERR in an RV is 32 inch wide plywood. It makes it easier on the 'reach' to the back of the layout. As long as your track, structures. and scenery is glued down...you should be able to turn the thing on its side...or even upside down with no problems ! Just make sure you take the trains off BEFORE moving it.
I turned my HCD layout upside to clean it off occasionally. I had only a couple of structures that weren't glued down because they didn't need to be.
I believe my HCD is 32x80. What's nice is I got my door free. The apartment manager put it out by the dumpster.
If everything is glued down or removed can turn it any way you want to. The club I belong to have an HCD we take to shows. Always have to tilt on side to get threw doors and tables at shows. In between shows stands on end to take up less space. Thigs have fell off over time been showing for around 15 years. Trees take the most damage, manly from people pointing at shows.
I'm a newbie to the hobby, my grandson, Gabriel, and I started this layout last November. Progress has been slow, but we're learning a lot as we go. This is the San Gabriel Line as it exists today, on a 32"X80" HCD. The section of missing track on the incline is a Kato Double Crossover. I've just proofed that piece of equipment as the switching mechanism that creates two reversing loops on the layout. I removed it so I could assemble a rudimentary dogbone layout with two reversing loops connected by the double crossover in the shank. The PSX-AR's I purchased function as intended and all is ready to be incorporated into the layout. The elevated section will be one of the reversing loops, and the other is the length of track behind the elevated section on the far side of the layout, on grade. The shank will contain all of the turnouts for sidings, spurs, and the small yard. I've included a diagram of the layout in the images. In this pic I've removed the foam from the door so I could turn the door over and do the wiring. I'll then double check the power distribution for shorts and functionality, and then double check the auto reversing functions before committing to the layout and the secruring of certain elements to the foam. The space inside the elevated loop on the far side of the layout will be an industrial area where we have two spurs for servicing those industries. The back corner opposite the small yard will be a mountain where portions of both the elevated loop and the loop behind the elevated section will pass through a total of three tunnels; one long one for the line that's on grade and two small ones for the elevated line. I'll have to make openings in the skirting (or whatever it's called) that will be installed around the door to access those tunnel areas to address any derailing. The space in the foreground between the incline and the water feature will be a small downtown area with restaurants, shops, and parking. The corner on the right hand side where the incline is, will be a municipal area; police dept., fired dept., and town hall, that will overlook the downtown area below. The recreational area, the water feature, is almost complete. I cut that piece out of the larger foam board so I could work on it separately. I'm going to have some problems molding it into the surrounding area, especially the portion of track that runs behind it, where I'll be ballasting, but I think I have plan on how to address it. The long term plan includes a small river cutting through the corner in the foreground, possibly a waterfall somewhere on the mountain in the far back corner, and lighting for the buildings, streets, and yard. As I mentioned, this is a project for my grandson and I... so, in keeping with the nature of a family project, the names of places and features will reference family. We have Joshua Lake and Kenzie Cove for the water feature, and in the mountain will be Christian Cave - those are his brothers and sister. The downtown area will feature something named after his cousin Avery, who's nickname is Munch... so, I'm thinking Munch's Diner or Munch's Candies has to make an appearance somehwere. At the rate that progress has been made so far, I should be nearing my 100'th birthday by then, but we're in no hurry. LOL!
Hey Massey, I read your post in my email notification... I'm assuming that you worked out how the layout incorporates reversing loops. It all depends on how the turnouts on the double crossover are thrown. If they are set to "pass" then yes, the layout functions with the crossover acting as the two straight sections of an oval. It depends on how the turnouts are thrown as the loco enters the loop and how they're thrown as the loco exits the loop. If they're set to either pass on the inbound and the outbound of the loop, no reversing. But if, for example, they're set to cross on the inbound and outbound, or if they're set to cross on the inbound and pass on the outbound (or vice versa), then we have a reversing need.
I wasn’t taking the crossover into account as I was tracing the route. It seemed just like an oval. Then I posted and the website loaded the first post again and I noticed the crossover... oops.
LOL! Someone else did that on another thread, I think it was Sumner. I love that double crossover, btw, to be able to do that without four connected turnouts and in such a compressed length. What a cool piece of equipment! I remember seeing that at my local shop and thinking that I had to try and incorporate one of those into my little layout.
