thxs marty...its working well. dropping the layout down...lifting the cell tower and water tower...putting the 4 story building in place downtown...takes all of maybe 5 seconds. It all adds 'height' to the whole thing which is kewl. I'll gets some grass and trees planted soon which should help tone down all the black "asphalt". Its coming along fine
i find this concept to be wonderful.. At some time all of us will have to tone down our layouts to something more manageable. I currently have plans for nearly 10 scale miles on 2 levels but at 66 realize at some point this might be where I will be wanting to do something like this at someplace radically reduced from where I am now. What a great concept for our futures. Thank you for sharing novel plan a d execution. Jack S
George, I've been whining for 4 years (Since I bought my first n scale piece), that WAAAAHHHHHHHHH, I can't find a place to put a layout, WAAAAAHHHHH, I'm stuck with a loop on my desk, WAAAAHHHHH, My Attic is incompatible WAHHHHHHH, My garage too full, etc. It has to go away because my desk is in the office/guest room an my wife thinks company should have the space for "things". But this is so cool. If I can't figure something after seeing it....
I find only 4 1/2 inches off the wall (when closed) to be a great space saver. Layouts dont all have to have mountainous scenery....lol 4 inch tall trees are what...about 50 scale feet tall !!!. Whether a 32 inch door or a 36 inch wide door....with a bit of ingenuity one could hang one on the wall above a couch...buy a cheap wooden framed picture...and screw it to the layout when closed ;-) Wires for turnouts could be easily concealed along the track bed. I suppose one could find one of them old commercial telephone connectors with 30+ wires in it and attach it to the top corner of the open door...and have the power box, drawer etc stashed away and simply connect the connector when its train time. The options are unlimited....just set the mind free :tb-cool::thumbs_up:
George, Thank you so much for starting this thread and allowing all of us to pick and add to it. This is really a awesome idea you had and if you will forgive the pun, is opening many new doors, for me as well as others!
Hey....no prob. THE hanging layout is still working great and being run daily. WHEN I get the new home for THERR come May (fingers crossed)...this hanging one will stay up and become a 'test track'. I do like the simplicity of it..thats for sure :tb-cool:
George, great work here and a great way to prove to people that there is room for a layout. Regarding mountains, a couple of things to remember is your layout is within the realm of your view. Sure there are mountains in your area you are modeling but your focusing on a small section of the world. Perhaps paint a backdrop that has mountains in the distance. Out west, towns were easily built in the flat areas. Even my N scale B&M layout is in a valley. While the White Mountains are just "up the road" they are not modeled. The highest point on my layout is only 4" and is close to scale for the area, yet there is plenty of cut rock and other terrain. Just look at the topography maps of Potter Place, and the town is nestled in a valley, surrounded by larger hills and mountains, all of which are not within the view of my layout other than maybe a back drop. Great start! Isn't it great sometimes to just sit down with a hot cup of coffee and and watch our trains run? So what if they run in circles, its still cool!
George...quite creative! Combined with a larger "cabinet" with doors, you could also extend cabinets below the train that are functional. Go yet another step, make the faux doors on the underside of the layout functional so when the layout is closed, doors open to reveal a flatscreen TV! I could see this getting hugely creative for many people...instead of a tv, maybe when in the down position the open to reveal legs for the train?!? great idea...thanks for sharing!
Actually...the door was hung high enough up the wall (preplaning) that I put my dresser UNDER it when I rearranged my room !! The layout opened and I had pictures and a few other items on my dresser...none of which got disturbed Closed it up when done and it didnt look out of place at all
