The Indiana Branch of the BPRR delivers coal to the Homer City Generating Station in Homer City, PA, 56 miles south of the yard at Riker/Punxsutawney. I hope to be able, using selective compression, scenery/backdrops, and forced perspective, model this regional in 7x4. Its not going to resemble the prototype too much, but I'm mostly in this to watch some trains run and enjoy the process of building my first model railroad. Now that I got a DCC controller I'm able to run the loco I bought a while back. It seems like a good place to start as any. This will be my build thread from here on out. I hope you guys enjoy the journey as much as I hope I will. Here is a short vid of what I have so far, sans buildings (Heljan powerplants, New River Mine, Goldenflame coal dealer). This is our dining room table, not where the layout is going to be either. Right now in the actual room I am in the process of straightening everything up and brainstorming the benchwork. I intend to use a pre-existing homemade entertainment stand that houses my TV, stereo, and DVD player to support one end of the layout. The thing is that it needs raised to bring the TV to proper viewing height once it is moved down a shelf, and yet still be viewable under the layout as well. In the picture, the TV will be moved to where the stereo is now, the speakers will stay where they are.
Have you condidered building a layout on a hollow core door? they are about 3ft x7ft or so? I think that if you are cramped on space that would provide you with a nice sized small layout that will not eat up much room. Or you could cut the door in half lenght and use a real long shelf layout.Or another idea is to build a basic shelf around the room where ever you can and do the layout that way as well.
I have considered a HCD, as the layout needs to be free-standing and not attached to the wall. I'm thinking though that a 4x8 sheet of foam will be cheaper and more cost effective because I can use all of it and cut into it for scenery purposes, unlike the HCD. If I find it is too flimsy, I can glue it to a leftover piece of luan from our kitchen remodel also. The other reason is I need one end of the layout near the door to be removable, so only about 2 feet stick out from the wall. (the area closest to the camera in the pic) I need to have an aisle to get around my bed to the far side of the room when I'm not operating. Thanks for making the suggestion though!:tb-cool:
I'm still trying to get a real appreciation for the amount of track and stuff that can or cannot be fit in a given space, but here is what I have roughly running in my mind so far. I wanted to avoid reversing loops but still have the illusion of a single track main. I think by hiding alot of the run behind scenic dividers, mostly hills and trees, and possibly the backdrop, I will accomplish that end. The detachable part is to create an aisle between the layout and my bed and must be implemented, otherwise I will be restricted to the maximum of 3 foot depth on the left end. I think if I finagle with the shape of the hill, I can elimainte the need to have part of it detach and just have the farm, creek, and bit of roadway and track detach. That way, no track that is under foam will be detached and can easily be maintained. There will be underlayout access to the long tunnel track through a subterranean cutout in the benchwork. The backdrop hiding the long bit of track along the back wall will be removable also somehow. Those track leads are drawn as if headed down to staging, but I'm not sure I'm ready to take that leap yet and they can just meet one another at grade. Comments? Suggestions? I apologize for the horrific PSP7 paint over, but the original pen drawings were indechiperable.
Jeepy84: Consider using a HCD with two inches of pink foam on top. Planning a nice layout with decent radii on a HCD will surprise you. Use a HCD 80x36".
Room preparation and especially the "train corner" of the room is now ready for benchwork! My homemade TV stand is and the benchwork is going to be on rubber casters so everything can be moved for cleaning, maintenance and troubleshooting of wiring, derails, and any other reason for access. Its 15 degrees outside right now, but I'm going to head down into the garage and see what kind of lumber I can scrounge up. I know we have some 2x4s I could split in half for legs, see what else is around. May update later. I haven't been able to find a cheap door yet. Here is a pic of the reconfigured TV stand. Its shape allows for the benchwork legs to straddle it in the corners behind it. Update: there is spare lumber in the garage, but nothing long enough to be used for legs. Going to get to the hardware store sometime this week.
I got my Unitrack template set today! Now I can really start figuring out my track plan realistically.
I think the foam alone idea can work. But you can use the foam itself to create a framework of sorts. Using 1" thick, you can cut strips maybe 4" tall. Then glue those under the main sheets around the edges and maybe a cross through the center. Then trim it with some card stock or something on the sides. Super light.
If you go with your idea in the image above, I think that you will have nothing but problems with the detachable section. As others have suggested go with a HCD. Gary
If you look at mine you will see that it is much the same shape but mine is 4x8 though. Small area a hcd would be the best.
After the numerous HCD suggestions I decided to map out the end of the room where the layout will be just to see how a HCD will fit in the space I have. There are a few problems with the HCD that already are apparent to me. 1. The aisle between the benchwork and bed is only 1.5' across. I (or my mother, depending on the week) carry clothes baskets through there to my dresser which sits next to the glass-door case below the bottom of the drawing. Chances are good the layout would be bumped or worse with that limited aisle width. 2. I still have over a foot of available room on the side closest to the door. 3. Being hollow core, I can't cut into the door without compromising it's integrity. One of these days I would like to move out of this house and into my own. My Cherokee can fit a 4x4' to 4x5' foot section of layout in the back comfortably, but not something over 6 feet long. Therefore what I'm hoping to do with the bulk of the layout is have it divided into managable sections based on where the trackplan allows for pieces to be separated. They will only be separated when it comes time to move. In my pile of lumber I already have 2 large pieces of 1/4" subfloor (like luan so far as I know) to put under the foam to give it strength. What sort of problems could potentially happen with the detachable part? If it is the angled section of track I've thought of that. After seeing a few modules built into a layout in person at a hobby shop in Pittsburgh, I'm going to reconfigure the trackplan so all track meets the edge at 90 degrees for easier disconnect/reconnect. As for how I'm going to attach the section itself, I'm still looking for inspiration. I was thinking maybe some sort of horizontal slots under the main benchwork that hold the detach piece's subframe, sort of like a drawer, only instead of sliding under, it comes off and is stored separate. Then supported on the outer edge with a detachable leg or two, depending upon how strong I feel it is, not sure about that yet though. I appreciate everyone's opinion and I understand the ease of use in a door, I just feel it isn't going to allow me to utilize the odd space I have best or to execute future plans without destroying what I create.
Benchwork has begun! Built 24ft. of 1x3 L-girders out of an 8 foot long piece of free birch plywood Then I realized my hands were kinda numb from the cold, lol.
Finally got the garage to myself for a few more hours this evening. Got 8 legs made out of maple plywood and 2x2s. You can see the actual benchwork top sticking out from behind the plywood sheet on the left (the odd angled piece). Tomorrow I hope to attach the legs, get the brad nuts attached and screw on the casters. Maybe even move it into the room.
Well, other issues kept me from the garage this evening, didn't have train time til after 10. So instead I worked on getting a better idea of what track I am going to need by making a plan in Anyrail. Then I screencopied that into PSP7 for the hills, roads, buildings, stream, etc. After combining the two files' tracklists, I came up with this: Buffalo & Pittsburgh Track Plan Version #1 20000, N Kato Unitrack 20000. Straight 9 3/4 in. 18 20010, N Kato Unitrack 20010. Straight 7 5/16 in. 3 20020, N Kato Unitrack 20020. Straight 4 7/8 in. 6 20040, N Kato Unitrack 20040. Straight 2 7/16 in. 2 20041, N Kato Unitrack 20041. Straight feeder 2 7/16 in. 2 20046, N Kato Unitrack 20046. Buffer Type A, 2 7/16 in. 2 20091A, N Kato Unitrack 20091A. Straight 1 25/32 in. 1 20100, N Kato Unitrack 20100. Curve radius 9 13/16 in, angle 45º 6 20101, N Kato Unitrack 20101. Curve radius 9 13/16 in, angle 15º 2 20110, N Kato Unitrack 20110. Curve radius 11 3/32 in, angle 45º 5 20111, N Kato Unitrack 20111. Curve radius 11 3/32 in, angle 15º 2 20120, N Kato Unitrack 20120. Curve radius 12 13/32 in, angle 45º 4 20121, N Kato Unitrack 20121. Curve radius 12 13/32 in, angle 15º 2 20130, N Kato Unitrack 20130. Curve radius 13 11/16 in, angle 30º 1 20132, N Kato Unitrack 20132. Curve radius 13 11/16 in, angle 45º 4 20140, N Kato Unitrack 20140. Curve radius 15 in, angle 30º 1 20150, N Kato Unitrack 20150. Curve radius 28 9/32 in, angle 15º 4 20160, N Kato Unitrack 20160. Curve radius 18 15/16 in, angle 15º 5 20170, N Kato Unitrack 20170. Curve radius 8 1/2 in, angle 45º 4 20202, N Kato Unitrack 20202. Left turnout 7 5/16 in. (remote) 1 20203, N Kato Unitrack 20203. Right turnout 7 5/16 in. (remote) 2 20221, N Kato Unitrack 20221. Right turnout 4 31/32 in. (remote) 1 20434, N Kato Unitrack 20434. Straight 9 3/4 in. (bridge) (black) 1 [FONT="]Total track length: + 50 ¼ ft.[/FONT] If my math serves me correctly, which is sometimes doesn't, thats a little over 1.5 scale miles, right?. Of course that length includes all the spurs, so the mainline isn't that long. Still, heckuva lot more than a simple oval. Now just to figure out what pieces I have compared to what I still need.
Benchwork painted this weekend. Free exterior latex is where it's at. Also the trackplan is evolving into something with a bit more operational interest. I'm not sure if I like the backdrop placement in the second one. I won't be able to access track from the backside of the layout even thought I can roll it out from the wall. However, I will be able to give little peeks at the train through the trees on the grade, might make for some neat photos...
Thanks Russ! It was kinda starting to feel like I was talking to me myself and I in here. Depending upon the necessity for a second coat of paint or not, I may have assembled layout with pink plains and little trains pictures tomorrow evening!
Looking good! This is the fun part of layout building (well actually all of it is) - in that you feel like you are making alot of progress because you're building BIG things! Keep us posted
