Adventures in a ceiling track

Addendum to above. Sorry if I seem sarcastic. It's more like I can't follow your reasoning which my be my 67 yr old brain not functioning. Your ceiling does, to me, look 12 ft high, no ? I don't get why not just make a narrow shelf layout, single main and a few spurs, loading dock/depot, light scenery at say, 52" common MRR height. What's the need for it near ceiling in the first place ? How much room would it take up if shelf were same width as you have now (+-) but at eye level ?

 

Mark, you're a hoot. Yes, you did see a bald head. Here is the culprit. And yes, your observations are correct. The troll does not have a clear 24" view of the trains.


I hope you can see from the background that my office has a normal eight foot ceiling. You are about right about the ceiling drop. The shelf is 11.5 inches from the ceiling putting it right above the doorway trim. That puts the shelf about 15 inches over my head (yes, I am old and short). The ladder against the wall is at 6 feet, if that helps with your perspective.

 

Like I said earlier, this is in my office. I could not place it below the doorways as it would obstruct traffic. I like trains, but I like earning money more at the moment. I need the ceiling track because it makes me happy. It has also proved to be good for business. Clients are fast to engage in conversation about it and the rapport is quick.

If it puts you at ease, I'll let you know that I am planning my real layout. Since the kids have all moved out, I have inherited a 24x12 foot rec room to use as I wish. The boss (my wife) has agreed to let me use the whole room for a layout as I wish. That layout will have many spurs, depot, etc. It will also be at a height you find acceptable though not at 52 inches; did I mention that I am short?

 

Then, mea culpa. The original photos of walls from above looked to me to be 12 feet. Sorry about that. Now I get the doorway problem. All the very best on this and the big layout coming..Be extra careful with your schematic on this as far as reachability of trains and, aisle ways, how many people you'll want to be at ease in them at the same time. Design so no track is closer to ledges than 4 to 6 inches, danger-wise and scenically. Don't overkill with tunnels and track/less is more, and no duck-unders ! You probably know all this this already... Case closed, Mark

 

I decided to add a bridge over the tall doorway and the fireplace. The door bridge is smaller, so I decided to attempt it first, especially since I have never built a bridge before. There is a bridge with Baltimore trusses that I liked on the old Western Maryland Railway, so I decided to model after that.

I found the bridge in a book and drafted it out on a piece of paper to get the dimensions right.


Then I transferred my measurements to a Styrofoam board. And started cutting the wood. Here is where I found my first problem. I have been drafting and building electronic circuits for over thirty years, which just involves drawing lines and is two dimensional. It never occurred to me to account for the wood's dimensions in the draft. [insert head slap here] So, after reading a book on 3-D drafting, I was back in action.


After building the sides, I just had to assemble the thing.



I will have to admit that I was somewhat surprised to see that my measurements resulted in something that actually fit as this is my first woodworking project.




Now, I am at the crossroads of what to do next. Since I am not modeling, should I bother to add the rivets to the gussets, or just go ahead and paint it? And when I do paint it, do I go for the original grey, or the current rusty color as the bridge sits now?

 

I guess it could have been silver. The tiny paint remnants on the bridge where very old. Maybe they looked gray because of thier age and weathering. The picture in the book makes the bridge look black, but it was taken in 1908, so I wasn't sure how to decipher the black and white photo.

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