I planned on having the Walthers Cars Shop and the Back Shop in my Yard/Service layout but I lost the base to the car shop and saw one on eBay that no one was really biding on so I bought. I put in the base and tracks for the Car Shop and as I was getting ready to do the Back shop for my Engine Service Facility, realized that I had enough room to combine two. I only have one Back Shop and almost two complete car shops and I could combine the Car shops, but I would rather have a large Engine Service Facility and keep the Car Shop next to the yard. Since I can’t find another Back Shop I was wondering if I could connect the extra Car shop to the rear of the Back shop and use it for my Engines.
I dont have them...but...I see by the demensions that they should butt up against each other just fine. I dont see that the whole thing would look bad at all. JMO .
They both have the exact identical base with track groves so at leas the bottom will fit. The sides have different window sizes and possibly the roof height. The roofs are different so I might have to do some fill in on top. I guess I need to open up the Back Shop and compare it side by side. The reason I want the Back Shop or my Engine Shop so long is because I want to do some inside detail work. I haven’t tried it yet, but I also bought the Walters Overhead Crane to install and want to buy the TrainCat Engine Service Walkway. I’m not sure if it will all fit into the Car Shop.
It looks like the heights are about a half inch difference. That would be even better...as one would be slightly lower as the sides butt up against each other. You would simply kitbash in the end of the one that reaches higher....maybe with some original windows from that side...hmmmm. One building would simply look like an 'addition' to the other at some point in time...happens all the time in real life ;-) .
Thanks, I’m still trying to picture it in my mind. I think it might look cool from the outside with two roof heights and styles, but I can’t imagine what it will look like inside with locos. I guess what I’m going to do is leave enough room for the second building in the back so i can do it anytime. I just have to figure out what to do about the track. I guess I could cut the track and leave it long so I can align the rail correctly it in the grooves without a connector.
The only thing that comes to mind is if you also choose to use the car shop on the layout, it's going to be obvious that the second half of the back shop is another car shop. Since the buildings are kinda similar anyway, why not use the back shop as the car shop, then kitbash the two car shops together for a large back shop?
Oh…thanks for pointing that out! It didn’t occur to me that the two Car Shops near each other would be just too obvious. You are correct that’s not going to work. I guess I could move the engine shop to the Car Shop location. It will be on the back side of the layout and I will not be able to see much of the inside details. I wasn’t going to do any detail in the car shop because of it being lower in height. It would actually be better to swap locations because the current location for the Car shop is off of the Arrival/Departure track and the current location Engine Shop is off the lead track to the yard. So I guess it would make more sense to swap locations.
Good. Connecting the two car shops will make a nice big building, plenty of room for interior details, pits, inspection walkways, tools, lighting, etc. And after looking at both of them again, i think the car shop design will work out better when connected. I would probably trim off the raised ends to make it match up better. And as a bonus, you'll be left with two building fronts. Could make some excellent shallow depth background buildings or warehouses!
I’m warming up to this idea and I like it better. I think I’ll still use the overhead crane, but I’ll put it on the outside of the Back Shop. I think I saw a steel structure somewhere to support the crane.
What, you're not going to do the crane inside the new engine shop (double car shop)? Imagine using a servo to animate it a bit. That plus the arc-welding LED kit from Evan Designs and that interior could look awesome!
Now that’s an idea. I already have the welding lights and I have 4 or 6 extra servo outputs on my controller. I don’t have any idea of how to hook it up. Do you know of any place where I can get information on that?
Oh yes that’s what I’m looking for. I’m going to pick up one of those, thanks. I haven’t got to the Back Shop yet, because I’m still STRUGGLING with painting the Car Shop. I’ve painted it twice and I’m not happy with it. The mortar just isn’t working for me and I’m thinking that I just might forget about it. Note: the base is just a temporary gluing jig to help keep it square.
Mock Up? This has so many possibilities, have you considered trying to mock up some of the ways you could do this? Just take the major walls to the copier. Print them on cardstock or on paper and paste it to cereal box cardboard. Glue it together with some balsa in the corners. Then you can see what fits where and how you best like it. By the way, this is not original. I've seen this idea mentioned several times on various fora. (Sorry, my high school latin just kicked in, even though I last studied it 50 years ago!) Bill B
That’s a good idea, I haven’t thought about that, but I’ll have to take it work where they got a copy machine big enough to copy something this size.
