Yes more questions from me. On a 10ft by 14ft layout. That is somewhat square how many rerailers should there be and where should they be placed? Now what about cork for under the track is there another material that can be used? Can liquid nails be used to adhere the cork or other material or is it better to use nails? Since there will only be about 9inches of clearance from the track to the ceiling would it be better to build this in sections and raise it (if so how) or try to build it while it is supported on the wall I need lots of opinions
I don't believe that the spacing on your rerailers would really matter, although I would make them as a railroad crossing to help in aid to the road crossing and all. And also will help in the derailment department. Where any roads would cross your mainline I would place a rerailer at that location. And also I would want them to be straight, not a curved section. If you may have any tunnels I would have on inside of him as well. This would help in aiding a derailment inside the tunnel itself and help you with getting to it being its elevated and slightly harder to get to. On building the shelf, this may be alittle tedoius. For one All your sections built on the floor would have to have the track mate up to the next piece of track, prefectly aligned. I would build everything on the floor except the laying the track. I'd build it in 8 foot sections, and then install it on the wall, without the track. But make sure that its mounted solid. Being you could use liquid nail for the cork road bed and then nail the tack fast to the cork and the board itself. Be sure to get nail braids long enough to go all the way through the cork road bed and into the board. But also be carefull not to drive the nail home. As this will bend the ties and cause a rail gauge maladjustment and cause derailments. So tap lightly. No not hammer the nail in with alot of presure. If you build the shelf in section of 8 feet it should not be to great of weight to carry up a ladder and mount. Although before doing this. I would mount the supports first without the board attached. Measure your distance of drop from the ceiling, then make a mark on the wall at whatever level you prefer and then mount the brackets. Then when you begin the assembly of the board itself the brackets will help you to make this a one man job. They will hold one end while you fasten the other end down. I would fasten the 2 ends first. Then go back and fasten the centers. On this I would leave the ends slightly loose so you could do any adjustments to the boards end to end so they would line up and be true. Once you have a few sections up, all the joints between boards, you can then align them to be true and straight. Then when you go to add the plexiglass as I've mentioned in a prior post, this would be so forgiving in mounting the plexiglass... You would not have any gaps to worry about and also the joints would be stright and not off set that you would have an edge of the plexiglass sticking out from the other edge of the plexiglass. [ 16 January 2002: Message edited by: 7600EM_1 ]
Pete, I believe he's planning on making it only a few inches below the ceiling.... So its above the door, how much further I'm not to sure of.
My point is, if it's a loop of track above the door, there is no need to use cork roadbed, and spend time ballasting, painting and detailing the track when noone will see it. Just use the Life-Like "powerloc track" (or Bachman track). This already has the roadbed which you could still ballast over anyway. Set the track up on the floor. Cut and fit the shelving underneath it. Lay the shelves on the brackets you've installed, then lay the track on top of that. The whole process couldn't possibily take more than an hour or two.
Between the ceiling and the shelving there will about 9 inches of space. I realive this may be too high to see really good but right now this is all I have to work with. Oh to answer your question it is a single loop and the board I will be working on will be either 4 or 5 inches wide. I am thinking about putting in a staging area so I can have a second train waiting to run. I was leaning toward the atlas code 100 track since it can come in three foot sections.
EJM3, Well Atlas also offers code 83 rail in 3 foot sections of flex track as well as the code 100. Its alittle more scale looking, but if you plan to run anything old from the 1970's the code 83 might cause you some problems with flange lengths. But you can get a line of Atlas code 100 and code 83 and both have a great selection of track...
EJM3, code 100 would be the safest because of the long flanges on older cars and engine wheels you might be given as presents, or buy. When you mention having a siding to hold another train to run, that would require one or two turnouts to accomplish. How are you going to see the turnout to determine which direction the train will go? You do realize that if a running train accidentally goes into the siding the real train wreck will probably cause some or all of your trains to cascade to the floor! May I suggest you use red and green lights to indicate turnout setting? Then make track blocks to protect the siding when one or both turnouts are thrown to enter or exit the siding? The running train will have to stop clear inorder for the siding train to enter the main line loop, so you MUST know that there is room to pass. You will not see the rails even from a standing position, so be sure to aim the lights where you can see them from the control panel in time to make an emergency stop before crashing. It is not a pretty sight to witness a line of rolling stock come off a shelf like a log chain on its way to the floor!
Thanks for the advice. I am not sure if I am going to be able to go through with that part of the plan or not. The stagging area that is. Lack of skills and some serious cash flow considerations. I am trying to put enough cash together to buy all my supplies at once. I know that will never happen since I don't know everything I will need but the fewer trips I have to make the better since the nearest hobby store is 70 miles away. As far as the edge goes I am thinking about using thin plexiglass as a guardrail.
