I have a room about 10 by 14. I don't have room for a floor layout so I want to wall mount one. I have about a ten inch space between the top of the door and ceiling. Some village wallpaper will serve as a backdrop. Where can I find dome ideas on how to do this? Also, what is the turning radius of an HO Scale train? I'm not sure how to do the corners. I also want to put a few lights on the tracks. I am so new to this. I have very little knowledge but big dreams.
Welcome to Trainboard EJM3. Your at the right spot to get the help you need.Maybe even more than you need Somebody here will have your answer .
Welcome to our railroad family here on the TrainBoard EJM3! I was in Martinsville, West Virginnia back in 1947 for a month visiting friends! We all had to learn how to "do" trains, just don't let it intimidate you. First things first, is to learn a little, go slow at first, experiment some, until you get the hang of it, then keep asking questions until you are old and grey like me! There are a lot of members here who are or have been right where you are now, so no one is going to laugh at any question you can think of to ask. We are all willing to help in any way we can. Almost all HO equipment will negotiate a standard 18" radius curve. You will want to start out with nickel silver rails because when they begin to turn color from natural oxidation, they will still carry current OK. (Brass rails will corrode with time, but that corrode is an insulator, so must be cleaned often.) That will be hard to reach easily with your track mounted so high off the floor. Not to be discouraged though! I visited a layout like you are planning, and the guy had made a tall stool that he could sit at a height to operate the layout OK. The only problem was when he did have a derailment, the car or engine was a TOTAL loss! So, build good track and run at lower (scale speeds) than you might want to. 65 miles an hour is about half throttle on most plastic engines made today, so be very careful about "opening 'er up" and ripping down the track just to see how fast she'll run! If you decide to consider other options, keep in mind that it would require 36" (three feet) just to turn your train all the way around to come back (180 degree curve) on an 18" radiusSee? BUT..... You can also have a lot of fun running a switching layout, where you run around the walls, but the train only runs from one yard to another. You can build a "Y" in a corner, or use an Atlas motorized turntable for diesels and small short steam engines. That means you could build the layout lower, easier to reach, and you can still have towns and buildings ever so often too. Most diesel engines will take a #4 turnout, but use a #6 as much as you can, to prevent derails if you ever get a bigger diesel with 6 wheel trucks, or a steam engine with more than 8 drivers. You can also email any of us off line directly if you have a lot of questions, or want to compare notes. At the top of this post there is a little icon that says email. Click on that, and you have our email address, OK? Neat huh?
The easiest way to run trains around the room, above the door, is to buy a starter set from Life-Like or Bachman and then buy more straight track to fill in the the spaces between the corners. I personally like the Life-Like "Power-Loc" track the best. Set it up on the floor first, then go to Home Depot and buy enough small metal shelf supports, and whatever size shelving suits your fancy. (1/2" x 3" x 8' pine or oak might be nice). Install the supports, fit the boards under the track and raise the empire! Next, when you've completely caught the model RR bug, check back here at Trainboard for more advice on the best equipment, track, layout planning, DCC, etc. Then it will be time to lower the empire, and add a new room to the house!
I can see two ways of doing what you've indicated. One way is to build a complete layout shelf that mounts on one wall that you can fold up when you're done. Probably a minimum of 3.5 ft wide by maybe 8 or so feet long if you want to have it loop around and be continuous running. Like was mentioned, a derailment could be disaster, so build extra space for scenery and to catch the train WHEN it does derail and head for the floor. A second way would be to run it around the wall in a continuous running loop. I've seen several G-scale commercial layouts this way. My wife suggested that I build something like that in a bedroom. Because it will be up high, you'll want to make sure that the track is absolutely free from flaws that might derail something, while still maintaining the visibility of the train from the ground. A small guard rail with a lot of open woodwork is suggested. I've seen them suspended from the ceiling or mounted on a shelf along the wall. Probably a combination of the two would be needed. Having the layout climb up over the door sounds nice, but isn't all that practical. A 2% grade is only about a 2" climb in 8', so you can get an idea of how much vertical movement you can have. 4% grades should be an absolute maximum. Can you imagine trying to run your train from one floor to another in your house? 9' climb X 2" per 8 feet equals almost 450' of track! You'll probably want to design the track to be level or close to it. It was mentioned that 18" radius curves are a minimum, but I'd suggest stretching it out to at least 22" or 24" radius curves, if for no other reason to make up for your difficulty in maintaining a smooth and consistent 18" radius curve, plus it'll be a LOT more reliable to run trains on. The longer cars will look a LOT more realistic with these wider curves as well. Good luck, and be sure and let us know how it works out! Mark
May I suggest a few ideas? One is the thought of a total disaster. Get some 1/8th inch thick plexiglass and run along the edges of the shelf. It doesn't have to be from the edge of the shelf to the ceiling but at least 2 inches high above the shelf board, so if your going to use say 1/2 inch plywood the plexiglass should at least be 2 and a half inches high. This will allow for viewing and add protection from a flying loco to the floor! On the corners, Make the board go clean to the corner flush and add an exra corner support for scenery and also stability, and use 22 inch radius for decent curves, that will look better then 18 inch radius and also be more forgiving on your loco's wether their short or long! And one other thing is clearance, the distance of width of the board and placement of track. Elevate the track with cork roadbed, and keep it at least 1 and a half inches from the edge. Measured from the nail braid hole in the ties, this is track center, from that point out to the edge is where I'd measure for the spacing. More to the space on the out side for scenery, if you'll want to put a biulding along the edge you'll need more space between the track and the very edge of the shelf. And if you run the plexiglass, you could make and open frame that would fall right on the plexiglass joints and run a stanchion to the ceiling also for support reasons and stain it like wood work in finish carpentry. This will enhance the looks of the shelf and the plexiglass. Take the length of the room and divide it equally into 3 or 4 and mark those 3 or 4 spots on the ceiling, this is where a up right (stanchion) will be. This is also the on center marking for the plexiglass. Install these presanded and if wanted routered, then stain prior to installing the plexiglass. This will look like furniture grade framing and take that "rough framming" look away from the shelf layout. For wiring and electricals, I'd run the wiring at the rear most portion of the shelf, underneath, or above on top the shelf, back against the wall. For the power pack, I'd go to a builders surplus store and see what for kitchen cabinets they may have and what "extras" as these type places carry various pieces and see if they have a decent looking drawers from a kitchen cabinet that you could purchase and along with sliding drawer brackets to mount the drawer to the bottom of the shelf and thats where i'd make all the controls lead into and your power pack would be in it and all the toggle switches on a small plate and so on. This would also help in keeping dust and dirt from the power pack and wiring. And not to mention out of the way. On doing lighting, I'd use small clear Christmas lights as a lighting source being your close to the ceiling and any real bright light being that close would cause sight problems and the Christmas tree lights could be ran on a 12 volt DC power supply and be bright enough to see and dim enough not to blind you. And run them in strings all the way around the room with the layout shelf. Hope this gives alittle idea and some help.... [ 14 January 2002: Message edited by: 7600EM_1 ]
