Broke down purchased 15 1x4's for the new layout. Have to do a little redesigning as the one loop will be right in front of a basement window. Was going for a U shaped layout thing I'll have to go L shaped. Don
If the human access to the only basement window in a room is "permanently" blocked, the room cannot legally be used (or listed when sold) as a bedroom per most building codes. "Permanently" does not include furniture/fixtures that are not fastened in place and can be moved (no matter how heavy the furniture or weak/small the occupant sleeping in the room), so a lift/slide-out section in front of the window would suffice (contact your local building office). Note that in many places, the recommendations to secure furniture to the wall to prevent tipping, actually violates the code WRT basement window access.
BigJake, There is another window to use if their is a problem, plus the door going to the garage. don
I make 2 ft. X 42 modules using 1/4 in. plywood on top of a 1 X 4 Frame with 1 cross brace the long way and cover the plywood with 1/2 in. foam. It is quiet and easy to work with and one can add thickness by adding foam layers and carving it for mountains and or??
I kinda like the looks of it for major mainline trackage, since it raises the tracks further above the surrounding terrain, but a sheet of 1/2" foam board would be a lot easer to lay down, and would silence the drum on secondary, lower trackage that you didn't want to raise. Then you could use cork roadbed on top of it, to raise just the mainline trackage. But it's not my railroad, it's yours...
Wish you would have said something sooner.That would have been a lot better. But at 75 I hope this is the last layout. Don
Does anybody ever finish a layout without noticing things they would have done differently?! Life's too short to let regrets keep us from moving forward and enjoying the world that is, rather than fretting that it isn't the world it could be. The fact that you are building a new layout is a win in my book.
Basically the same as what I was suggesting, although I use craft foam instead of cork roadbed and didn't mention that you could leave out the craft foam on spurs and sidings: You could use craft foam on the lower trackage because it is a little thinner than cork roadbed. I have also used foam shelf liner that is a hair thinner than craft foam and does a slightly better job of absorbing noise because it it softer.
Some decoders support basic sounds on DC rails such as engine startup when the decoder first detects power on the rails, and some will even allow a horn if you switch the polarity back and forth really quickly, but that is about it. Personally I limit the number of noisy locomotives I have so I’m not 100% aware of all the functions when on DC. Just the basics.
