Allergy

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

Hello

I’ve become allergic to dust for some reason.

I’m about to build my first layout with my two sons. We have already built the benchwork, using really nice, dried pine that I sanded and cleaned. We built it just like the Sievers’ Benchwork that you see advertised. It is a “shelf” layout … 2’ X 12’, and we are going to have a little HO switching thing.

The layout is in a little room I use as an office, working 8 hours a day in, and sometimes I even end up sleeping the night in there.

Are there any building materials that I should avoid, because of my allergies and the amount of time I spend in there? Do any of you guys have any problems? Any materials deteriorate over time or something? Any old plywood is OK?

The room is kept climate controlled, no humidity.

Again, it is just a little switching layout — industrial spurs, engine yard and shop, etc. No hills or rivers. Flat. No cork roadbed. Just a dirty industrial setting. I’m about to buy a DCC system (still undecided as to which system) and three quality loco’s.

Should I just throw some plywood up there? Too noisy and hard? Homosote (painted first) on top of the plywood? Are there better materials?

Thanks alot.
Jim

BTW …My two sons, ages 12 and 14, always thought anything model trains was corny. We recently saw a layout that a local club was operating, and my boys became all excited about it. One boy has been putting together a Walther’s engine shed, the other boy … a coal tipple thing. Operating with DCC, track layout, weathering, they’re learning everything. They both have football camp in the morning… come home all muddy and hurting, and then they go right for the train stuff.

This little intial setup is really costing me alot of money (my wife does not even realize it yet), but I’ll do anything to keep them off the couch and the TV and video games.

2

I can’t really help you with your allergy woes, but I couldn’t help but give you some encouragement that your “costs” are potentially a valuable investment.

I grew up with the unexplainable MRR fascination, which really blossomed after I discovered Model Railroader and MRC magazines at age 8. The electrical, woodworking, fabrication, troubleshooting, craftsmanship, attention to detail, etc atilities/traits have served me well, as they will with your children. The electrical aspects of the hobby led me to take an electronics Vo-Tech class in high school. After the instructor saw I liked designing and building electronics, he recommended that I consider engineering school. I completed degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering about 10 years later. I have a good career and a comfortable salary to support my wife and family now- all because of the seeds sown by model railroading. I had no interest in TV, some interest in video games- but most importantly I wasn’t roaming the streets. It sounds like your kids may be headed down the same path- congratulations!

Come on in- the water’s fine!

3

Jim,

OK, this is gonna sound weird but it worked for me. Maybe it will for you, too.

I never had any problems with dust until I was 14. We were moving into a new house and I had to tear down the old layout in the basement. I swept up afterwards and I started sneezing and my eyes were watering. Of course at some point you get a “space head” from all the congestion, etc, too. It lasted for about a week. I went to the Doc and he said, “It’s in the air…”. This sensitivity bothered me for several years, on and off and could make me feel quite miserable. Medication makes you drowsy and spacey feeling, and sometimes it seems like it dries thing up too much, as well. I’ve had it start acting up sometimes when I walked into a very hot room, too.

At some point several years agoI noticed that I could tell when it was trying to start acting up because way up in my left nostril it would start to itch and almost burn. Of course the irritation would eventually make my nose run and my eyes water, which would irritate the spot even more, and I would think, “here we go again”. Up inside my left nostril it would get so sensitive that just the air passing over the area while breatheing irritated things and kept the cycle going. So one day as an experiment, I took a piece of tissue, balled it up to about the size of a marble, and stuck it just inside my left nostril (for those of you without a shred of common sense, DO NOT PU***HIS ALL THE WAY UP INSIDE YOUR NOSE!!!). I started to experience almost immediate relief because the air wasn’t tickling the sensitive area anymore. This works as a great preventive, too. Stick a tissue in your nose before sweeping the garage floor, for example. And for those of you dying to respond with advising to just use a dust mask, for some reason it doesn’t really work as well.

A zany solution, but if it works and makes you fell better, hey, go for it.!

Good luck!

4

I’d avoid some foams (and I can’t name them) that might contain formaldehyde. As an allergy sufferer there isn’t too much that a normal dust mask won’t filter out. I’d rather sneeze than wear the things though. I’d just keep good ventilation through the area and possibly one of the air filters you can purchase at Home Depot should do the trick.

5

ironmine;

Get rid of the old plywood, stuff will (has) grow in it. Do not go with Homasote®. Do use extruded (NOT expanded) polystyrene insulation board.

Do get a shop vac, with an accessory HEPA filter. Do get a room filtration unit with a HEPA filter and ionization feature.

6

Allergy shots are always available and should be covered by health insurance. Your family doctor should be able to refer you to an allergist. Don’t let your allergies get in the way of sharing this great hobby with your boys. And as others have pointed out, the costs may be high, but are well worth it when you consider the alternative… and the time with them you get out of it.