I am in the beginning stages of “restoring” the layout my father built for me when i was a kid. It was stored in a damp basement for a long time and is in pretty rough shape. Nothing has run on it in over 40 years. I’m planning to remove the old brass track and chewed up homosote. Also planning on covering it with a 4x8 sheet of plywood and 2inch foam. I have the track plan drawn out in Anyrail and am working on buying track, cork, wire, and other essentials.
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Wow, that is quite the layout. Your father put a lot of thought and effort into building this for you. It would seem like he was also very much interested in model railroading too. If you are going to rebuild it, just be aware that the radius of the curves might be too small for many of today’s locomotives and rolling stock to navigate. Aside from that, it is a very impressive layout.
-Eric
My father was very into model railroading. Most of my collection has been inherited from him. My plan is to make this a starting point for something bigger.
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Good on you Al for continuing your father’s work. My wife and I are doing the same with her late father’s stuff. When he had to pack it in and move in with one of his kids. We disassembled the 2 4x8 layout tables that his layout was, removed the structures and boxed up what we could. Then moved them up to our acreage. We didn’t have any heated space to store them and after about 15 years of that they looked pretty dismal. So I took what i could off of them and had to turf the rest of it all. However we were able to save all the other goodies, and now are slowly rebuilding things in his memory. Some times when were there in the train room we feel his presence with us as we play away. Enjoy the memories….
asardaro, since everything needs to be replaced except the inspiration and the track plan, have you considered recreating it in n scale? It may give you much more freedom to run a wider variety of locomotives in that 4x8 footprint, and if you do make it the starting point for something bigger, well, so much the better. But best of luck and wishes regardless. Ron
Ron, I really hadn’t. Mainly because so much of my collection is in HO scale. My current constraint isn’t the amount of space I have. The area I have is about 12 x 20. I drew up a plan then stared to calculate the cost of materials including benchwork, track, and wiring (I already have a 5 amp DCC system). This is more or less a cost saving idea so that I can have something to run some trains on in the near future. My father always planned on having a big layout in his basement. We even cleared out space and built walls. He never got to build the layout he wanted. As a result, most of his collection of trains (300+ xerox boxes) is still new in the packages. I am determined not to have the same fate.
Al
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well, that makes all the difference, as long as those trains run in DCC or can be converted to DCC, or you are willing to run them in DC. Best of luck to you. It is a noble project indeed. I hope someone in my family carries on for me when I’m out of here, but my sons have zero interest and my granddaughter is only 5. When she is old enough I’ll have her sign a contract. 
Ron,
Fortunately, many of them are easily upgraded to DCC. Don’t lose faith all together. I had only a slight interest until my father passed away. Going through his collection has rekindled that interest for me. Also, my wife like the arts and crafts side of making scenery so it is something we can do together. Maybe one of your sons will “come around”. 