I have a 70" stretch of track that looms 42" above a brick floor. I have nightmares about the plunge to the floor. There is room for a road between the track and edge, so I was wondering if I glued some vehicals in stratigic places to the road surface would these be enough to stop a derailment with a plummet over the edge or are they to small to stop a train. If you think it might work what kind of glue should I use to glue the cars and trucks down? Thanks.
Brent
How about a gaurd rail of some sort?
If current era, there are plenty available.
If older era, you could either install wood posts or cut rail posts every 6-10 feet, with chain draped between them and threaded through holes drilled near the top.
Another option, add wood trim to the front of your layout, and put the wood about 3/4 inch above the scenery to form a lip. It will class up your layout, too. If you alreay have a flat front face on your layout frount, you could add another piece that is made of thin material like msaonite, and paint it to match.
If you decide to go with the cars and trucks, Goop is a good adhesive for such uses. It doesn’t matter if the tube says Plumbers Goop, Household Goop, Automotive Goop, or something else; Goop seems to be the same in all the different tubes. It’s silicone that dries almost transparent, but it does have a strong odor until it sets.
How about a piece of clear plexiglass? Can see through it and with it screwed to the fornt facia it would hold any wanderiing trains. I have one planned for my portable layout, not only to keep the trains from throwing themselves off the table, but also to keep little hands from knocking them off.
Just a thought.
Good luck,
The idea of a road on the side of the track sounds fine. There are many places where roads and track are next to each other. On the LK&R we have foam scenery and roads made from foamcore board. The vehicles have a small nail epoxied to the bottom. The nail is pushed into the road holding the vehicle in place. The nail dosent show much either.
The idea of a trim board or plexiglass is a good one no matter how far the layout is above the floor. The LK&R Ry. has a six inch trim board that extends two inches up around the sides of the layout. As was said the trim board makes the layout look finished which improves the visuals.
I would think having automobiles (presumably at least some metal ones) glued down solidly on a road next to the track would actually cause more damage to the train than it would prevent. If there’s enough room for a road, there’s room for a section of grass scenery next to the track that the train can roll onto if it derails. As noted, you could put edging around that part of the layout higher than the track by say a half inch, and have a slight uphill slope between the track and the edge of the layout…preferably decorated with thick “wild” grass. Then any derailing car will just roll onto nice soft scenery with no scratches or scuff marks.
You could always put wood trim around the layout, and cut a groove in the top.
Slide a 1-2 inch piece of plexiglass in, but leave it removable for pictures, work, guests, etc…
A convoy of semis oughtta do it,glued down wirh silicone rubber.[:o)]
you could have repackaged it and called it toad buggers or something like that and made a fortune.
back to the vehicles. why not model a traffic jam with trucks? i use strips of cardboard tacked to the edge of my layout for a temporary safety stop while it is under construction. plan to install something more finished looking later on. (if i live that long}
grizlump
Nope they wouldn’t stand a chance trying to stop a train. Just like in real life. Like cowman said your best bet is to put some clear plexiglass around the edge to act as a shield. Now for general scenery use I would say use goop or something to hold them down personally I don’t bother because I like to change the vehicles around a.) to operate in earlier years b.) because sometimes I feel a particular vehicle looks better in a different scene at the moment and c.) so it doesn’t feel like I’m redoing the same day all the time.
If there’s room for a road, there’s room for a natural berm instead. You can build a scenic barrier about an inch or so high, sloping down towards the track. The track would appear to be in a cut through the scenery. All you need is some chunks of foam and plaster cloth to smooth it over. The berm doesn’t need to be continuous, as long as the gaps are no longer than a car-length.
This also makes the trains move “through” the scenery, instead of “in front of” the scenery. As the train moves down that long straight, playing peekaboo behind the berm, it will have the effect of making the run seem longer.