When we need to move to another house, are there tips about how to move our layout? Thanks.
It depends on the construction / benchwork from your layout.
With modules or a layout in segments - no problems.
If you have your benchwork in segments, what’s about the wires?
Do you need to cut the wires?
Wolfgang
Sometimes, it’s just easier to move the new house over the layout. [swg]
If you are using a mover, DO NOT let a mover do any packing, they do not have a clue about fragile RR stuff. Leave the boxes open for them to “inspect” and close, that way they probably will be listed as “packed by mover” and covered by insurance, instead of “packed by owner” and not covered.
Remove your buildings, and wrap them in plastic trash bags (medium trash bags are a good size). Cut down the bags to fit the building and close with tape. That way any small parts that fall off will still be in the bag instead of lost in the packing materials. Do the same with vehicles and rolling stock if you do not have the original boxes. Pack in boxes with styro peanuts or other good packing materials.
Remove trees and other scenery that could be damaged. Trackwork and most hardshell or styrofoam with ground foam scenery probably will be OK.
If the layout is too large to move in one piece, look carefully where to make the cuts, both on top and underneath. Try to minimize the number of tracks you have to cut. Before taking the saw to the benchwork, mark each wire under the cut with tape and a code so you will know how to reconnect later. Cut and bundle the wires away from where the saw blade will run. Cut tracks on straights instead of curves as much as possible. Try to cut across areas that will do the least damage to your scenery and in areas that cam be mosy easily repaired. Sometimes a curved or angled cut will be less damaging than a straight one. Buy rolls of cardboard and wrap the layout after packing the low areas with balled up newspaper.
Before you remove the layout legs, number them both on the leg and the layout so you know which leg goes where when you re-install.
When you set the layout up again, remember the width of your saw blade. It may seem small, but it will affect the fit of your track (another reason to cut on straights instead of curves).
The above is based on “Been there and done that” and a sucessful move with little layout
After the previous post, I got to thinking of alternatives, i.e. should you save buildings and other good parts, demolish the layout and start over in the new home. You may ask why I would say this. The answer is how much have you modeling skills improved from when you started the layout? Could you do a lot better with a do-over?
I know you probably have spent a lot of time and effort on the present layout, but try to take a look at it with a critical eye as to what you could have done better with your present modeling knowledge and skills.
The time-honored advice to this question is, “Don’t even consider it unless the layout was originally designed with portability in mind and constructed in an easily handled, modular sections, manner.”
Few layouts ever successfully make it through relocation and reconstruction to a useful form once again. It’s almost always best to just start over and build something that is actually designed to fit the new available space.
CNJ831
You don´t state how big your layout is. If it is not a basement filling empire - something like a 4 x 8, then moving it can be done, if you follow some simple measures:
- Remove all “loose” objects from the layout
- Protect the layout with boards at the sides - high enough to protect your tallest structure
- Protect the underside of your layout
- Don´t rely on somebody else to load/unload, be there yourself and supervise any step.
If is a bigger layout, all I can do is to re-emphasize what CNJ831 stated earlier.
I will second that opinion. When I moved five years ago I was able to salvage twon sections of the original layout which I stripped down to the cork roadbed. Everything else that was salvagable was packed in bubble wrap and put in padded boxes - and even then there was some minimal damage. I did allow the movers to take those sections (they were 3’x8’) but they weren’t happy because of the room it all took on the truck. I moved all the boxes myself.
The issue I had was that the old layout didn’t exactly fit in the space I have here. I knew that going into it and also knew that it would almost have to be rebuilt from the ground up. The two sections that did get moved were incorporated into the new design but they also needed some modification.
Since i probably have one more move to go, I tried to build this layout in sections that could easily be unbolted and transported. That whole concept lasted about 6 months and now when I move again, it will mean a total disassembly of everything again.
My advice - don’t try it unless your layout was specifically built to be moved. The problems you may encounter reassembling and getting everything running again may not be worth the dollars and cents cost of building a new layout.
My answer?
All rolling stock, and the few structures I own, went into plastic file storage boxes, which I personally moved in my own vehicle (pickup with topper.) The one ‘end of the railroad’ module (18 x 96 inches) was also carried on one of my Nashville - Las Vegas journeys.
The rest of my Tennessee layout was reduced to raw materials - flex track, steel studs of various lengths, boards (some with staging yard tracks still installed, since re-used as-is) electrical cables and such were put into boxes and loaded into the same truck that carried furniture, clothing and kitchen goodies - a rental truck, driven alternately by myself, my son and my wife.
Everything arrived undamaged. Almost everything has since been incorporated into the ‘last in this lifetime’ layout. That one module, now 30 years old, will be reused when construction has reached the point where it can be. In the meantime, it exchanges cassettes with the part of the permanent layout that has been finished.
For the future, I’ve built complex specialwork on removable bases, held to the main frame members of the benchwork with a few studs and wing nuts. The electricals for them are plug-ins. The rest of the layout can be broken down into five major, truck-transportable sections. It’s far more likely to be broken down into a much larger number of smaller items, some suitable to recycle, some destined to decorate a landfill. As for that, it’s far more likely to be a problem for my executor than for me.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)