Just curious about who else might be doing Large Scale Indoor model railroading.
If you are, describe it and what it serves and how long you have been working on it.
My layout was originally planned for the garden, but got banished to the garage. [:(!]Oh Well, So now I’m building a layout 20’ long and about 8’ deep with aisles and access points for maintanence, called the Borracho railroad and will serve a tequila factory (spanish speakers will get the joke) as well as a couple of mines. It has one long loop, a small freight yard, an engine yard, and several sidings and will be set in an Arizona border town. As much track and action as I can fit into the space without it getting cluttered. It will give me a chance to dive into finescale or at least a fine as my hamfists will allow. My aim is for 1:24 scale which allows the most flexibility[:D]
I have started an indoor layout in my basement. I have the benchwork up, track down and wired. I presently am in the process of building all my own buildings from wood that I cut in my workshop. It is a slow process as I only spend about 6 months a year working on it. The layout size is 55ft long by 25 wide “L” shaped layout, it takes up 3/4’s of the basement. Most of what I have is narrow gauge equipment. I do not follow any particular railroad, just having fun.
i was beginning to think I was the only one doing an indoor layout on this forum. I wish I had a basement that large, could really have some fun. I got banished from the garden when I layed out the tracks in the yard and next thing I know I’m building benchwork in the garage. Oh Well, just curious what radius curves you are using. Indoor layouts can be quit limited by the curves. I’m stuck with R1 curves but thats OK as all my stuff is small anyway. I’d like to hear more about your layout, what region if any are you basing it on, what kind of roster of equipment, things like that, scenery ideas , after all we may be the only two on this forum doing indoor big scale stuff.
Actually there are a few guys doing indoor layouts, in addition to some who run overhead around the wall. There is a forum over on www.myLargescale.com that is just for indoor layouts.
I am using r3 for my mainline curves and r1 for for my sidings and yards. The entire layout is built using “L” girder (Linn Westcott) construction. I have built it 51" from the floor and it is all flat top. The around the wall sections have storage underneath for my train boxes and some household storage. I can’t start scenery yet as I don’t have enough buildings done to complete an area. The trackwork is basically just a large L shaped oval with 2 passing tracks. I incorporated 2 lift out sections (1 is almost 9 ft long and the other is 6 1/2 ft long) so as to have access through the layout to the furnace and hot water tank. I do have to duck under the 9 ft section to get to the controls. I did not use any rail clamps and my lift out sections are connected with sliding rail joiners. There is just 1 place where power is applied to both of the rails, and 1 wire to each of the blocks. I have not noticed any voltage drop anywhere. I have divided the layout into 22 blocks. I use 2 MRC control master 20 powerpacks. I have the ability to unpug and move to another spot and plug in to run trains, by using phone jacks. This layout is almost 2 yrs old.
I do not spend as much time on the layout as I would like. Now that I can run whenever I want, I find myself in my shop working on buildings for the layout. All buildings are wood and most have wood clapboard siding. I buy windows and doors, but may start building my own to cut costs. Present building under construction has $70 in doors and windows. Which seems like a lot to me as everything else used was from materials on hand.
I have built a small frieght station from Garden Texture plans. A house/gas station form an article in N Gauge magazine. Another small town building form ? a railroad magazine. A water tower and a Chama coaling tower based on plans form Ghost Depo
I have a simple one at door hieght with four inside curves and one outside curve room app 20X22 (den). used white plastic coated wire shelving (so as to see the train while seated) 10’’ wide that I purchased from Lowes and Home Depot (they both carried same product. Works great! Lets me run when it rains Or just sit in the cool.
I presently am just placing just few buildings from kits along the wall nothing fancy as I am primarily working on an outside line but wanted something to run now what I put up only took a couple of days.
I set up an overhead layout in a back room also but it never looked quite right so it came down.
So now I’m just concentrating on the garage layout, all the track has been fitted and I’m laying down cork (18" x 36" 3/16" sheets cut to size) and wiring the power (using good’ole Atlas components). Doesnt make much sense to get high tech on my layout as its small in G guage standards. I have seperate power to the engine yard area which takes up 8’ on the south wall along with an access walk, then the main benchwork fills the west wall with the main body of the layout, its basicly a modified loop with two industrail sidings with the back leg of the line against the wall will be covered by hills and buildings. there is also a section of scenery that will roll out for access. A good sized trestle and canyon will take up the north end of the main body then another mine siding will be biult along the north wall of the garage, and that siding will eventually lead to a frieght yard on the north wall. I also have an Atlas O guage plymouth diesel that is going to be used as a Gn24 (close enough) mining tram that will have its own loop thru the hills. I am going to use kit buildings modified and some scratchbuilt structures. What I cannot to in layout size, I hope to make up for with detail.
Part of my outdoor layout is inside, the two parts are connected by a track running through a hole in our basement wall. Inside section is…2’x30’ on a table chest high.
I really have started on throwing a quick loop of brass around on a sheet of plywood so I can run the Aster C&S a couple or three times over the winter on the dining room table. I hate having a steamer sit in it’s showcase and never run.
Mama says it’s OK as long as I don’t make a mess. Hah!
Smoke detector Point taken. Again, when it comes to running indoors, “you da man”.
As to the OTHER point, it reminded me of a tip I’ll pass along to anyone building a steamer. Learned this one from another Aster builder.
Once the rolling chasis is complete with steam chests and valve gear in place, and BEFORE boiler and cab assembly, hook up a small aircompressor to the steam line to the steam chests. Then immerse THE ENTIRE CHASSIS in a vat of oil and RUN IT this way. It will test the integrity of your steam chest assembly AND “break in” or flex up the valve gear assembly very nicely. Run it for even a couple fo hours if nec and adjust accordingly.
When done, remove, clean it up and continue with the assembly.
Hey All,
My indoor layout is under construction but not running yet. It has a single mainline which runs the perimeter of the entire basement. It is wall mounted and runs on 1x6 pine boards. It runs along the rec. room wall, under the basement steps, along my workshop wall, through the laundry room, along the bathroom wall and back into the rec. room. The tunnel portals are lined with real stone from a local quarry. I used 4 foot diameter curves in the corners since it looked better in the room. My Bachmann Shay will pull a string of flats loaded with real logs. My favorite part is the corner in the rec. room. I am building a corner table from laminated pine that uses two large stones from the same quarry. They are about 30 inches wide and cut to fit into the corner of the wall. The lower stone is the coffee table, while just above it at track level is the second stone. On top of the second stone will be the track in a mountain setting with a real waterfall. Very challenging to say the least. No plaster here, all done with real rocks. Hard to put into words so pictures will be in order when it is done. Indoors is great with our Manitoba winters. Have fun guys. Later eh…Brian.