LAYOUT PROGRESS

After about a year of gathering information from you all and finally finding enough space, I am beginning construction of my layout along with my father. I want to share my progress with you guys because I am always looking for ideas and maybe someone could gain something from my methods and mistakes.

The layout will be built in two rooms: a 16 x 25 family room and an 11 x 12 storage room. There will be 2 main lines that have reverse loops on each end. One loop will elevate over the other at each end. There will be a passenger terminal at one end and an idustrial yard at another end.

The layout will begin on a 4x8 table in the family room and will travel around the wall on a 17 inch wide shelf, pass through a wall, and reverse on another 4x8 in the storage room. The distance between both tables is 55 feet.

Minimum radius on the main lines will be 0-54. I will try to use 0-72 when I can.

I dont have an exact track plan drawn up nor do I have photos yet. Within the next few days I will have both for those interested. Look forward to everyones input and support!

Thats longer than my house from end to end (52 feet) come to think of it its wider also (14 feet) Sounds like a great layout thou.

Wow!! I can’t imagine having all that space. Makes my 20 by 13 room seem tiny. I am in the design stages of my new layout. Best of luck. Keep us posted for sure!!

Hello PostwarMan07:

55’ mainline? Wow, that will be impressive! Keep us updated on your progress. I can’t wait to see it in action.

Regards,

John

Sounds a little like my layout; built on a shelf reversing loops crossing over and through a wall. I have a station running through a yard and then out to a rural area. But instead of running through a wall it passes under a stairwell trunk, all in all about 46 feet in length.

Main point, is, I have a lot of fun running trains on this system. Pictures of construction and progress (to-date) can be seen on Sunday photo Fun threads in January and February.

Prairietype

Sounds awesomely huge. Looking forward to seeing a layout plan!

Hello John!

Looking forward to your layout photo’s & progress. With that type of room you could probably shoehorn in a loop of Standard Gauge Track & Train![;)] Take Care.

Prairietype, I love your layout and that terminal is Awesome. At this point I wouldnt be able to do work that good, but thankfully Ill have some time to sharpen my skills before we start construction on the passenger terminal.

Torpedo, About 7 years ago I almost sold off my whole collection so I could start collecting Lionel standard gauge. Well, when I figured out my collection wouldnt sell for what it was worth to me, I stayed with O gauge and settled for postwar instead. Right now I dont think I can fit a loop of Standard gauge, but would like to buy a set or two along with some postwar flyer in the near future.

Anyways… I did get started on the layout. Here are some pics:

Heres an overview of the 14 foot section we built so far. The track spacing is 4 inches on the straight areas and the 0-72 “S” curve. There is more space between the 0-54 curves at the far end of the section.

The passing siding will use 0-31 because I will only be running 2 short trains or one big train on that loop. The other loop will be for mostly long trains pulled by 2353s and switching assignments running logs from the 364 lumber loader in this picture to a 164 log loader at the other end of the layout.

At the far end, there will be a mountain/tunnel so the trains are not always in view. At the end of the section we will build a bridge to span the gap that is made by the sliding glass doors. There will be another tunnel where this section begins to separate this scene from a coal tipple scene that will be built farther down the line.

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If you can, try to make one mainline 072 with some clearence in the curves. This will give you the ability to run the Big Boy on your layout. Now you say you will never do that. You might. Also 072 gives you a good curves for faster speeds without derailing. I had to sacrifice some extra sidings to get both of my mainlines 072. Now I am glad I did. Good luck. BTW: going through walls as tunnels to other rooms gives a great effect on running trains.

Chief, you’re not on the cruise ship any more. There is no catered 1 AM brunch at home. Go to sleep. Jack

I reclinerized too long. Now for all who do not know the word reclinerize, it is a special CTT word to describe going to sleep in your recliner while watching TV or reading a book/magazine. Then waking up and finding it past midnight and youo missed the whole movie on TV. Now I’m off to bed, Jack as soon as I post the POT. [;)]

Chief, Im going to see if I can pull off having a loop of 0-72 because I do love big boys! Id like to run 20+ car trains regularly and having 0-72 rather than 0-54 would help a lot.

reclinerized… sounds like a word George W. would make up. Ive nocternally reclinerized and have woken up at 3 pm wondering where the hell the day went [(-D]

Today I had to take off some of the homasote at the end near where I took the picture yesterday. The reason is because I noticed that the plywood was warped. the end of the table bends almost a 1/2 inch at the very end. I am putting weights on the wood overnight and if it doesnt straighten out, Ill replace the section.

Unfortunately, I wont be able to have a full loop of 0-72 because I cant fit the 6 foot wide turn in the tables at each end, nor can I fit them in the corner I have done so far. I think Ill be able to fit 054s 4.5 foot turn by extending the tables by 1 foot. That will be a tight fit though.

Sounds like were getting 6 inches tomorrow so Ill be around the house most of the day. Ill try to find a track plan program and put together a basic plan for you guys.

PostwarMan07: I have a section that looks remarkably like the area you have approaching the signal bridge. I have the bridge wired so that whatever train appoaching green activates the red on the other track. And it’s pretty cool.

[quote user=“PostwarMan07”]

Prairietype, I love your layout and that terminal is Awesome. At this point I wouldnt be able to do work that good, but thankfully Ill have some time to sharpen my skills before we start construction on the passenger terminal.

Torpedo, About 7 years ago I almost sold off my whole collection so I could start collecting Lionel standard gauge. Well, when I figured out my collection wouldnt sell for what it was worth to me, I stayed with O gauge and settled for postwar instead. Right now I dont think I can fit a loop of Standard gauge, but would like to buy a set or two along with some postwar flyer in the near future.

Anyways… I did get started on the layout. Here are some pics:

Heres an overview of the 14 foot section we built so far. The track spacing is 4 inches on the straight areas and the 0-72 “S” curve. There is more space between the 0-54 curves at the far end of the section.

The passing siding will use 0-31 because I will only be running 2 short trains or one big train on that loop. The other loop will be for mostly long trains pulled by 2353s and switching assignments running logs from the 364 lumber loader in this picture to a 164 log loader at the other end of the layout.

At the far end, there will be a mountain/tunnel so the trains are not always in view. At the end of the section we will build a bridge to span the gap that is made by the sliding glass d

prairietype, do you mean that the sidings signal is activated red when a train on the main line crosses the signal near the switch?

Two pressure plate 153c’s contactors. If you were to put one just ahead of that little black steamer, and when it runs over it the green light showing on the other track will turn red, and vice versa with another pressure plate 153c. It can be done with 145c’s as well.

054 is still great. You are doing a great job. You can add some straight sections or half straights in the curved sections and that will “relax” the curve even more. Prairietype, will insolated track sections work too? I never had a lot of luck with contactors. BTW: John, you see I reclinerized again.

Thanks Chief! Although I cant get the 0-72 in, the 0-54 makes the layout look so much nicer than the 0-31/0-27 Ive used in the past.

Got a lot done in the last 2 days…

First, the warped piece of wood did not straighten out so I replaced it with a better section. Had to cut a new section of homasote as well because it bent along with the plywood that it was fastened to.

Also had some sections that were bending 1/4 inch lower than level. This made the outside siding lean enough to make me worry about my heavy, non magnetraction engines falling. To solve this problem I used playing cards to raise these areas up and fastened the cards in. The result isnt very pretty, but is level…and thats the important part because the sides will be covered in molding later on. I used playing cards because it allows me to add cards until Im happy with how level the area is.

After that issue was solved, I moved on to spacing the tracks and screwing them down. Straight sections were 3 3/4" to 4 1/4" and curves and areas aproaching curves were atleast 4" apart. Before moving on I tested all of my engines for clearance. The tightest area was coming from the siding over the 022 switch. Heres the clearence with my widest and longest engines:

I am using insulated sections for the signal bridge. On the middle track I extended the non derail feature by insulating the outside rail so fast trains will give t

Didnt get much done when it comes to construction today, but did get some pictures taken and planning done.

This is the storage room that will be used as a reversing loop, city, and yard area. Right now its loaded with trains and other stuff that needs to be moved pretty soon so we can start bench work in there.

Heres the area between the storage room and the layout that is started. There will be factories, a coal tipple scene, and a few sidings/operating accessories if they fit in.

The layout will then cross this sliding glass door via a large 2 track bridge to the other reversing loops. Not sure what kind of bridge to use/make… maybe a model of the hellgate bridge?

Finally, this area will be the reversing loops. There will be an industral area with a coal loader, log loader, and oil derrick.

I layed out some track and played around with some ideas for the upper level of this reverse loop area…

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Hello PostwarMan07

Looking good. Keep posting your progress. Is that a RockBand stand I see in the background? Maybe that’s why not as much construction is being accomplished. [:D]

Regards,

John