Only been in this hobby some 2 to 3 months.
However, I recommend all new hobbyists to set up the train FIRST on EXISTING table(s),
shelve(s) then LATER buy the additional track, switches, accessories. I did the reverse and still don’t
have a table large enough to accomodate the extra purchases.
AND OF COURSE SHE SAID, "that table is a plenty big enough rat now…SHE SAID “NO”! THAT’S FINAL!. GET THAT THING OUTSIDE IF YOU WANT TO PLAY!!!
Here’s another. After you have carefully planned everything out as to proximity of tracks to each other, proximity to table edge, proximity to scenery, etc. . . and you know exactly how much clearance you need . . .
add an inch.
Learned that one the hard way.
Frank, you are not alone, but with the foam it wasn’t hard to fix.
one extra inch would have done me a world of good here:
Could you glue a small thin piece of veneer on top of the shelf, but wider than the existing shelf, so that the track can be scooted away from the retaining wall without raising the grade significantly? If the thin veneer overhangs the plywood(?) an inch or inch and one-half, you will not loose any significant strength. A quarter round might help you keep ballast from from falling off.
Wait until you see the problem I will be posting in the near future with a switch machine.
When taking photos of your layout, always remove photo equipment from layout before running trains to another location. A nice locomotive might run smack into a tripod and derail for instance. Doh! Then your kids can run upstairs and shout “Mom, Dad just crashed the train”!
I’m just saying it could happen.
Jim
Hmmmm… I’m not a detective but I think I’m on to something here !! [(-D]
Thanks, John
jaabat,
LOL!!! That could NEVER happen! NEVER, not in a million years!
Clop… Clop… Clop… Clop… bang! MOM!!! Dad just crashed the trains!
WHAT?!?
Do you think your could be a little more careful next time? You aren’t buying any more trains if you ruin the ones you already have!
[%-)][:-^][sigh]
Nope never happened to me either… I don’t have kids!
How about adding a 1x1 or 1x2 to the existing edge.
Jim H
So, humbly I gathered it all up and set up on the patio…didn’t think about the heavy fog and mist…walked through the wet yard around the patio…something made the engine get off track…
and not being an electrician…wow… what a jolt when I ‘tried’ to pick up that little fellow…found him some 15 to 20 feet away buried up nose first in the mud…don’t know if Santa will be me anything after what came out of my mouth…but yes, I agree honey, the table is big enough…
Hun, you have anything for my burned finger tips and the pain in my wrist and elbow?
STAY INSIDE WHERE IT’S CLIMATE CONTROLLED.
M’kay, I’m taking notes!
I thought about that Jim, but the deed is kinda sorta done. My main gripe is the size of the trains I can run up on this level as the overhang on certin trains does me in, as it scrapes the wall or buildings.
I was going to run a 681 up here, but the back end of the cab bangs the scenery. The clearance is ok however for small steamers - 224, 221, 2026 as well as F3’s and even my New Haven 2350 will run up there thanks to the close proximity of the trucks to the ends of the train - very little overhang.
Frank, if your problem has to do with overhang on the curves, you might consider changing to the spiral curves that I have been touting most recently on the “I’m building a wall O gauge railway” topic.
(I originally addressed this to “Jim” by mistake, confused by the quotations in the previous postings most likely.)
From experiance after testing a locomotive make sure that the power to the track is turned off before supplying power to the main transformer! I forget to do this and had a Williams GP-9 go half way across the layout before taking out a few trees and a house. The GP-9 still runs great, only a scratch or two to the paint.
Lee F.
Nice going, Philly.
Hey jaabat it still runs! I put two GP-9’s together and can pull a very long or heavy train. Better yet I put two Williams SD-45’s together and can pull almost half of all my rolling stock, about 45 frieght cars.
Lee F.
Philly,
That’s nuthin. I can stand on my Williams F3s and “surf” on them while they run around the layout. Except the ride always ends abruptly at the tunnel. [8D]
Jim
Hangin’ 10 on the Jumijo!
jaabat,
You need to make the tunnel opening larger!!
Lee F.
My biggest mistake… selling off all my conventional locomotives as soon as I purchased TMCC command base. Later I realized I still enjoy conventional locomotives, especially after I added a new ZW for remote operation and a sound car for great sounds.
Jim H
I have the RR-Tracks program and it helped quite a bit. If you have excess track, etc, why not go up? Make multiple levels and you can have a very nice layout in a small space. Good luck.
dennis