I am planning a new layout (HO) in our bonus room above the garage (which is included in the “heated” footage of our new house) and I have an opportunity to run my main-line trackage out into the unfinished attic space on the other side of one of the walls of the bonus room area in an out-and-back loop configuration. Does anyone have any caveats and/or lessons learned in doing this? I don’t plan to do any staging out there due to the heat, cold, humidity, etc. but simply run trains out there and back in all of maybe 10 - 15 seconds real time. The only mechanical components out there would be the track itself and the necessary turnout(s) to close the loop in the appropriate direction. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks. Geoff
Not knowing your climate but assuming extremes, consider laying track on 2" foam in attic. Cut about 6" strips of foam and glue on edge inside and outside of tracks (make a wide tunnel). Overlay with foam and weight it down (keep it removeable). That should help moderate temp/humidity. An additional thought: at one “entrance” install a SMALL fan such as from a computer power supply to gently move room air through the tunnel which should stabilize the environment. It could be thermostatically controlled. Gary
Modify the loop turnout to be a springswitch. Then you needn’t worry about the direction it’s thrown.
Make sure you have easy access to the area, even after you’re done construction.
Use 2-inch foam, not plywood. The foam is much less temperature- and humidity-sensitive than wood.
Consider a cover over the track as well. It will keep it cleaner.
Install real permanent lighting in there while you’re doing the construction. Your flashlight batteries will be dead when you need them most.
I like the idea of a completely covered track area. Look at it this way: what good will your “heated” layout space be if there are two gigantic holes in the walls, blowing in cold (and dusty) air?
Of course, a boxed-in track area will have its own problems. What happens when (not if) a train derails in there? Is it possible to turn a portion of that unfinished attic space into more finished parts of the room? That may take a little time and effort, but it’ll get rid of any environmental and accessibility isues you might have, and you’ll end up increasing the value of your house at the same time.
I did that exact same thing in the upstairs of a bungalow style house in NE Ohio. My layout turned out to be 20 feet long, 5 feet wide, with an 7 foot L at the end. The only way to have the distance and turning radius I wanted was to punch holes in the walls and have the track go into the crawl space for the turn around. It worked fairly well and the only real problem I had was occasional derailments. A turnout thrown the wrong way was usually the culprit.
A train as long as 35 cars was ok to run but 15 to 20 was ideal. I would do it again if that was the only room I had to work with. My other options were to use 18 inch radius and basically a 4X8 layout. If you would like to see some pictures let me know and I will try to dig them up.
Brian.
Thanks to all for the insights. Seems the consensus is to use a foam roadbed to address expansion and contraction from temp changes. I’ve closed in the turning area in the attic with 1/4" OSB all around to keep it clean and lighting is installed as well. I’d like to know more about how to build a “springswitch” so the loop will work automatically all the time?
Ahhh, lessee if I can explain this clearly. A springswitch is a switch that has points that always return to the same routing. E.g. the train always enters your loop through the “straight” path through the switch. When it comes around the loop, it enters through the diverging path, pushing the points to diverging. After the last car has gone through the switch, the spring forces the points back to the straight routing. No derailments because of the turnout being set to straight while the train is coming in through diverging.
I haven’t built one, but the best idea I’ve seen is to solder a piece of wire to the outside rail down from the throwbar and then attach it to the throwbar. Bend the wire to adjust the spring force. There was a JPEG but it looks like it’s been taken down. See also: