Some of these posts stay with you. I remember seeing a post of a gentleman who took his railway apart for the winter. He had mounted his track on plywood sections that he had treated. He then hung the strips in his shed for the winter. Why this is so important for me is I have built an indoor railroad that I wanted to expand. I thought if I mounted my stainless track on these strips ( maybe plywood). Had them wired and rail clamps especially at the ends of sections, maybe 5’ straights, 1/4 circles and crossover sections. I could put them outside for the summer season, and then return them to the cellar layout for the other three seasons.
So no big revelation here, but for me would get me going in a direction. I have been stalled and undecided. Joe P
The practice may be harder than the reality!!! I am still at the surveying stage of my next layout but I intend to produce a classical plank on post layout. The idea of taking apart your layout each year and then re-assembling it each year is not really practical. You would have to produce far more joints and problems with joints than simply producing a rigid all weather structure.
I am going to have to produce a “lift out” section of railway -because it will cover one of the sewer manholes. How this is going to “socket” into the system is going to be very taxing. The reliability of such a system that is totally collapsable is , I think, inherently poor…
regards
ralph
Yes I agree it won’t be ideal. Flexibility comes with a price? Ideally I would buy more track and switches to extend outside. There are whole clubs that just build modular G scale layouts. These forums are where I (at least sometimes) test an idea and then scrap it if I get reasonable opinions like yours.
#1) low on cash
#2) I want to raise the track off the flat plywood deck indoors before scenery install anyways
#3) only temporary moving in and out: probably end up outside if I could get used to huge investment left outdoors, sitting idle all winter. For future maybe run track out of house wall for easier equipment storage like I’ve seen here. Your problem of a lift out section is what I’m looking at on a much bigger scale. I think thats one the best value of railclamps besides all the other great features. They do lift outs in all the other scales ( I don’t like them?), so let’s step it up in size and quality.
#4) already have started landscape outdoors for rr.
I’ve built things and then fixed them. Whether I changed direction, or ran into something insurmountable. I switched to DCS control after starting towards DCC. Some change required and looking back I prefer DCS. I always wished to do it once. I’m spending more time in concept mode than I ever have. I figure to have a subroadbed outside maybe ladder or concrete type. Probably have just G gauge outside with HO + O inside. Thanks for the input, Joe
I have a 6’ section of my layout that I will remove each winter. the section has a covered bridge that we have decided to take in for the winter months.
I agree that taking the ENTIRE layout down and inside for the winter would be just asking for trouble, if one was DEAD set on doing it, I would suggest they connect all the track using rail clamps and not the standard rail joiners that come on the track. This is how I remove my 6’ section. So come spring, all I need to do is open up the clamps slide the rails in and tighten. now one must remember how it was installed the first time for it to go back together again properly.
But as I said before and others have, i dont think it would make sence to do the whole layout as temporary.
my 2cents.
Kevin