due to the recent addition of a cement industry to my 4x8, i have lost my interchange yard/ staging, as it now serves the cement silo.
the only place staging could possibly go is off the layout. the room that the layout is in is long and narrow. from left to right:
garage door
layout
3’6" long void of nothingness
couch
i can’t extend out any farther out into the room, and the 3’6"void of nothingness next to the couch is perfect. i could extend staging on a 2’ wide shelf into it, and i probably have enough $ and scrap lumber to fini***he job, but heres the problem: my dad.
not to sound like a whiner, but he refuses to let me extend the layout another inch. why? i dont know. please back me up in helping him to see the value of staging and that we have all the space i need to build it.
Thanks a lot
GEARHEAD426
[8]
Well, if he’s like every other dad in the world, that 3’6" void of nothingness is his, and only his. He covets his space, and will not under any cicumstance give up what is his. Now, maybe you can strike a deal with him, tell him that you will name the yard in his honor. That way his name is on his prized piece of space. Good luck!
Glenn
Old Story about the Santa Fe can’t remember the details, so here goes. Way back when the Santa Fe and some other railroad where fighting for some land, the Santa Fe boys got tired waiting for Uncle Sam to give them the land. So, one night Santa Fe went out and laid tracks right across land settled the agrument once and for all.
You father might not like it if you tried that![swg]
I was thinking about staging the other night, and I came up with an idea for just this problem, but couldn’t think of a good way to post it on here. This is the perfect place for it. it’ll require a little shopwork and southern engineering, but judging by your username it shouldn’t be a problem.
Take a cart that has a variable height hydraulic strut (if you can’t find one, that’s where the shopwork comes in). Put your staging yard on it, so you can lower it to a level lower than the layout, and roll it underneath the table. When you want to have your staging, roll it out, build your train and roll it up to the layout. You’ll have to have a track running off the edge so you can roll your mobile yard up to it and run the trains directly onto it.
Greg
I’ve thought about “fold-down” staging on one side of my layout. My wife has the same objections as your Dad. My staging would be hinged on the layout side, and have a pair of swing-down legs on the other to support it. It wouldn’t take more than a frame of 1x4’s and some foam.
Have you asked your father straight out: why he doesn’t want the layout larger?
If your father won’t budge period, might you be able to show us your track plan? I’m tearing down half my railroad because I discovered one little oppurtunity to add staging that would completely change how my layout operates.
thanks a lot for all the support.
i like the idea of folding or colapsoable staging. any kind of shop work is ok because i go to a teck skool.
http://www.trainweb.org/railvids/modelrailroad.htm
this is a link to where i found my track plan. i had to remove the 4th yard track with the engine house because mt layout is a tad smaller than 4x8[:0][:o)][:I](builder error) i used the now 3 track yard for a cement silo, only 1 track giong to the silo, the other 2 as its own yard. i thought i cluod add a switch on the corner nearest where the mainline goes from 2 tracks to 1, then proceed off to staging.
Thanks again for all the support.
GEARHEAD426
another idea for staging support: small ironing board folding legs? too unstable?
[8]
I saw a slic set-up one time where the table was suspended from cables at the corners. The cables went up above the joists then through pullys were all tied together and hooked up to a electric garage door opener. At the push of a button the whole thing raised above head level. That way if the floor space was needed the layout could be lifted out of the way. Just a suggestion.
since you have the shop work under control, the folding design is most likely the best solution for you.
When I look at your plan, 2 solutions come to mind.
- Does the cement plant really need two yard tracks of its own? what if those were used as interchange staging?
2: If you don’t mind a single track hidden staging, you could possibly do the following:
The plan shows a highway overpass. That means the the ground there must be raised up, enough to clear tracks. What if this clearance ran the entire length of the yard? Then, you could put a spur just after the turn at the bottom that would go into a tunnel and run underneath this clearance and act as your staging. The Manifest freight would pop out, go around most of the layout to your yard, and drop the cars for the local. The local then would head the opposite direction to switch the industries.