Picked up some wood and supplies to build some benchwork.
That was OK, then I realized I would need to replenish my tools as well. Ouch. Well, the tools will last forever. I gave up on the plywood idea, although it turns out the local Lowes DOES have various hardwood ply - not much in 3/4" - in fact, NONE. But 18mm is close. However, I looked at soem regular dimensional lumber and the ‘select’ pine wasn’t too bad price-wise, and conveniently comes in 4’ lengths as well as 8’. ie - it fits in my car!. So I have four 1x4’s plus three 1x3’s that will get cut in half to make a pair of 2x4’ modules.Now all I need is the extruded insulation board - Lowes only has 1/2" Dow, but HD has everything up to 2" thick in the Owens-Corning line. And legs - I keep looking for those bolt on bottom pieces someoen psoted a week or so ago, as those would be perfect for the levellers at the bottom (beats trying to drill a straight hole into the bottom of a 2x2 with a hand-held drill).
Guess I need to come up with a track plan, 2x8’ isn’t much but I can build a bit of a switch yard kind of thing. Maybe a coal breaker or cement plant - I think I still have my Walthers cement plant kit. My overall space is 12x6’, so I can build 2 more of these size modules and fit it all in place. No room for turnback curves so continuous running is out at this point. I plan to unbolt the modules and reuse them when I move to a larger place.
So my grand total to far is 1 locomotive, 2 coal hoppers, and the wood to build the frames of 2 modules. At least it’s a start…
Well Randy, it’s sure good to see you back again[bow]. I missed your comentary on higher level DCC questions.
So, what do you mean by stepping in it now? Looks to me that you have an excellent start. Making the decisions that lay before you is all a part of this great hobby. Keep those posts coming and before you know it you will be adding photos of your progress.
Forum search function still isn’t working too good, but found one more thread I remembered had some discussions of smallish shelf layout plans: http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/122473.aspx
A while back we discussed a 2x10 foot track plan from the MR track plan database called the “Mid-Atlantic” - my interpretation of the original track plan looked like this:
Byron Henderson (cuyama on these forums) posted a much improved version of this track plan, but I was unable to locate that without a search function that covers more posts [xx(]
Anyways - lots of interesting options for a shelf switcher in 2x8, 2x16 or somewhere in between, built as modules. Just depends on what kind of prototypes, industries etc you find most interesting
Edit: you actually said what you were thinking about - big industry like a concrete plant or something similar.There was a very cool small module steel
These slight modifications of Jonathan Jones’ original plan allow switching of all industries without disturbing others through the addition of a “drill” track. The PRR interchange is also more straightforward. This version might be more fun to switch over time. My modification uses Code 75 PECO throughout, a couple of turnouts are trimmed slightly. The original was handlaid with custom turnouts, if I recall correctly.
The original layout was very nicely constructed, it’s worth looking up the photos if you have that issue of MR. I understand Jonathan is working on a new layout now and I’m looking forward to seeing it in the commercial press.
I really like that one. I have the original MR issue. IIRC, that was the second of Jonathan’s layouts to be published. Since I actually have 2 extra feet of length to work in, I should be able to use stock #4 and #6 turnouts. Definitely something to start with - I’ll suck it into 3rd PlanIt and play around. Measuring my space, I can actually go a bit wider as well, although not being an even multiple of 24" makes it a bit of a PITA to build the benchwork.
I’m an N scaler as you probably know, but a 2x8 in HO can be a good size to start out with. For that size, a small sea port would be good. Anything can be shipped in, and anything out too. Or maybe a tight little city area, where industries are close together and and switching puzzles will keep you busy for hours, not to mention detailing scenery. You might also concider a single larger indutry that has a lot of various loads going in and out. Auto plants, paper companies, and those sorts of things come to mind. You wouldn’t model the buildings so much, that would take too much room, but you’d model the loading / unloading areas and enough of the industry to suggest that there’s a lot more there.
Anyways, I’m really glad you’re off to a start. It feels good, huh?
