I’ve done some design work for a partial ceiling layout, if I were to actually build this On30 layout a reverse loop would be anchored by two walls with the roadbed a foot below the ceiling, the line would descend the third wall to a large closet that would would contain a turnback loop ( a compromise as the actual route had no tunnels) eventually it levels out at 48 inches at Lake Tahoe which would located on a pennisula in the center of the room. To keep the loop reliable and ease construction/operation , no turnouts or additonal trackage is envisioned, it only needs to contain one two trains in stagging as this would be a logging line somewhat based on the Lake Tahoe Railway & Navigation, oh by the way room demensions are 10 X 10 with 3 windows that swing into the room which the misses prohibits me from blocking . I just might talk myself into building this yet!
Back to topic, beautiful job using the space you have available.
Dave
Beautiful work!
I have been working on my HO ceiling layout almost from the day I moved into this apartment a year & a half ago. The main reason it’s taking so long is my fluctuating health; but add to that the waiting - waiting for adhesives to cure, paint to dry…and waiting for just that right thingy I found on eBay to finally show up!
The main yard shed, covering 5 tracks, has occupied most of that time, with a Meccano superstructure, 15 regular ladders, 5 Walthers Safety Cage ladders, 20 1.5V lights protected by Miniatronics brass shades, and two Peco inspection pits joined to make a 16" pit (96 scale feet approx.), side illuminated by 3 mm fiber optic filament.
I’m using Bachmann EZ track, and using a Microminiatures Points Indicator to illuminate yard switch positions on my control board. I’ll also be using a cctv camera program to coordinate camera coverage of the layout.
The whole thing is 7.5 feet off the floor (10-ft ceilings), with 75 feet of track; on bridge, one tunnel, & one trestle. I work on the layout with an 8-ft aluminum stepladder.
Here’s the link to my post on here:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/197333.aspx
How do I keep the trains on the tracks OR…If LIONs had ceiling layouts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeVrkO4L63Y
Think of the possibilities…street running, creek scenery & running, special cars. [:)]
I have nothing to contribute. This topic is over my head.[(-D]
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Tom
Looks great, hopefully none of your motive power or rolling stock decides to try and fly. I have been having trouble trying to get my trains to stay on the track but they just don’t seem to want to, maybe when I get my gravity reversing unit finished that will help. LOL
I recently realized that with a ceiling train, you can have two consists with one train, one weathered & one not, since you can only see one side at a time, generally…
Well I am 23 with sharp young eyes, I have no trouble seeing the trains. At one point I even considered z-scale!!
I would like to try that on my next layout like this one!
I have had just a couple of incidents, but have been thinking about adding a few guards in some places.
That is very true, never thought about that. I might consider it if I ever learn how to weather my trains.
One final point; ceiling train layouts are always a compromise between fencing and viewability; but remember that many things can constitute a fence, such as trees, rocks, streetlights, an unused ‘outer’ track…you get the idea…
Wow, I’d never thought of operations via video! Several year ago, I built an around the ceiling HO scale layout in my son’s bedroom. Unfortunately, we lost interest in it very quickly because the trains were difficult to see, even more difficult to reach and operations beyond continuous running just weren’t practical with those two issues. Had I mounted video cameras on all my locos, I might have kept that layout a little longer. How can you beat an engineer’s view for realistic operations. Still, I prefer my trains within easy reach.