Further layout

Further layout brainstorming...

GIVENS

• Staying in HO scale. 
• Physical room constraints including sloped ceilings.  Keeping layout height at 36” for better kids access and staying under sloped ceiling.
• Installed overhead cabinets and lighting to stay as is. 
• Attic door access must be maintained. Lift out section has worked out fine. 
• Futon and desk access must be maintained. 
• Use existing DCC Powercab system and AUX bus architecture.

DRUTHERS

• Keep as much of existing layout as possible. It currently consists of 5 modules. They could be rearranged though. Modules 1 and 2 are satisfactory and mostly finished.
• Modest size yard. Yard might be best placed in new expansion area due to sloped ceiling lighting challenge with shorter knee wall on that side (not planning on scenicking yard much if at all so lighting less critical). Existing 5 track yard will probably need to be modified, moved, or scrapped to make room for the curve to the window wall.
• Engine house/service “nice to have” but not really critical. Current engine house module 3 could be repurposed for tank car industry. (Module 3 underutilized, it mostly just connects the yard and the industries). 
• More 3 dimensional terrain on new sections: Single track bridge over river with trees and/or tunnel.
• Steel stud and foam board construction has been proven good, preferred to wood construction. 

All that said... a general concept is coming together. Will get it sketched up and posted soon. 

Jeff

It may be best to move the yard to the right-side wall

Assuming 24 inch radii for the curves to continue the track across the window wall to the right-hand wall, you would only have about 4 feet of space there.  Excellent spot for either a plate girder bridge or a strong truss, especially if it needs to be removable.  Maybe use a sheet of plexiglas for the water surface and mount it so it can be slid forward and out of the way for window access.

That gives you the opportunity to move the engine servicing area over to the right-side corner near the yard and transition from the tank car industry (fuel tanks, maybe also dealing in coal for hopper traffic) to a more rural area approaching the bridge.

Looking forward to your sketches and progress.

Janet N.

First Draft

Janet - thanks for the ideas, I agree!  Plus the bridge will be at the far end of the room directly ahead from the entry door which will be a nice feature.  

Just got AnyRail software today and still learning it but seems like a pretty good product so far.  Except for exporting to pictures, which come out grainy despite raising the dpi setting and I can't figure out how to get the scale or a ruler or labels to show.  Oh well.  

So here's a first chop at it.... definitely a bit rough. 

• Trying to add visual interest with some curves in the mainline and setting the bridge at an angle to the fascia. Existing trackwork is almost all parallel to fascia
• The top right corner needs some work.  Not sure if its better to squeeze in another industry or make it a scenic/non-railroad served area.  Could make a switchback from the rearmost yard track extending back up to the top right corner for engine service area.  
• Top center is the bridge module. 
• Top left corner will be a tunnel, and a rather unwieldy module being a 38" x 65.5" L-shape... might need to break that into two modules, or make the liftout section very long at about 72". 
• New industry TBD is on the liftout and new module. 
• Note: the existing yard is actually 2 modules but shown as 1.  
• Ops would start and end in the yard

Entire plan:

New section only:

Fire away!!! 

Jeff

Existing Module 3

Module 3 is easily converted from engine service to tank car loading by just removing the engine house.  I have a lighted loading platform installed there (non-prototypical for the engine service; modelers license applied) https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/refueling-station-12211999.  Otherwise the module is completely unfinished. 

This will now be some sort of chemical plant or distributor with the tanks on the other side of the track, connected via underground pipes.  
Jeff

Lift out

Having the liftout with industrial spurs on it is not necessarily the best option.  That means you will have to move whatever is on it before you can go in or out.  Having a switch isn't too bad as long as the switch isn't powered or connected to too a signal system (more connections to make/break.)

You could probably shift the main on the upper left corner over a coulpe inches and move the industrial spurs more on the green benchwork.

Lift out

Dave thx for the thoughts.  Agreed it would be better to keep industry off the lift out but it’s tough to sacrifice all that linear run... considering making that a hinged swing up section but same issues apply  

jeff

Time to cut steel

This morning I built the first corner module structure.  I’ve only made rectangular modules before. The L shape was a bit more complicated but not bad at all. It’s very sturdy as is but I may add one or two more diagonal braces. The shelf brackets were aligned for the yard module that used to be in this location, the deep corner needs a longer bracket. 

Also I switched from pop rivets to self drilling truss head screws which work great. The advantage of the rivets is a low profile head that won’t interfere with the Masonite that goes on next but the truss head is only very slightly taller. 

Jeff

Progress continues

Right corner module built and yard put up on shelf brackets.  

Jeff

Yard work

Although I desired to use the yard modules without any modifications it has become clear that the right corner module would benefit greatly from some yard changes. 

The problem is that the first turnout in the yard is oriented for the old yard location with the incoming track parallel to the wall. This would require a sweeping, almost 90 degree arc from the bridge across the corner module to align the main line with that wye. Such alignment makes it difficult to do much else on the corner module, like an industry or engine service area. 

Other options include moving some or all of the yard ladder turnouts up to the corner module in either a pinwheel or curved turnout arrangement, or rearranging the turnouts on the yard module so the entry track can cross the module joint at an angle. This may be an opportunity to improve the geometry of the yard turnouts and eliminate S turns; the geometry has not been a big problem except for some longer flatcars on the outer most tracks occasionally derailing.  

Also the yard runaround/escape track is probably not in the best location.  Need to research a bit further...

Jeff

Update

Still pondering some track plan decisions but in the meantime got the top middle section built. First ever “3D” module, which will feature a bridge over a river. It’s just my standard rectangles screwed together and some Simpson strap ties added as gussets to keep everything solid. 

Also temporarily mocked up the structures to see how they look. Now thinking about backdrops and lighting valances... will need to solve that before moving much farther with module construction.

jeff

Wow!

Looks great. I’ve never worked with steel before, curious why use steel instead of wood? Also, I think you’ll be happiest with a redesigned yard that transitions more smoothly from the bridge. 

Greg

Hi Greg thanks!  I use steel instead of wood benchwork because of steel’s combined advantages in strength, stability (unaffected by moisture from air or scenery application), weight, cost (10’ tracks and studs are about $3 each) and ease of construction (tin snips, vice grip, a square, level, and a cordless drill/impact driver are the only tools needed. I build modules right in the train room with zero sawdust created; there’s a bit of steel shavings to sweep up but nothing airborne).  There are a few other folks on the forum who use steel but it’s been slow to catch on widely.

More construction methods details are on earlier blog post if you’re interested:   https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/new-shelf-layout-benchwork-12206657

You are probably right on the yard... I have a few options between building a new one and reusing the old one as is, with 3-4 in between options...

Jeff

Backdrop

Jeff,

I have a similar situation with a drop in piece in front of my window, but my drop in piece is nothing as elaborate as yours - mine is a piece of 2" thick pink foam. 24"x30".  It is very rigid; no sag whatsoever, and very light, too.  

Anyway, for a removable backdrop in my case, I just used a piece of Masonite, painted the same sky blue as the rest of my backdrop, and it is held upright with a magnet on either side (the bottom rests on a small cleat on each side).  Easy to pop out when I want more sunlight (haven't seen much of that lately here in northwest Washington).

I too have a very similar room as yours, sloped ceilings and all, that I've had to deal with.  Lots of challenges!

Al Carter, Mount Vernon, WA

tabooma

Hi Al, do you have any pics of your backdrop setup?  sounds like some nice techniques I could steal I mean borrow   

As far as the window goes, I'm watering down the window access requirement... I never open that window (in Louisiana its almost always too hot/too humid/too much pollen in the air to open the windows) or even the blinds.  Just need "theoretical access".  Masonite backdrop painted blue is what I used on the existing sections under the overhead cabinets but I'd like to move to photo backdrops for this section.  

Thx

Jeff

Assembly

Fastening the Masonite/pink foam tops to the steel.  I tried Loctite foam board adhesive and Liquid Nails “Fuze” on 2 of them but I’m going back to gorilla glue. GG expands and dries hard, which means less give any place that the screw heads cause the Masonite to not be perfectly flat on the frame.  

Jeff

Corners up

Rainy Sunday morning allowed me to get butt plates cut and installed, shelf brackets up, and corner modules screwed to the brackets.

Working on a concept for a false wall partition across the windows (I’ve abandoned window access)  to support backdrop and possibly the bridge section.  

It’s coming along...

Jeff

LED light bar

I realized that the lighting on the expansion area is atrocious. There are 4 can lights in the ceiling but it’s inadequate for the layout. So I built a 118” removable light bar out of (what else?) a steel stud and track nestled and screwed together, suspended by simple plywood saddles. It has LED strip lights on a rather nifty V shape aluminum channel. The channel came with mounting clips which I pop riveted to the bottom of the steel beam. The beam will need some Masonite to dress it up like a fascia. The LED strip is white and “tunable” with dual warm and cool LEDs. 

Product links:

Channel.   https://amzn.to/3QIibc0

LED strip.   https://amzn.to/3bm9CUe

(MRH: Replaced with Amazon short links)

The light is a massive improvement but still seems a bit dim to me. Nonetheless the dual warm cool setup is pretty slick.  pics to follow.  The yard area will get the same channel and light strip but the channel clips will be screwed into the rafters.  Got some basic wiring to figure out there but should be doable.

Jeff

Light bar pics

Sweet!

Love the use of metal studs for subframe.  You make it very clear how they are employed.  Self-tapping screws - I watched the professionals who erected metal studs in our office conversion and they used self-tapping screws, so you are good company.

Did you have any problems, like hand cuts, with the sharp edges of the metal studs?

Doug L

Hi Doug, thanks!  I haven’t experienced any safety issues through 9 steel modules built to date. The cut edges are a bit sharp but the factory edges aren’t too bad. Once fully built there are no exposed steel edges.  My 2 young kids “operate” on the layout also with no problems. From an overall safety risk perspective I feel that cutting wood with power saws is more dangerous (safety was not a decision factor in choosing steel over wood; I am comfortable using power saws to cut wood and frequently do. Steel is just a better material for this application).  

Jeff

Bridge

Test fitting new bridge  it’s a combined Walthers through girder, arched Pratt, and deck girder sitting on Walthers piers.  They needed quite a few shim plates but it’s now a one piece 37” long bridge structure.  Abutments will likely be scratch built from styrene... I got the cut stone abutment and wing walls but not sure they will work well here  

Jeff

Unpacking the topic title

We have a rather intellectual lot here at MRH forums.  Sometimes the titles of topics are so cleverly thought out, they escape me and my little brain.  So finally I had to google the meaning so I can grasp the deep meaning here and sleep at night!  

In case others are wondering, here you go:

Social Studies remnant?

Haha, I guess thats a memory remnant from a long ago Social Studies quiz... wasn't trying to be cryptic.  Here its:

“the 21st-century doctrine or belief that the expansion of my model railroad throughout the bonus room is both justified and inevitable”.

Also I chopped a few inches off the deck girder bridge... it was a bit too much and would have required sheer cliffs at both abutments, plus now I can have no rail joiners on the bridge.  Next up Central Valley bridge ties.  

Jeff

Jim diidunt get no guud skoolin'

it means "we da biggest baddest dudes in this here hemisfear and you best start runin' cause we'er takin' yur land.....git over it".