Layouts and studios

I'm building a new layout in my recording studio too! Seems to be fairly common for musicians to have layouts...or at least model trains.

Nick Campbell

layouts and studios

Recording engineers too. 

Layouts and studios...

Keyboard players too. 

Randy

and the rest of us

Studios and railroads

@Nick I'd like to see your set up. I normally put the staging behind the television and studio monitors unless there's a window to the talent room in front of me.  

Also..pubs. I just worked at one here outside of Toronto and an English bloke wants to circle the top of his walls with a continuous run. I saw a similar one at a pub in Glasgow..same idea.

Musicians...Rod Stewart of course, who just 'completed' his NYC and Chicago layout. Two MR articles on it and a recent Worldwide 'exclusive'. Can you note any more. I know of DJ's and television personalities. 

cheers!

Brad

Yes Recording Engineers

@Rick Sutton,

I'm a recording engineer, music and film. I just completed video editing and sound for a tourisit railway steam locomotive here in Tottenham, Ontario for a retired recording engineer for the CBC who worked closely with Glenn Gould. He is a railroader! The CBC engineer that is.  

Maxell tapes and shelving

@trailguy Oh the ol', was it Maxell tape ad? Peter Murphy used to be in that chair. 

Anyone have advice on the shelving. Good idea? I'll come up with the plan shortly. Very simple. Staging and a couple of industries. A foot wide. 4' x 7' L shape. I like that Home Depot will cut the shelving to length on site! Measure twice right?  

OSCR temp arrangement

Although I propose a new layout with a simpler design - improving my skill set/more realisim and so forth, I may be able to work in my original Ontario South Central module. I managed to prop it on a chest of drawers and will have a small switch lead attached to operate and switch a couple of industries for now. The 'night time' photos are as sketchy as the layout is right now. But I do have something to run in the mean time! 

That Mantua Plymouth switcher is, I believe, the 2nd engine i've ever owned! 

Hopefully I can work the OSCR into the new layout design..eventually. But fun for now. 

cheers,

Brad

Studio, Basement, Front Porch...

...or wherever "Friends" happen to be hanging out.  

Cassette tapes

OCSR - Yep, Maxell used that in their early 80s ads. “You’ve got the watts, we’ve got the tape”. Rock on...

Even between the gage

Kinda' sad in a way...

Strat Guage

Haha @jeff. Nicely done! Well weathered too!

Actually I dug up @jdaley's thread: https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/24715as I remembered his shelving in inspiration for what I want to achieve. And lo and behold in photo's 2 and 3 there's a guitar in the shots!! 

Funny to qute Rod Stewart as when he went on tour he would have a separate hotel room to work on his models, buildings, etc.. To paraphrase "but you can't drink wine while you're doing it". Haha. No you can't!! 

cheers all,

Brad

Shelf standards

Hi Brad,

re your question: yes shelf systems can work very well.  Not sure if the shelf standards in the Fast Track system screw directly to the wall or hang from a track, but the hang track allows standards to be placed anywhere horizontally and it is quite strong. If your joists are conveniently located you can skip the track and just screw the standards to the studs.  Here's what I did    https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/shelfless-no-more-12208378

A couple observations/considerations from this experience:

1. the vertical flexibility aspect of having slotted shelf standards is nice theoretically, but since installation I have never adjusted them and it gets harder to adjust once you have backdrops and such installed.  so now I use fixed shelf brackets on new layout expansion areas.  
2. unless you are putting shelves underneath the layout, you can get shorter standards. I like having it open underneath so I can operate from a roller chair without smashing my knees.  .  
3. the standards are a bit tricky if you are putting up a backdrop, e.g. masonite needs more support to mitigate flexing and warping.  see Backdrop post here  https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/shelf-layout-other-projects-update-12209927 
4. if using a hang track system, fasten the standards to the wall lower down so they can't swing like a pendulum from the hang track.  
5. The closed cabinets above are really really nice to have.  

Thx

Jeff

re: Shelf Standards

@ UglyK5  Thanks for all your info! Yes the track is the way to go. I live three floors up above a Pizza Hut so I don't know if the studs are on 16" centres. When you say "standards" are you referring to the vertical uprights? 

My plan is to have a clearance of about 3' before the first shelf that would be for books and vinyl, bringing music back into the thread , as there is a chest of drawers, like yourself, where my current layout is currently resting on. And amazingly i've followed your lead in the look back at your blogs. First I notice you have your modules leaned up against the wall, then you rest them on a table top. Cool you included the kids into the action and very entertaining reads btw!

As I already have a 7' foot long foamular board which will be the base for my new layout, i'm using it as a backdrop! It's sky blue but dirty which i'll paint (Hardrware store right downstairs!!). I get the foamular free at construction sites here in Toronto, and there's a lot of condo's being built here.

Here's a good one. I used to live in a brand new condo and they were building a new one next door. Oh the noise!!  But..I come out to see a couple of construction guys working with foamular. So I ask if they have any extra laying around. The one guy says "yes i'll get you one and put it into the front doors to the lobby". I had a small errand to run. By the time I got back, there it was waiting for me up against the wall!!! 

You can't get Foamular where you are now I understand? I love it, so durable and light. And you can probably attest that you can carry both of your 6' modules in each hand no?

Good stuff Jeff. Your set up looks great btw. The cabinets area good idea to over top, but I don't know how long i'll be at this location. 

cheers!

Brad

Current OSCR config. Could I go double deck?

Here are a couple of shots of the Ontario South Central resting on a chest of drawers and such. And I can work in the river scene, at right, I was starting to work on at my last location with a switch lead!

There's the 7' foamular for the 'new' layout' which will be 56" or so/shoulder level that I can clean up and use as a temporary backdrop for the current OSCR. Weird wall, irregular with a kind of curved 45 degree angle on the right. See next photo. @ UglyK5 when I install the Fast track system shelving the wall to the right is completely straight and the same length so there may be some futon/chest of drawers swap out if you know what i'm saying. 

See how the wall curves around?

Anyway.. just a thought. What about two layouts stacked? I run a hybrid DCC/DC anyway... Stack the 'new' layout on top? Horse and buggy thinking for now. But could be an idea. 

cheers all again. and safe.

Brad

Hi Brad Thanks for the kind

Hi Brad

Thanks for the kind words and I’m glad you got some value out of my blog. 

Yes the standards are the vertical metal pieces with slots for the shelf brackets. 

That curved wall could work very nicely as a natural backdrop curve, it looks better than a sharp 90 degree inside corner. Is your layout going to be an L shape along the 2 walls incorporating the existing module?  Or is the 7’ piece a totally new layout?  

At 56” height you can get a lot of storage underneath for sure, and maybe over head too. If you put a shelf above the layout you can mount LED lighting strips to the bottom of it which will look great.

I was able to source 1” Foamular locally but no 2”. Currently working on a hillside and tunnel made of stacked and cut pieces of 1” foam. It is quite good to work with. I don’t have a scale but yes foam over steel studs is very strong and lightweight. 

Looking forward to seeing your build progress!

Jeff

L - shaped...sort of

@ UglyK5

My plan is to build a new layout on the 7 inch foam with the new shelving and yes L shaped curving to an existing staging/switching shelf lead pictured here at my old location:

And you are correct. That curved corner is perfect for the backdrop. Not sure how I missed that!! 

The plan is to have the staging rest on two IKEA floating shelves. And it will lift out if need be as it's a multi-purpose room but my guess it will always remain in place! I also have a river scene I started right before I moved and I am able to wedge it in between the existing layout and the wall using the bridge track as a switch lead. 

Here's the track plan diagram right now:

There actually is another 3' module to the left with a little add on that technically could be added as a lift out across the door. But it's my well used entrance/exit. The top turnout needs to be replaced and one of the others is problematic. So eventually I will pick up my ME's when my Year long back order is available! I've since learned I can pick them up on ebay and Peco's are too expensive. So I can transfer those turnouts to the new design or...I can go double deck as I don't plan to rip this apart and beats parking it against the wall again. If I store it on the shelf, might as well run it! Possibily soley DC (currently DCC and DC if I attach alligator clips). So lots of options and i'm happy to have a workable railroad for now! 

Thanks for all your suggestions!

cheers

Brad

Double shelf separate railroads option

I addressed this in an earlier post. As I work on my current temp OSCR set up with some re-construction due to the move, i'm back to the orignal config of 6 feet with a switch lead that's a river scene I was working on initally before the move. The switch lead is shorter than in my first post of setting the OSCR in the living area of a Condo in Toronto where I am back now, of 3'. Now switching will be more restriced with 1 or two Pellet cars max with a locomotive behind the turnout into the Plastics industry at top of layout.

Layout plan here:  

I have plans for a new layout. Utilizing the shelving talked about earlier in this post. 
But, with limitations of room size, I find myself boxing up cars to no use with limitations of industries to switch them. Hence..two layouts.. each layout with different industries taking different carloads. Also, I run a DC/DCC set up, so I can isolate one for DCC and the other for DC.

Horse and buggy thinking for now. But this would enable me to have my much sought after valance lighting for both railroads. Both switching layouts. Maybe one in Ontario, Canada (Ontario South Central) and the other where I vacationed for a good bulk of my life in South Carolina (up the road from Myrtle Beach the railroad is...ran by RJ Corman).

The South Carolina shelf (DCC): A Silicates industry taking small cylindrical hoppers and a few tanks, a lumber industry (big in SC as they take carloads of lumber from Canada!) as i've accumulated centre beams and bulheads and old box cards (Athearn, MDC from back in the day).

The Ontario shelf (DC): A transload industry taking cylin hoppers and tank cars. A Plastics industry taking on the Plastic Pellet Hoppers. I can also run my old Athearn CN locomotives custom detailed years ago (and my Chessie Blue-box Athearn SD40-2 - repurposed) that run surprisingly well without proper cleaning aside from my trusty Atlas, ex-CP 'OSCR', also custom detailed and painted RS18u and CP424. 

Point being...put those cars and engines to use..not leaving them boxed up and not having to bust up my former OSCR railroad...or having it lean against the wall (or along the floor..) 

Anyone else done something similar? Maybe different scales too? Also..we tend to buy more..and not utilizing what we already have stored in boxes! 

*new* railroad plan TBA. 

Thoughts?

cheers,

Brad