1st Permanent Layout (O-27)

Background:

Trains have always been important in my family. Several generations on my mom's side worked on the railroad, primarily in upstate New York. Several were engineers, my maternal grandfather was first a fireman, then an instructor & accident investigator. In our cross-country camping trips, we rode the Durango & Silverton, Cumbers & Toltec, & Georgetown Loop narrow gauge railroads. Growing up, my Dad set up his well-cared-for & somewhat extensive American Flyer & Plasticville collection that dated to the early-mid '50s every Christmas around the tree. As we grew a little older, my twin brother & I helped more with the building of the Christmas layouts. We always dreamed of building a permanent set-up, but the house, though not small, lacked an appropriate space. When we were in elementary school, my parents bought my twin brother & I a K-Line O-27 set and some basic extras, such as switches, with the thought that eventually we could split it up in our own separate sets. For several years we added cars & accessories.

After several years, our focus went elsewhere & we stopped expanding our sets. Though we may have set them up on occasion, we used them less. When we left home, the sets stayed at our parents'. When my older sister's kid grew old enough, we would sometimes pull them out for him when we were all at my parents', which he loved.

Fastforward to 2015:

Now I am the father myself, of a boy who just turned one. This past summer, I started to think about finally bringing my half of our O-27 set-up home, & setting it up around the our Christmas tree. At Thanksgiving, I pulled out our set and before packing up my half, my twin brother and I built a couple of carpet layouts & ran them over the holiday. I realized that my half--including two of the four switches & a 90-degree crossing--would need some expansion to be able to create more interesting carpet layouts. Also, my GN MP-15 would only run in reverse--the reverse switch did nothing. For a long time I had always wanted another engine in addition to a yard switcher. I had visited Charles Ro shortly before the Thanksgiving holiday, & had my eye on the Great Northern Williams GP-9 that was in one of the Williams catalogs they had. It would complement my primarily GN set-up. Before the end of the holiday, I went online & purchased one (It was from the 2012 WBB line & Charles Ro didn't have one). Between Thanksgiving & Christmas, I picked up a couple of used cars, some new track, & much to my delight, a used Great Northern Hudson Jr. My birthday & Christmas hauls included a WBB transformer, couple more cars, & another pair of switches.

Excited to be back playing with trains, I didn't want to put them away when Christmastide drew to a close. Our house is modest in size & we didn't seem to have the space for a permanent layout. I figured that I could have a temporary carpet layout in a multipurpose room that after the birth of my son had been used mostly for storage. Among other things, it has a convertible couch that hasn't seen much use. Shortly after New Year's, I had a eureka! moment: put a board on top of the couch. The layout could be semipermanent, but if we ever wanted to use the couch--most likely as a spare bed for guests--I could either flip the board on its side & put it behind the coach, or move it to another basement room temporarily.

The next weekend, I picked up a 74"x38" 3/4"-thick sheet of OSB particle board. The dimensions matched the footprint of the couch. Using 2"x4s" that I had at home, I built an I frame on underside, the top and bottom of the I rest on the arms of the couch. It is perhaps surprisingly stable & sturdy. I layed down some track & decided to screw it down, so that if I had to move the layout, I wouldn't have to take everything apart. One thing led to another & I ended up stapling down the wiring & the layout became more permanent & less semi.

Here's how it ended up:

Of course, soon I started to dream about developing it a little further. I wanted it to be pretty simple, but thought that some kind of basic scenery, such as painting the OSB or putting down carpet would be the longterm goal. While I admire the highly detailed & elaborate scenery that many of you do, I wanted to keep my layout portable and don't see myself as the kind of person suited for creating intricately detailed scenery.

This week I decide that now was as good a time as ever to pull up the layout, put down carpet, & rebuild it. Yesterday, I went to work. First I drilled holes to run the wiring through. Then I pulled everything. Off then to pick up some indoor/outdoor carpet. One of the world's great hardware stores is nearby, but they don't have the type of carpet that I was looking for, so I went to the local Home Depot, whose selection turned out to be disappointing. Standing in the carpet aisle, I went to this website & searched this forum, which I discovered around Thanksgiving. I saw learned that some people used felt, and even that Joanne's Fabrics is a source. Off it was to Joanne's. Success!

In the late afternoon, I laid the felt. Next, the track was reassembled & screwed down. Then I wired everything, including soldering the five points of power to directly to the track, instead of using lock-ons. This morning, I put on the finishing touches, reinstalling the plexiglass guards (to guard against my son's & nephews' hands), & screw in place the handful of road signs. Here is the finished product:

It is simple, but I am quite proud of & pleased with my efforts. I am also thankful for the OGR forums. I've incorporated several tips & learned a lot, lurking over the last several months. (Among other things, I learned that the problem with my K-Line MP-15 was a fried reverse board, & learned about simply reversing the wiring so that at least it can run forward all of the time until I pick up a new part, either from Brasseur's or from another MP-15 if I can pick up and inexpensive, but working one to scavenge for parts.) Now, I'm thinking that for a longterm goal, I might create a simple NW conifer forest scene, removing the platform, adding some trees, & maybe even a handful of people (loggers, train workers, outdoors people?).

--Matt