O27 Tubular and a Hollow Wood Door Fun

You got a steal on those ties!  Kappler sells that bag directly for $24.95.

Yep, lots of fun in a small space. Looks like y'all got it figured out.  My O27 layout is also tubular on a hollow core door, 36x80 with strips added on the long edges to make it 39" wide. Gives more room between loops. Similar track plan, but inner figure 8 has switches to allow you to run it as an oval.

Keep up the good work! 

I missed this one Rich. It looks very nice. You have inspired me to get out my hollow door layout. I almost forgot about it. 

Rich,

What a great way to spent time with your helper.    I can still vividly remember the times I was my dad's helper 60+ years ago on train table projects.   Thanks for sharing the project.

Ed

Good job, Rich.   I did a similar project with my now-22-year-old son when he was about 6.  Our design was similar, but was one oval with four switches that allowed us to have a figure 8 & at a 90-degree crossing in the middle.  It has always been handy to get out &/or put back away, either under a bed, or just leaning against the basement wall.  I've got no one to use it with now, but it is still here..... waiting.   Enjoy your time with your daughter to the fullest.... she will be asking for the car keys before you know it!

My first 3-rail O-gauge layout, to run my dad's old Lionel train, was a figure-8 on a 30" x 79" door. The O27 curves have O54 easements and it has a custom-built 67.5-degree crossing to make it fit the space. This layout is still set up and has evolved into a reasonably "complete" toy-train layout, but only the track and road are actually fastened down. Just a one-train layout but it's fun !

I have a temporary O27 loop-to-loop layout on another 30" x 79" door. I spliced cut-down O22 switches into the O27 track because they have better non-derailing action than O27 switches. This is a fun little layout because the train has an automatic"random route" feature through the central junction. The layout space is filled out with some GeoTrax and misc stuff. Nothing is fastened down because I like the flexibility of changing things around sometimes.

An O27 layout on a door-table is a good way to have 3-rail fun in a really limited space.

What does it mean to have an O54 easement?

Basil posted:

What does it mean to have an O54 easement?

In this case, at no point does straight track join directly into an O27 curve section. A wider O54 curve joins straight sections to O27 curves. Trains run better, look better IMO. In a figure-8 configuration the wider easement curve does not require additional table width. Following version uses all standard track pieces with no cutting. Wider O42, O54, etc curves are available in O27 profile track.

Real railroads use spiral easements to transition from straight track to curves. For model railroad purposes with sectional track, this type of arrangement works well enough.

Hollow-core doors make a convenient lightweight platform for small portable layouts, and also have good potential for use in modular layout construction.

Rich, Your O27 project and LHS is Star Hobby? 

MY project is O27 and my LHS is Star Hobby.

You mean there are TWO of us around here working with O27 out of Star Hobby?!

All of a sudden I don't feel so alone anymore.

Well done!  

PatKelly posted:

Rich, Your O27 project and LHS is Star Hobby? 

MY project is O27 and my LHS is Star Hobby.

You mean there are TWO of us around here working with O27 out of Star Hobby?!

All of a sudden I don't feel so alone anymore.

Hi Pat, yes, Star Hobby would be my LHS, I'm north of them by about 20 minutes or so, visited quite often over the last few years while I worked in Annapolis, but I'm not working in Columbia so I haven't been there in a couple months.  Maybe I'll make a stop next weekend.

Thank you all for the other comments/etc.  This wooden door layout gets some action every now and then, and when it's not in use it stands up against the wall in a storage room in the basement, out of the way.

Best...Rich

Thanks, Ace!

I'm going to pull the track off this door because I never use it and I find myself moving it around all the time, so I thought I'd highlight it on the Switcher Saturday this week and take some pics/video before the "demo"!

Looks good Rich- too bad its coming down. I didn't look at the original post date until I got to the bottom of the page. I was going to suggest that you start annexing space in the basement for a bigger layout using this as a starting point. Or connect this to your workbench track .

I also like that the air hockey table found a second purpose. We have a small one and its buried under a mountain of stuff. Do your kids still use it?

Bob