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good evening.

I have some pine boards that I intend to groove spaced for O gage to safely secure and display some post war lionel.

note: its too cold to store engines in basement, I am moving cast steam engines to the tropics upstairs! lol.

it was 4 degrees out here this morning and the basement daylight doors refuse to stayed closed today! 

might anyone have recommendations for outer rail spacing, width  of cut, depth etc ?

I have some friends with table saws.

thank you.

leroof.

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two suggestions

1.  use a router rather than a table saw;

2.  measure a piece of track for rail width and  rail spacing.

A friend or your neighborhood hardware store [not a big box store] probably has a caliper which will make fast work of these measurements.   I suspect a 1/8 inch straight router bit will do the job.

If no one else steps up, please contact me and I will give you your measurements. I'm not able to do so right now.

Unless you just enjoy the experience of using a router, go for the table saw.  If you are using 1by 4's  you can do the measurement from the edge of the board and just flip the board around and run it through again.  Using a piece of scrap set the blade 1&1/8" from the guide and run it through both ways.  If not correct you can make the correction.  Nothing easier than that.  Same applies if the boards are wider, just different measurements.

Depth, doesn't really make much difference.  1/4" too much, 1/8" not enough.

Last edited by Bill DeBrooke

For post war locos with Magna-traction, I put them on a section of steel track to act as a "magnet keeper" and help save the magnets.

If you have any engines with traction tires I keep them off the wood or track to protect against flat spots.

I also store all cars and trains with the couplings open to "save the springs".

I do not know if any of this makes a difference but I fell better.

I cut grooves in my shelves with a router with a rounded veining bit about 1/8 inch deep, using an edge guide.  Make the grooves to match the train wheels.  It goes real fast and I can see what I am doing.

Post 36 of the topic below shows how I built my train shelves from 1x4 inch lumber for most shelves and may provide some useful hints. 

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...ra-027-layout?page=4

Charlie

Last edited by Choo Choo Charlie

I will echo what Bill Debrooke stated that is how I have all my stuff displayed and have for over 20 years and never had any problems. Don’t cut the flange groves so deep as to depress the rollers. My are just deep enough to insure everything stays in the groves I can even couple the pieces together and roll them like a train on the shelf. AE591796-0BBF-4D29-B0A9-97C68CDA6F4C45EA65AB-F56C-4500-A5A3-A7323935A2B6F3D0241A-9A99-41EA-BDFC-9341D8B015279F2E8747-B589-49D1-AA83-60F49F33C6A7907055E9-65FD-4C1D-A63B-7AE3144DCFE2CC46129D-E1B1-4DAC-8912-44C10D2EACE2

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  • AE591796-0BBF-4D29-B0A9-97C68CDA6F4C
  • 45EA65AB-F56C-4500-A5A3-A7323935A2B6
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  • CC46129D-E1B1-4DAC-8912-44C10D2EACE2

Related to shelf display I also have this wooden true-scale roadbed that one would fasten solid  scale rail  to, some might know of this interesting vintage stuff.

Might one fasten code148 or larger to make display platforms with this stuff?

or perhaps a larger rail size? Anyone know? Maybe micro engineering might carry the steel rail?

any ideas?

 

LEROOF you are very welcome and the 1x4's are a-lot cheaper than the commercial shelving that is out there if you are willing to do a little work. I run a 1x4 vertical at wall stud spacing to give me a solid attach point. I dado out the vertical pieces to fit the 1x4's and glue and screw through the back and paint to match. I like painting them white or the same color as the wall so you are looking at the trains nd not the shelves. If you look close at the double row of shelving running on the house carry thru beam you can see the vertical pieces.

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OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

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