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There seems to be a number of you guys out there whos layouts just missed being in the 48 Club so we have initiated a Division 59 wing of the club. It grew out of the fact that many layouts were built on old ping pong tables which measured 5'x9'. While those layout are a bit larger than the regulation 48s they still face many of the same obstacles as the rest of us do. So henceforth if your layout exceeds the 32 square foot rule but is 45 square feet or under you are eligible for Division 59 membership.

48div59

After having reached the Charter Membership goal of 48 on 3/22 we are announcing the formation of the Century Club. It will be open to the first 100 new members who sign on to the 48 Club and who do not fall under the Division 59 rules.

48century

After much discussion on an old post by fellow forumite Amfleet25124 about the trials and tribulations of those of our brethren who for one reason or another have embraced the model railroad world of the 4x8 sheet of plywood I am announcing the formation of The 48 Club. Much like the Brotherhood Of The Crappy Basement Layout it is some what informal, no dues, no officers, no meetings or the other nonsense that comes from being in a formal organization.

         

The requirements for inclusion are very simple...

A. The layout can be no larger than a 4x8 sheet of plywood or what can configured from a single sheet

     1. Hollow core door slab layouts are definitely allowed

B. It can be permanent or seasonal since many 4x8s are set up during the Christmas season

C. In keeping with its seasonal origins the main focus will be S and O gauge, however if yours is one of the other gauges you are still welcome to join.

Now to get a bit of club business out of the way...

For providing the inspiration for this club the titles of Founding Member, Honorary Member and Charter Member are given to:

    Amfleet25124

There are 4 forumites who are conferred with the title of Honorary Members for with out them this forum would not exist:

    Alan Arnold

    Allen Miller

    Rich Melvin

    Ed Boyle

If I've left anyone out please let me know.

In addition the first 48 forumites who join will be considered Charter Members, currently from the original post Amfleet started they are following:

   RSJB18

   Conductor Earl

   bptBill

   CA John         ( his love of keilbasa and kishka gets him in on that alone LOL, you're a braver man than I john when it comes to kishka!  )

So let's see what you have done with the venerable ol' sheet of plywood or post track plans you've come up with that will fit the bill. To get the ball rolling here's one I've been working on in SCARM.

It uses 4 12"x96" strips of plywood to create a 9'x9' layout, I know it begs the question if I have room for 9x9 why am I just using a single sheet but one of the reasons many go with a 4x8 is the cost or work involved in a larger layout. This one allows you to have long runs while keeping scenery and buildings to a minimum. Besides I'm from the school of go big or go home and I'm pretty sure someone out there can come up with something even larger given the same constraints.



Jerry

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Last edited by baltimoretrainworks
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Jerry, great idea for the club and nice use of a 4x8 in the plan you shared.  May I suggest another honorary member, Thor Sheil of the Thortrains website which has recently been reborn by forum member @Dennis-LaRock as  http://www.thortrains.us/  His website is an inspiration to those operating in a small space and his hints, tips, and tricks are a great resource.

Sadly, at 5.5ft x 8ft I am on the outside looking in, but maybe I'll throw something together on a single 4x8.

@RSJB18 I always enjoy seeing your layout

Walt, what kind of floor covering is that you're using under the track? I came across a green 6x8 indoor/outdoor carpet made from recycled plastic that I used under my tree/trains this past Christmas, kind of like a heavy duty 1/8" felt. It was easily cut with scissors and the color and texture was pretty good match for something used with toy trains. Lowes website lists it at about $22 but I picked up a couple in York for $16 each. The only draw back I see to it is sawdust and straw from my manger scene was a bear to remove even with a vacuum cleaner and sitting it directly on a hardwood floor it would slide easy so unless it were attached to an underlayment of some kind I'd recommend a non skid mat under it.

https://mobileimages.lowes.com/product/converted/080321/080321102430_03868037.jpg?size=pdhi

https://www.lowes.com/pd/EcoRu...W-x-8-ft-L/999992360



Jerry

Last edited by baltimoretrainworks

F012E8CE-5CDA-4B84-929B-23579CC1C5E5BEB155F4-3C92-4A56-852C-FC71DB267467743E9151-C28E-4BDE-83E1-E52F35FC259BMy 4x8, a work in progress (to say the least). First is original layout. Second image hard to see: Two more spurs added near cross, and long spur was converted to a passing siding. Third image: No basement, and no extra rooms to take over for trains, so i hung it off the garage ceiling. Lower (and raise it) with pulley hoist onto sawhorses, so a little tedious. Otoh, wiring relatively easy.

love the art deco logo of the 48 club!
Mark

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  • F012E8CE-5CDA-4B84-929B-23579CC1C5E5: Original
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  • 743E9151-C28E-4BDE-83E1-E52F35FC259B: Hanging layout in a disaster garage
Last edited by Nucci
@Nucci posted:

love the art deco logo of the 48 club!

That came about by virtue of the name, I thought it sounded like a Night Club from the 20/30's so I ran with that idea. I did consider The 4x8 Club but the logo didn't look right with an X in it  and The 32 Club logo (32sq' of a 4x8) looked too soft and rounded, I liked the sharpness of the 4 better. I had a heck of a time getting that font to play well with all 3 graphics packages I have, finally resorted to going with a ridiculous size in Word and then copy/pasting it into Inkscape to get the yellow to completely fill the thin areas in the characters and then shrinking it back down to a reasonable size.



@JD2035RR posted:

May I suggest another honorary member, Thor Sheil of the Thortrains website which has recently been reborn by forum member @Dennis-LaRock as  http://www.thortrains.us/  His website is an inspiration to those operating in a small space and his hints, tips, and tricks are a great resource.

Duly noted and membership amended to show Thor Sheil as an Honorary Member in The 48 Club !

          https://www.reactiongifs.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/so_say_we_all1.gif



I love the spirit of this topic and would have been a proud member up until recently when I dismantled my 4x8 train layout and build a 5 x10 Crappy Basement Layout.

I think a title of Member Emeritus would be most applicable to you then, consider yourself a member. That's the nice thing about starting a club, you can make up things as you go along !



Jerry

Walt, what kind of floor covering is that you're using under the track? I came across a green 6x8 indoor/outdoor carpet made from recycled plastic that I used under my tree/trains this past Christmas, kind of like a heavy duty 1/8" felt. It was easily cut with scissors and the color and texture was pretty good match for something used with toy trains. Lowes website lists it at about $22 but I picked up a couple in York for $16 each. The only draw back I see to it is sawdust and straw from my manger scene was a bear to remove even with a vacuum cleaner and sitting it directly on a hardwood floor it would slide easy so unless it were attached to an underlayment of some kind I'd recommend a non skid mat under it.



https://www.lowes.com/pd/EcoRu...W-x-8-ft-L/999992360



Jerry

It's just painted Homasote.

@Apples55 posted:

And for your first Club Car, might I suggest one of the 40 & 8 boxcars from WWI??? 13309F1B-700B-41B7-B0BA-3AE8A48AE177

I had thought about a boxcar and kicked around a couple ideas. Yours is interesting, I remember seeing it several times when I visited the B&O Museum, might be kind of hard to find an O gauge model of it to try it on. MTH has made a similar boxcar that might make a passable clone. Might make for an interesting modeling project.



This is what I worked up this evening, I'm figuring in keeping with the Art Deco style of the logo make it all black with yellow/gold lettering except for the hobo graffiti on the car. I wanted to use the Art Deco font for all the markings but they just didn't look right, almost overkill





And in an effort to actually make this car I'm looking into an HP Ghost White printer that uses colored toner and  white toner to make the decals. I've watched a few YouTube videos and it looks pretty good at making decals. Problem is it clocks in around $600 and a white toner cartridge is $200-300 depending on where you get it. I know I can use it for my other printing/computer needs but OUCH!  Another option would be to buy a less expensive printer that can take those toner cartridges. But I would then also be able to do my other 3 projects, an all white train with black lettering, an all black train with white lettering and an all glow in the dark train with black lettering using the standard boxcar, gondola, tank car, hopper and caboose pulled by that venerable work horse the Lionel 675.

I'll be totaling up the Charter Membership to see where we stand, I was going to do it this afternoon but I was busy watching SpaceX blow up another rocket, kinda making me rethink that whole buying a chance to go into space on a Falcon 9 thing, but I digress. I will post the membership roster hopefully tomorrow.



Jerry

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Just got finished updating the membership roll, not a bad start.

Founding Member
1. BaltimoreTrainWorks


Honorary Founding Member, Honorary Charter Member and Honorary Member
1. Amfleet25124


Charter Members
1. RSJB18
2. Conductor Earl
3. bptBill
4. CA John
5. Walt Rapp
6. M. Mitchell Marmel
7. OKHIKER
8. Coca Cola guy
9. Nucci
10. Rich Wiemann
11. CSXJOE
12. graz


Honorary Members
1. Harry Miller ... My grandfather
2. Jerry Makowiecki ... My dad
3. Thor Sheil
4. Alan Arnold
5. Allen Miller
6. Rich Melvin
7. Ed Boyle



I included my grandfather and Dad as Honorary Members since they were the ones who got the ball rolling for me train-wise. My grandfather started setting up trains under the tree on a 4x8 before WW2 and handed the trains over to my dad after I was born in 1960 to continue the tradition. My dad set up trains until I took over in 1978 and I've had trains set up in some way ever since then. I still have my grandfathers first locomotive, a Lionel 1666E, which every now and then will see some run time at Christmas.



Jerry

Last edited by baltimoretrainworks

I included my grandfather and Dad as Honorary Members since they were the ones who got the ball rolling for me train-wise.

Very rarely do I run into a first-generation train person any more.  Seems that we are all 2nd, 3rd, or 4th generation and begin with a set handed down from above, so to speak.  Of course, there's nothing wrong with that...and it's my story, too!

Thank you Jerry.

I am honored to be a charter member of THE 48 CLUB. I hope to fulfill my duties and discharge my responsibilities in a manner that befits the high standards of the club. 😁 Appreciate the backstory and all the effort that went into the logo creation!

That logo would look great anywhere. I can easily see it on some high end private varnish Pullman on The Twentieth Century Limited.

And the boxcar: sign me up! (Wait; what did i just sign up for?) Looks great. Nice tie in to the WWI 40&8 boxcar. Great idea by Apples55

Mark


This is what I worked up this evening, I'm figuring in keeping with the Art Deco style of the logo make it all black with yellow/gold lettering except for the hobo graffiti on the car. I wanted to use the Art Deco font for all the markings but they just didn't look right, almost overkill



Spiffy!  I like! 

I'll be totaling up the Charter Membership to see where we stand, I was going to do it this afternoon but I was busy watching SpaceX blow up another rocket, kinda making me rethink that whole buying a chance to go into space on a Falcon 9 thing, but I digress.

That's "RUD (rapid unscheduled disassembly)", if you please. 

Mitch

@Melvin P posted:

Is there a link to sign up

Nope, just a declaration by you that you are a member ( whether your layout is permanent or seasonal is irrelevant), much like the Brotherhood Of The Crappy Basement Layout. We don't even have a FB page mostly because it's a boring pain in the butt to deal with something like that unless there is a lively and robust membership and a back and forth of ideas. For now we're just a small group here on the Forum.

@Nucci posted:

That logo would look great anywhere. I can easily see it on some high end private varnish Pullman on The Twentieth Century Limited.

HMM, you're right, that would make a cool looking drumhead.

@graz posted:

We still have the 4x8 Christmas Layout up and running.

Consider yourself in the club. (see roster above)



Jerry

Hi all, this is timely as I am just about to start a new 4x8 Fastrack layout. Can anyone tell me what the outside dimensions of a 036 circle of Fastrack is, including the plastic roadbed? What about 031 Fasttrack? Thanks for all of the good hints, tips can ideas here. Also as a memorial membership I would suggest my late mother. In late 1980, after my grandfather was killed she built me (8 years old at the time) a 4x8 layout with a loop of track and some green construction paper. That was a huge undertaking for a single mother with four mouths to feed on a school teacher salary in the big city. Great memories.

Hi all, this is timely as I am just about to start a new 4x8 Fastrack layout. Can anyone tell me what the outside dimensions of a 036 circle of Fastrack is, including the plastic roadbed? What about 031 Fasttrack? Thanks for all of the good hints, tips can ideas here. Also as a memorial membership I would suggest my late mother. In late 1980, after my grandfather was killed she built me (8 years old at the time) a 4x8 layout with a loop of track and some green construction paper. That was a huge undertaking for a single mother with four mouths to feed on a school teacher salary in the big city. Great memories.

Hi Frank, my old 4x8 layout had an O-36 outside loop with a half length straight track on the ends in the middle of the loop.

On the inside I had an O-36 figure 8. All track was Fastrack.

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