Thank you to all who assisted under my previous post titled "Railmodeller Pro 4 Mac Help." I'm ending that thread since I am no longer working with that program and am now moving forward. This thread will slowly document my build for the interest or entertainment of anyone. I'm a newbie, not a pro, so nothing here is intended to indicate I know what I'm doing! I know I enjoy watching other folks progress, so I though someone might enjoy following mine. So, with that said... Below is the "basically" finalized plan. I have also included pics of the 15x21 upstairs game room that I am transforming to the Train Room. The main layout is on 1' grid and is 15x12 -ish, plus the siding. I hope you enjoy following my progression.
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Great looking room! Will you have access to the windows.
No I won't have general window access, but I don't mind, if I HAD to open one I can do it, albeit very inconvenient, but doable. I live in the southern U.S. where it is hot 8 months of the year. We rarely open windows and run AC almost non-stop. There is another window in the room above the desk that I can easily open if I had to have some fresh air.
Great looking room!
Just a FWIW thought. When ever I did an install in a carpeted area I fully covered the room in heavy 6 mil or 8 mil poly cloth.
A side benefit is that with a plastic carpet covering it is easy to slide my butt on the floor. It is also easy to slide out the plastic from under the legs when done. Some clients kept the plastic under their platform down because it made sliding train boxes much easier.
Hp289
I see that you are using a lot of curved switches. They save space but please be aware of one issue......with smaller engines: geeps, 10 wheelers, switchers, etc, running at slow speeds, there are times when power is lost because of the gap between powered center rails.
I ended up changing out my Atlas O O72/O54 curves switches because of that issue.
If you can, measure the power gap on the switches you have chosen and the distance between you pick up rollers.
This is the layout I built in 2011 and by the end of 2012 the curved switches were gone......it only happened at prototypical speeds.....at "PostWar" speeds (60+ smph), the momentum was enough to compensate for the power interruptions.....
Great room and have fun.....looking forward to more pictures of your progress.
Peter
Attachments
Tom, agreed, no point in ruining new carpet. Putnam, **** You with bad news! Just kidding, Ugh! Well I hope it's not going to be a big issue, I might put in a call to Steve at Ross where I'm getting the switches and get input, as I really really prefer not to change my plan. I had heard the Ross curves were trouble free.
@Putnam Division posted:Hp289
I see that you are using a lot of curved switches. They save space but please be aware of one issue......with smaller engines: geeps, 10 wheelers, switchers, etc, running at slow speeds, there are times when power is lost because of the gap between powered center rails.
I ended up changing out my Atlas O O72/O54 curves switches because of that issue.
If you can, measure the power gap on the switches you have chosen and the distance between you pick up rollers.
This is the layout I built in 2011 and by the end of 2012 the curved switches were gone......it only happened at prototypical speeds.....at "PostWar" speeds (60+ smph), the momentum was enough to compensate for the power interruptions.....
Peter
Peter always wondered why you pulled those curved switches. But this begs the question is this problem only with the Atlas curved switches and/or the Ross switches also?
Ron
Hp......good idea....call Steve......my issues were with Atlas.....
Peter
The only issue with Ross switches you need to know about is running Lionel Post war engines and operating cars with slider shoe pickups through Ross Switches. The design of the Ross Switch will cause the engine / car to uncouple when the slider shoe crosses the center rail of the switch. Operating cars with slider shoes will activate when going through a Ross Switch. Jim Barrett has a fix for this problem in one of his back shop videos. It involves filing back the slider shoes, and insulting the car body from the track ground.
-Greg
Also, be sure you're good with the lighting before starting construction. Ceiling spots tend to illuminate a narrow beam and you might want to consider additional general lighting or at least check the light beam angle on the ones you have and install ones with a greater light disbursement, if needed.
The lighting is more like floods rather than spots. It's very good coverage. Thanks!
More details. All 072 and 084 curves.
Wire.
The frames are a little smaller than the plywood so after I get it all stood up, I can trim back to what I need. The "bolts" are for leveling so I can get the tables really level as a group. I'll need to put something under the bolts to protect the new carpet, but I'll come up with something. Maybe a 4" square piece of plywood? Not sure yet.
Anyway, that's the updates...