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I worked on my tunnel out into the attic and also worked on a miller engineering sign for the mountain tunnel in the same spot.  I am gonna build up the top of the car tunnel a little bit and then flatten it for the sign. 675E3271-BEF9-4CD5-A21A-A207F062CC0DFB9B17B6-1001-404F-9B88-32FFE534D1DF28D641B3-68E7-4E88-BBAE-1ED49BECC363I hot glued the circuit board the inside wall and it amplified the timing noise so I had to remove it and just lay it on the table for now. I am gonna try velcro next.  
I started a new job and it stopped my progress for a bit.  Its also been too dang hot and humid outside to cut lumber. 

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@Paul Kallus posted:

Wayne, this is the first time I've seen this thread, awesome track plan! I love plans that think outside the norm, and going through the wall is near and dear to me

DoubleDaz helped me on the track plan as well as others on the forum.  Everyone has been so great with advice and insight and suggestions and especially patience.  I am glad i belong to this forum.  I enjoy hearing from everyone.  I am working on the layout as much as life will let me. The closer i get to connecting the two sides of the room the crazier it gets.  I love the disappearing loops.  I was wanting one of the loops to go over my stairs but it just wasnt going to work. My only fear is when i have to cut the final tunnel. It is gonna be a job to figure out where they will connect.  

Last edited by Southern4501

Oh yeah i broke my texaco sign.  You have to be super careful with it at the connection point. I was moving it and test fitting it and i think the traces broke. I sent Miller Engineering a email asking if i could just get the sign and what had happened and he responded in less then 24 hours.  Awesome customer service and i will be ordering more for sure. I will use the broken one for fitment purposes from now on.


 A huge shout out to Miller Engineering. 

Last edited by Southern4501

I got the inner main loop running so i shot a video of two trains coming into the train room. I am now at 16ft of track in the attic. I ran the Freedom train through as well but I dont have enough bench work and track down to run all the cars yet into the attic.
 I am having fun with a couple of switches derailing cars. I also had to take the cushions on the end of the passenger cars off to negotiate the switches as well. 

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Last edited by Southern4501

Wayne, I used some scrap wood to make an upside down T. I secured it on a flat car with some twist ties and secured the phone to the upright part of the T with a rubber band. I then pushed the flat car around. It you can secure the phone high enough to see over the engine without hitting something, you can pull it behind the engine. You can also turn it sideways to get a widescreen shot, but you need to make sure it clears your other engine as they pass.

image@DoubleDAZ posted:

Wayne, I used some scrap wood to make an upside down T. I secured it on a flat car with some twist ties and secured the phone to the upright part of the T with a rubber band. I then pushed the flat car around. It you can secure the phone high enough to see over the engine without hitting something, you can pull it behind the engine. You can also turn it sideways to get a widescreen shot, but you need to make sure it clears your other engine as they pass.

Thanks dave.  I have a couple of flat cars i can push.  I might end up getting one of those camera caboose. I did change the layout inside a little more to connect the loops since the last update inside. 

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@Mark Boyce posted:

Congratulations both of you for a job well done in cramped quarters!    My days of working in areas like that are done! 

Hey mark thanks. I had put  some flooring down to be as safe as possible. With all of the ceiling height changes in the main house it was fun working with uneven joists. The attic is actually huge and rick laughingly said i could build a huge storage yard up there. I have enough trouble with the switches i have now.  We both enjoyed the fact we could stand up and not have to be bent over. I just had to crawl around a little bit. Rick noticed it was very comfortable up there being foamed in.  

Last edited by Southern4501

Wayne, I used some scrap wood to make an upside down T. I secured it on a flat car with some twist ties and secured the phone to the upright part of the T with a rubber band. I then pushed the flat car around. It you can secure the phone high enough to see over the engine without hitting something, you can pull it behind the engine. You can also turn it sideways to get a widescreen shot, but you need to make sure it clears your other engine as they pass.

I ended up making a makeshift one lol. It worked though. Added a sherman tank to the load.

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Started working on the polar express part of the layout. It will have its own dedicated loop.  It doesnt like the 072 switches at all. On the plus side the kids can run it and i dont have to worry about it going wrong.  It will go over the top of the mainline and do another loop on the right side. My friend Chris and I are going to build a big mountain to have a double tunnel for the mains and then a tunnel on the back track for the polar express. The front track will have a trestle of some sort. 62ECC7D5-EE20-4AAA-AECF-9185EDC3F0E1DE2FFADE-164D-4AC2-9FF6-1729E28755FC

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Wayne, that looks really nice. Hard to believe you stated this thread almost 3 years ago and I got involved with the design process almost 2 years ago. There have been a lot of changes since then, including after construction started. At times it’s hard to know if these will ever get built, but I’m glad to see this one is well on its way to completion, or at least as complete as layouts ever get. You’ve done a wonderful job and I was happy to play a role.

@DoubleDAZ posted:

Wayne, that looks really nice. Hard to believe you stated this thread almost 3 years ago and I got involved with the design process almost 2 years ago. There have been a lot of changes since then, including after construction started. At times it’s hard to know if these will ever get built, but I’m glad to see this one is well on its way to completion, or at least as complete as layouts ever get. You’ve done a wonderful job and I was happy to play a role.

Thanks Dave. I have enjoyed your help and suggestions and everyone’s ideas as well. It is has been a long process so far mostly because of cost. Right now I really need to work on finishing up the wiring for the mains. I usually work here and there as not to get overwhelmed. I really have to thank my wife for letting me pursue this venture.  She has let me run a little crazy at times. I do hear why do you need another train once in awhile 😂.  Sometimes a great deal comes along and is too good to pass up.  All in all I dont know how long it will take to finish or get close to finishing but I am really enjoying the hobby.
As always thank you for all your help.
Wayne

@Mark Boyce posted:

Wayne, It is looking good.  Nice idea of how you are building the two different levels.

Thanks Mark. I really wanted to be able to let the kids run a train and it not interfere with the main layout or a accidental switch being thrown and a crash happen.  Also I put the polar layout on a cw80. I can adjust the main throttle and kee the train under control if they put the remote on full blast.  Its also a plus that my dad’s train can run up there because it has shoes.  We put a modern whistle in his train and it sounds pretty darn close and works like a charm.  I am going to finish up the power drops and then paint all the foam to prepare for the snow install.  

Just wanted to do a short update. I have been moving really slow this year with the layout progress. My new job and my mom’s passing has put a damper on progress. I put it on the backburner.  Making sure my father is ok and helping get my mom’s effects in order is the priority.  I did get a MTH F-3 Santa Fe and a Lionel tmcc MOW boom crane set at a show.  

Well things are going to stop.  I will possibly be packing up and tearing down my layout. Long story short we might be putting our house up for sale and moving in with my father.  We had a huge scare and he just got out of rehab.  Thankfully he is doing better but we are looking at the future. We want him to be able to live in his home as long as he can. Upside is i can start over with no height restrictions and a 12x18 foot area. He said he will share his work garage with me. So i will start over with foaming the whole garage and then sheet rocking the inside and hvac added.  The building is 18x24 so we will still have a workshop on the front half and the layout on the back half. Nice thing is no more stairs or knee walls. I will be learning a new concept of open grid.  My friend chris i met a year ago is ready to go also to help me.  His is open grid. I am looking at not having a flat railroad anymore.  
That is the possible plan for my future. We have to look into the legalities first.  

Well we sold the house on the 15th of November.  Layout is on hold because we combined 2 homes.  All my trains are in a controlled environment storage building. Dads shop is storage for 2 homes.  We had a garage sale to try and downsize but still have a ton of stuff.  $150 a month in storage fees is really making me sad.  I hope to get the shop cleaned out and hope dad is ready to let go of most of the stuff left over from the last shop fire.  Its all burnt anyways.  Maybe next year. If not i guess it will be time to sell.

Well i finally have an awesome update.  As of next wednesday a 12x32 building is being delivered that is my dedicated train room.  I have to do the electrical and foam and sheetrock and install a mini split system but it is finally starting to be a reality.  I can not wait. We never could come to an agreement to get rid of stuff in the extra garage. Since last fall my dad has had a stroke ( he is recovering pretty good except for weakness) and we are providing him with whatever he needs or wants.  I hope to be ready to start building in january.

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