Hi Guzman - could you build something that was 12" deep? How about an L like you had, but 12" rather than what looked like 24". You could have a small yard at each end and move traffic back and forth. You could even build a small engine terminal in 12-18" You can actually have benchwork even narrower. How about 6" along the wall in the shed? Get a window unit... Congratulations on baby's first birthday! I took my 18-year old to an operating session the other day and he really enjoyed the problem solving aspect of it. Terry PS Buy all the Thomas the Tank Engine videos you can stand, er, uh, I mean, enjoy, and then run some Thomas trains. PS 2 - for your Amtrak train you mentioned before, Kato is about to re-release their F40PH. It's a good short design that would work well on tighter curves (as would their P42). If you are looking for a short train, three or four Bachmann Amfleet cars behind either a P42 or an F40PH would not only look good but be realistic. If you want to dig deep into the pockets, LookModel has some nice Horizon cars, but they are $120 a pop.
Wow, thanks Terry! That is some great information. I have a 2x4 board in my shed right now. While the shed does have some room for an L and does have some existing benchwork, It would have to dual purpose as train room and shed I do need a window unit in there if i'm going to do anything in the summer months, might have to scope out Craigslist for a good used unit. Have any ideas of some back and forth layouts that would allow for some good run time with a little bit of switching?
Guzman - my new shed was set up Friday. I am going to have a 1' shelf around the perimeter with a peninsula down the middle. I'll use metal shelf brackets (not the 90-degree ones, but four-foot metal strips with slots to hold the brackets for several shelves). There is a good engine terminal in the Kalmbach 48 Track Plans Book. If you put shelves under the benchwork you might be able to go all the way around the room. Think of this: If you cut a 4'x8' into four one-foot wide strips you can make a square that is nine feet on each side. That's a lot more track than a small oval with NO loss of floor space! I'm going to use two-inch styrofoam for most of my benchwork. Terry
You bring up some good points. I'd have to re-do all the existing "shop-type" benchwork that is existing in order to do this. What I was considering, is taking out the bench that I do not use except to put stuff on. If I did this, I could store my tools back upright on the other side of the shed, and this would open up a rather decent size L-shape area. I could probably do a decently large loop with a couple industrial spurs. Not sure yet. For now, I have a little 2x4 board i'll prob tinker with.
Yes. Extruded foam is very easy to work with and can be covered in many different ways: paint with cheap latex house paint and sprinkle ground foam, dirt, or a combination of these onto the paint. then add additional layers to suit you. Carving the foam/hacking it up to create landforms creates lots of loose bits that you must vacuum up, but that's about as messy as it gets. There is a really good video tutorial on Youtube about working with extruded foam that I found invaluable. Try this link: http://www.youtube.com/user/thebige61#p/a/A1378DF426F2C713/0/FiCSW3Pn5gw
Thanks Paul! I have been given a window A/C unit, so I believe i'll be taking out my bench that is currently in my shop and doing some re-arranging and i'm going to try for an L in there. We'll see if I can pull this off
If you still have the old layout, why not recycle it in the shed? Just a suggestion ... perhaps put it a little higher up so that it is out of the way?
I have all the wood from the first layout, but its been disassembled. I'll start from scratch probably. I'm liking the idea of something with a small footprint. Thinking maybe a 2-3' loop on each end with a double mainline in the middle connecting the two, having some industrial spurs on the ends or maybe one in the middle, dont really know yet.
