Finally measured the loft size and this is what I have to work with: 30 feet long by 15 feet wide. Now if I can only get my computer to get my damn photos of the HandyCam!!!! Scott
I just downloaded XtrCAD and am planning on figuring out how to use it.... I can't wait to get started. The walls in the loft aren't done yet but hoping to get that done in a few weeks. Scott
That's a nice size room. I have a 10'x12' room that just opened after my daughter moved out on her own,so after 23 years I get to get all my trains back out. I have to rethink how I want to do this. It's been 23 years and alot has changed.
23 years without a train? WOW! Welcome to TrainBoard LorMaxim! You will find many changes, some not for the 'best', some are 'better', but even though it is more costly now, it is still fun. Are you going with HO or N this time?
Watash, I am going to stay with HO. I have all my track from when my display was taken down. I have stuff from the 70's and some older. I just couldnt get rid of any of it so I stored it. I have to upgrade my power supply's I dont trust them for there age. I ran mostly CB&Q and Burlington Northern. I grew up around Eloa yards by Aurora Il and use to go to the round house to get ideas for my layout. My Great Grand Father was a Boiler maker for Burlington. I could never get my kids to enjoy the trains but my Grandson (only 2 ) spends hours watching the small layout I set up so this made me go dig out all my stuff and the Train is rolling again along with the fever that goes with it.
LorMaxim, I am still running the same Scintilla power pack My Dad got for me in 1937. It is far and away 'better' than the 'new' ones in that I can still run as many as 9 engines all at the same time. It is a selenium rectifier controlled type, so operates more realistically than the little transformers made from plastics. Don't be afraid of your old power supply just because it is old. Now if you are going to go High Tech with DCC, I can't advise you there. If your engines are all metal and heavy, you will find they will out pull the newer plastic engines equipped with rubber bands on the wheels. Be careful of the new ones because if one should happen to stall, and you leave the power 'ON' the motor will over-heat and melt the plastic boiler down over the motor. The rubber tire prevents the wheels from slipping, see?
