I have not had a layout for the last 7-8 years and decided that it was time to get another one put together. So i shanghied some space in my computer room/office. I am trying some new ideas on this one. This was the first time that i have laid track with caulking. I must say other than the mess, it works well and holds the track in place good. I went with basicly a u shapped layout with a hiden reverse loop used for staging. (i know that i shouldnt have hidden tracks, but i wanted some staging and a reverse section) 7'x10'x4' The layout will be based in the colorado rockies. So far i have nearly all the benchwork taken care of and have the lower loop tracked and wired. Progress is not as fast as i would like, but i work on it when i can. I still have a long way to go. First i need to get some more lighting in the room. Index: (Mark Watson's idea, i liked it so cleaned up the thread. Thanks Mark!) Construction Benchwork Move to a new room Original track plan Track picts Track picts Trestle Bent 1 Trestle Tech Blue Point Install Scenery Scenery Begins G.R.S mine location G.R.S mine location 2 Tunnel Trains!! First Train Thanks Jerry
wow, lots of jigsaw work you've done there. Trackplan would be fun to look at too, that looks interesting
Thanks I will get a track plan on here when i get home later. yeah lots of jigsawing. Benchwork reverse section
Welcome to TrainBoard...lLooks good so far! Subscribing to this thread so I can follow your progress. Jamie
Yeah, all the hidden tracks will have access to them. Hopefully the track work laid works out well so I won’t have to access them too often. Here is a general idea of the track plan A few things have already changed, but that is the general idea. The yard area is still up in the air at this point. The left side of the layout will have a siding going up toward a mine or similar operation. I would like to have the middle section of the layout set in a small mountain town like Leadville or something along those lines. The right side is mainly going to be big mountains and perhaps something in the center of the loop. Advice/criticism welcome. Thanks Jerry
Make sure you leave an opening to reach the back of the layout. That's the biggest mistake I made.:tb-err:
I was able to get some more work done to the railroad. I was also able to get some much needed light in the room. Not exactly what i was wanting, but the better half liked them better than florescent box lights In any case they put off a bunch of light and they are movable. Kinda spot lightish, but they will do. Now on to the more important stuff. I was able to complete all of my roadbed and move on to laying some track.
I may have mentioned this already, but this is the first time i have laid cork or track with adhesive caulking, in the past i had always used track nails. I must say that the adhesive is much faster and easier to work with. I just hope it holds up in the long run. Atlas code 80 flex track with peco switches. I still have a lot more work to do. i cant wait until i get to run some trains.
Your bench work is very nice. Looks like a great plan and it'll be interesting to watch the progress. Thanks for posting those pictures.
Looking good. :thumbs_up: You will like the caulk. I have had track down for a year and it has held great--except in one case. Over the last few weeks, we have been getting down into the teens here in Atlanta and it has been VERY dry. That's way cold for us, and my two portable heaters, which usually work just fine, can't keep pace with the cold. My basement has got into the low 60s, and when combined with the low humidity, I have had some track pop up in places. I even have the rails gapped with every section of flex track, but it could not overcome the dimensinal changes of the benchwork. Thankfully super glue tacks it back down nicely and this should not be a problem once I get the track ballasted. Jamie
For a cell phone those aren't bad pictures. Plan looks like it should keep you busy, and you can just let them run when you want to kick back, I like that alot. I actually was looking at lights like those the other day on sale at lowes. They struck me as being spotlightish though too, do you get those weird multi-angle shadows?
Thank you everyone! Jeepy, the lights do cast a few shadows. So probably wont be the best light for taking pictures of the trains once i get there, but they are certainly better than the 2 small lamps we had in there. I would rather of had some florescent lights, but these do look nice cool:
