Jim's layout topic/blog

[riogrande]

Dismantling is in full swing:

[Gary P]

Sorry to see this, as it was coming along very nicely. Hope to see the new beginnings this winter!

[grahamline]

Looks like some useful and salvageable benchwork. Just helped friend remove an operational but unscenicked layout that was too custom-built to salvage much. Fine for the space it was in but not so handy in a smaller new space.

[riogrande]

It's not fun breaking down a labor of time and love, but the consolation is hopefully to build something more satisfying.

I did hope to be much further along by the time it came to move, but due to some basement issues there was some 9+ months of delays while I dealt with them. We'll have to find a new basement with home over the top this fall, which I am not looking forward to as it's a bit nutty around here.

All the bench-work is being saved, a total of 7 open grid sections. I should be able to work them into a new layout design assuming I have a bit more space.

I'd guess that in most situations it's not practical to move a layout to a new location and have it fit or be desirable because most spaces are too different from each other.

[hovehicle]

Jim,

I thought this layout was going to be permanent and it's sad to see it torn down. I can say that I was impressed from what I had seen so get a new space that's bigger and let's see some DRG&W!

Vito L.

[riogrande]

Well no layout is really permanent but only planned on being here for 5 years max. Turns only here 4 just under 4 years. Layout was built in a semi-modular fashioned because it was temporary..

Room is almost finished.

[riogrande]

Here is the last module standing:



I've removed the frame work there which supported the upper level and the room is now being prepared for selling, which means a tile floor has been installed to replace the old carpet, and a coat of blue paint to touch up the walls etc.

[riogrande]

We are having the carpets cleaned this morning on the town house and putting it on the market in September. We'll need to have an offer before we seriously search for another home, but we are scoping things out now so we can minimize the time it takes. Definitely looking forward to a new layout space.

[Christian]

Aug 19, 2017 2:42:52 GMT -8 riogrande said:

We are having the carpets cleaned this morning on the town house and putting it on the market in September. We'll need to have an offer before we seriously search for another home,

Good luck on that. I'm assuming you are staying in Prince William? Check both Zillow and Redfin religiously. Particularly notice listing date and closing date on property in your budget. Stuff moves fast and there is a lot of cash dealing. Our financing was in place and ready to go through the final process until closing. BUT we still lost out on our number one to a cash, lets close tomorrow deal which was several thousand lower than our close in thirty days bid.

[riogrande]

Here is a track plan from my 2nd layout torn down in 2000. I have a drawing of sorts of the above layout, but need to scan it or find a scan.

[riogrande]

So have closed on a Freddie Mac home with a longer commute and have moved in last week - stressful process because Freddie Mac is so slow in responding every step of the way. After closing and moving Wednesday, was without internet until Monday morning until it was sorted out.

This is a fixer-upper so will have some projects over the next month or two before I can start to tackle the basement. The basement is unfinished with a walkout at one end; a small bonus is it has been framed in which is a head start. So will need to get electrical sockets installed and then I can DIY the drywall.

Here are a couple of photos - tons more space than my old 10x18' room plus the utility room has plenty of space for a work shop area.

The main room area is 15 wide x 27.5 and extends into two additional sections which "step" to the left 6' and 12' (total from front to back 45'.

[Gary P]

Jim - Very very nice. TONS of potential there! Congrats!

[riogrande]

Thanks Gary. One guy on another forum said he missed his 1,700 sq ft basement; this one is approx 1,000 square feet or a bit more, but the train area is more like 730 I'd estimate. Planning on two levels for part of it to maximize run area.

[riogrande]

I've had a bit of time to draw up an early draft for a planned layout where I have roughed in the major elements. The pencil is lightly drawn to make it easy to erase and edit and it's just a smart phone photo which I tweaked a bit:

Bottom is 27 1/2 feet along the long wall. Minimum radius is 32 but a lot of the curves are in the 36 to 42 inch range. Areas with angled lines are walkways with pinch points down to 24" at narrowest. Top area is walkway from stairs from left to right along outside of layout. An alternative plan will be to have the layout use the entire 15' space (top to bottom) and use a lift out at the upper left where the stairs enter the basement.

Yard at bottom is now yet fleshed out. Planning on staging below the yard at bottom. Click on image to see a bigger one.

[specialduty45]

Nice looking plan Jim.

[riogrande]

Thanks. Spent some time cleaning up the drawing to make it easier to read. Also added in two 21' passing sidings and roughed in the main yard.



The above basic track plan and configuration is what I have settled on for my late 1970's theme D&RGW layout based loosely on the Grande Junction Colorado area and west into Utah.

[riogrande]

Two of the 2x8' bench-work sections should find a home on the new layout as marked in red. Perfect fit along the yard wall.



Basically the entire benchwork section below will be going where the red outlined area is on the track plan. The upper level in the photo will be cut down from 30-inches wide to 24-inches wide and the separation between the top and bottom is planned to be 12-inches. The top and bottom were separated for the move and all the risers removed as well.



BTW, I should be having 40 sheets of drywall delivered next Sunday to the house that should be about enough to do the basement and basement bathroom. Also bought a 250' roll of house wire to get the outlet wiring going.

[talltim]

Sept 27, 2016 7:52:42 GMT -8 riogrande said:

I don't trust my soldering ability so I try to remember to put heat sinks on before I solder anything that could be melted like ties.

BTW, the heat sinks I have I got from Radio Shack way back when I was a teen, but you can still buy similar heat sinks and they are cheap - I googled heat sink clips and found they are available from various suppliers - they are on Amazon too. Two will do the job - I put one on each side when soldering - prevents melting ties during normal soldering.

Just seen this thread, I'm getting some heat sinks for soldering droppers! It was a right PITA last time, so much so that I want to redo my track laying because of dodgy tie spacing caused by soldering the droppers!

[riogrande]

Hey Tim. Heat sinks really help even a crappy solderer like me avoid melted ties, although it does help to not solder right on top of ties too!

[tiecounter]

Hi Jim,
I've been away from forums for a bit (life gets busy)....great to see you've come through your teardown/move out/move in/build up in what looks like fine shape.
Re: heat sinks, I probably solder quickly enough that I don't need one, but I've always used at the least a clamp on set of tweezer (wooden handles). I also bought one "TWT83100 Rail Joiner Tool" (available on evil bay) that looks like it will work great....
In terms of my layout, my route diverged a bit. Now that I've finally created the (entire) NS GP60 fleet (which has been fun!) I'm detail them, which is fast going when I am doing it but my time has been a little limited I'm detailing the last of the (entire) NS GP60 fleet I mentioned I was growing in my last post on this thread...
And reading MRH about TOMA got me thinking about whether I wanted to grow a lot of benchwork or focus on one section of my larger planned (imagined?) layout. It's a 3'x6' section that is a compressed version of the Juniata Works in Altoona PA. It'll have 6 stalls instead of dozens, but the first few modules I'll create (one at a time) will build a locomotive shops facility that will provide a rationale for a *high* density of locomotives (even mixed roads, so those oddball purchases that seemed like a good idea the time don't go to waste).
Module 1 is on a "rotisserie" that will allows me to (gently) spin it upside down to wire from the top instead of the bottom. Topside for module 1 will consist of turntable, 6 stalls of railroad shops (Walthers) and the beginning of the ladders and A/D tracks for the facility. The 36x72" modules will be the "upper level" while I'll be running staging tracks beneath it, (21"), inspired by your benchwork/framework scheme.
THE 2nd module will build on end from that and include a paint shop, cleaning, test shed, parts, and power plant.
If you've not seen Altoona/Juniata shops, you can look it up on Google maps - it is unique in that the turntable is at the END of the yard instead of in the middle of it.
That catches me up - and I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.
Best, Ken

[riogrande]

Hello Ken,

Life does get busy. The tear-down went well and all re-usable materials were moved to the new-fixer-upper home in November of last year. Since then wife and I have been working on major house remediation and upgrade products galore (kitchen upgrade, front door replacement, sourcing furnature, etc. We've been doing some of the work ourselves and we aren't super speedy.

Basement was pretty much on hold until finally late summer/Sept when we had plumbing for the basement bathroom installed and wall outlets in framed in basement walls (that's progress). I've been doing fire-blocking required by code and still need to get the bathroom vent pipe installed before I pull the permit and get the walk-through. After that drywall can go in and my wife sourced drop ceiling materials for free/cheap. We will be going and getting the drop ceiling materials this weekend and staging in the garage.

Sounds like you are getting your roster in order which is great. TOMA does seem like a good way to make progress. IIRC, they say to do a section or module at a time and use a work room in a separate area.

In the mean time I've started to sort out track for the new layout; I've sold off all my code 100 Atlas #6 turnouts and a Walthers 3-way (trying to simplify staging track and unify it to mostly one brand with finger flick switches. To that end I'm starting to stockpile some Peco Electrofrog turnouts; I already had a few code 100 Peco but they are all insulfrog which may be ok but for the "core" turnouts will be Electrofrog. All my code 83 track saved from the last layout is a mix of Atlas #6 and Walthers/Shinohara specialty turnouts (#8 curved, 3-way, #6 double slip and #8). The layout as designed has fairly narrow benchwork, so industries to switch will need to incorporate "background" type buildings.

Onward and upward!

[riogrande]

After some minor steps toward getting the basement ready for finishing and a layout, I finally pulled a permit on Dec 5 and the inspector came for the rough-in inspection and gave me the green light to proceed. The rough-in inspection checks things like the stud framing, wall outlet wiring, bathroom plumbing and venting etc. that can be seen before the drywall and ceiling goes in.

Over the weekend starting Sunday afternoon my wife and I started hanging drywall. Woo. We will be working on getting the train room walled, ceiling and floored so the layout construction can begin, hopefully by around Feb/Mar of next year. Originally I had hoped to be doing the drywall etc. a couple months ago but there were other house projects that needed attention first.

One consideration is troffer lighting in the ceiling and where best to put them vs. the layout. I will be installing a drop ceiling with 2x2 tiles - troffer lights can go into some of the 2x2 spaces. Any ideas?

[riogrande]

Drywall finally going in.



Ceiling where suspended ceiling and 2x2 flat panel LED lights are planned.

[riogrande]

And at the start of last weekend:




Have started to work on boxing in the ceiling beam/vent sections.

[riogrande]

A few more photo's of the basement finishing process - ceiling beam boxes drywalled and metal corners added and some taping and mudding done.

[riogrande]

Proposed layout lighting using suspended ceiling 2x2 troffer panel LED lights:

[riogrande]

It may not look like much but here is a couple more weekends of mudding and taping, including the little windows:



Here is the 12x12 room at the end of the basement past the layout area. Wife calls it the wife den although I could expend into it.

Looking back the other way.

[Gary P]

Jim - I've been away from the forum for a while, but I like looking at the progress you've made! Looks good.

[riogrande]

Wife and I spent the weekend going over the drywall one more time to sand out any area's left and spot check. Then we swept the walls to remove the drywall sanding dust and Sunday afternoon I started going around the room to put primer around the edges (corners etc) so that we can roll paint next weekend. The primer was colored same as final coat, Valspar Clear Blue Sky (what I used in the last layout room). Expect I'll roll the walls with blue primer next weekend.

The drywall hanging, taping and mudding was a big job. There are still imperfections abut when I looked at the main level, it's not worse than the builders did.

[grahamline]

Looks like all of your efforts are finally being rewarded.