The Fort Worth & Denver Build Thread

[Jguess733]

So here's the room plan with the bench work. The best plan I can come up with is to turn my son's bed into a loft bed enabling us to place his desk and book case underneath, and I can wall mount his tv above the layout so he can see it from his bed. The way I have everything oriented is just about the best way I can come up with. It gives me 24" between the bed and the island, and another 24" between the island and the closet. Doesn't leave much room for him to play though.



One option I would have to talk to my wife about is getting him a bunk bed, and giving my daughter his bed. She's about to outgrow her toddler bed anyhow. Then we could just move the bookcase and tv under the layout. He doesn't really use his desk for much anyway so I'm not worried about having to get rid of it.

Another option would be to forget about this layout and start from scratch with something new.  What do you guys think?

[Denver Road Doug]

I would say that seems reasonable if that's the space you have to deal with.   Not crazy about the 2ft clearance but it's probably workable.

Maybe the bigger issue in my mind is how the layout holds up in a boys room.  Don't take that wrong...I had the same setup in my son's room for a short time, but it's not his "primary" room...he lives with his mom.   Just thinking along the lines of birthday parties with 7 boys hopped up on cake and icing stampeding into the room.   I guess...high, sturdy benchwork would be the rule.   With my son's, I built a lower level at about 30" for his North Pole Express train....which quickly morphed into n-scale Unitrack setup, then Star Wars, GI Joe, Legos, etc....so basically just a play area.  (layout was at 54" I think)  You have to be mindful of wiring from the layout so it has to be really clean and/or covered somehow.    And just plan up front for *something* to go awry...errant ball flying across the room, clothes flung too high/far, something...that will cost you a $100 loco.  My son is very respectful of property, and careful around the trains...but they're still boys and they'll lose their brain on occassion.   

As far as other layout designs...well that's a big one.   If you are custom building the loft, I would probably at least look at running a narrow shelf around the wall with one or two tracks and just put a simple loop starting at about where the "149" is to the left and also another where the HCD is on the other side.  Gives you more open area with the HCD gone, a longer run overall. (shelf layout style along the 162" wall and by the window)  More complex, maybe not ideal.  I'm not sure I would go that route, but just throwing out ideas.  Otherwise you could build a nice pure shelf switching layout along the 162" wall if you could do without continuous running. 

Anyway, lots of options, but the key is to get creative.   The loft bed is a great idea for saving space...and the kids love that kind of stuff.  The mom's are the harder sell. 

[Jguess733]

Doug, I have the same worries you do. That two feet around the two sides doesn't leave much room, and I'm a pretty big guy. Owen is pretty well behaved, but when he gets his friends over sometimes things go a little crazy. I like your idea of a play area under the layout, i hadn't thought about that. Right now his room looks like a Lego minefield.  The only thing about a shelf style layout is it would have to be freestanding. Since I live in Navy housing we can't do much more than put pictures on the walls. I would like to maintain the continuous run option if I can, he doesn't like switching, and it would allow me to work the Nagatuck side while he highballs it out on the main. He is excited about the loft bed. He's already started calling the area underneath his cave and wants me to build a slide for him to go down when he gets up in the morning.

[Jguess733]

Ok, so I've played around some more. I've redrawn my son's bed as a twin size loft vice a full size, and moved the layout against the wall.

The pro's: free's up more living space. I've got 4.5 feet between the layout and the bed, and approx 5 feet between the layout and the closet. I can retain the continuous run for my son. 

The con's: Only one side of the table can be used. The two direction staging yard is gone. The industrial area is gone that would allow me to work some industries while my son highballs it.

The 12x84 inch extension can be used as a classification/staging yard, but in one direction only. However I could add a 1 x 5 foot extension off the bottom that  butts up to the closet to represent the other directions staging.

Essentially I'm looking at a Carolina Central style layout with wings.

[Jguess733]

I think I found the best benchwork footprint I could come up with. It keeps me from having to buy a new bed (after measuring, the full size wouldn't fit so well in my daughters room), and gives me the biggest layout I can come up with.  I based the benchwork off the Roscoe Snyder & Pacific HO scale layout that was in MR a few years ago. It was 4 x 13 feet and I have condesned it. I'm not going to use the track plan because it doesn't really suit me. What I'm thinking is have one scene I'm leaning towards a condesned Childress, Tx yard (maybe three classification tracks) with a small two track shop area, and a few industries. I'm going to try to squeeze in three staging tracks on the backside behind a removable backdrop. Well what do you guys think?

[Jeff AKA St0rm]

My last layout was almost the same size you have there. Have a look at my blog http://jeffscpline.blogspot.ca/ and see what I did. I had a view block down the middle with the yard on one side and the industries on the other. It operates well with the ability to run 2 main line trains as you work the yard or industries.

[Jguess733]

Jeff you layout looked good. It's very close to what I want to do. Mine will be single track since the FWD didn't run any double track. Looking at you layout it seems that with a single track main I could pull of a four track staging yard.  Thanks for the link.

[MVW]

You may have addressed this earlier, but the area near the inside corners of your 3x3 tables are going to be difficult (or impossible) to reach. I use 2.5' HCDs. I have access to both sides during construction, then shove 'em up against a wall when they're "done." After using something that width, I wouldn't dream of trying to build on a table that was 2.5' wide without access to both sides. Maintenance alone is difficult enough with access from just one side.

I do think you're on to something overall, and would encourage you to plan with a modular approach in mind. If you end up with more space someday, it would be nice to keep both return "blobs" and just plug some new sections in the middle.

Good luck!

Jim

[Denver Road Doug]

I like your latest footprint idea.   Looks kinda familiar...   



I like the idea about Childress...should give you some good ops, a place to do some yard switching, and a good stop for your Amtrak Texas Zephyr.

[Jguess733]

Here's my first attempt at a track plan. 15" min. radius with Atlas curved and #7 turnouts. I plan on modeling Childress between the tracks and backdrop and towards the right side of the layout behind the grain elevator.

[Denver Road Doug]

That is pretty much exactly what I envisioned when you posted your space.   The one thing I would do...you mentioned modeling Childress to the right side, but I would keep it focused in the center, and on the right I would have a nice curved bridge (think a shortened version of the Micro-Engineering steel viaduct bridge) over an arroyo that kinda fades toward the backdrop right behind the word "Elevator" on your drawing.   It would be a little bit "modelers license" but it would be a great scene as you come into the room.

I would probably also call the "Oil Company" spur the "Gypsum Plant" spur.  Again a little modelers license to move the Gypsum Plant from the west side of Quanah to the east side of Childress, but an important industry on the FW&D that would make for some interesting carloads.   AND, the oil company could probably still be squeezed in somewhere.

Regardless, I think that plan meets your "compromised" goals pretty well.  Make sure you make the backdrop easy to remove to access the staging.

[Jguess733]

Doug I like your idea of putting Childress center stage and modeling a bit of prairie with an arroyo. I'm working on a revision right now to move the oil company. About the Gypsum Plant, I'm not sure how I could go about modeling it. Would it be too big for the layout? What kinds of cars does that industry utilize? As for the backdrop I'm trying to come up with a way to make it removable and capable of supporting it's own weight. Any ideas?

[Jguess733]

Here is my revised track plan.

[Denver Road Doug]

Doug I like your idea of putting Childress center stage and modeling a bit of prairie with an arroyo. I'm working on a revision right now to move the oil company. About the Gypsum Plant, I'm not sure how I could go about modeling it. Would it be too big for the layout? What kinds of cars does that industry utilize? As for the backdrop I'm trying to come up with a way to make it removable and capable of supporting it's own weight. Any ideas?

Well, the gypsum plant (mine?) would have to be severely compressed, most definitely.  I was thinking some type of corrugated steel warehouse structure (Pikestuff, Micro-Engineering?) as the "processing building" and then a small conveyor/unloading bay adjacent.  Then have a dirt/gravel road the winds down on one edge of the arroyo, under the bridge, and off-layout to where the "pit" would be.   But yes, that would be a major compression of the real operation.  (See https://maps.google.com/maps?q=quanah,+tx&hl=en&ll=34.319745,-99.82137&spn=0.014816,0.033023&hnear=Quanah,+Hardeman,+Texas&gl=us&t=h&z=16 for the current Georgia Pacific plant.)   I suppose if a hard core industry modeling guru saw it they might scoff, but I am one to try to make a "representative" industry that fits while giving the general idea.   As far as what type of cars, it would be large boxcars and bulkhead flats in the early 70's I'm sure.   I'm not real sure when centerbeams came about...you might be able to use an early iteration of those as well.   Anyway, it's just an idea...I can see you staying true to just modeling Childress, it's plenty interesting by itself.

Regarding the backdrop, I would probably use 3/4" (or 1/2"?) pink foam and drill 3/8" (1/4"?) holes every foot or so that could slide down onto wooden dowels planted (in a fairly precise manner that matches up to the holes) in the layout. (sticking out 3-4"?)   I'm sure there are better ideas...that's just one I was going to try on my layout at some point.   Should be relatively cheap to try it.

[Jguess733]

Doug, I like the idea for the backdrop, I'll give it some thought and do some experimenting.

I've revised the plan again. I drew in a Walthers ADM elevator to scale. Looking at it I can combine two kits to give me a reason to have a double track spur there and to also run a lot of covered hoppers. I also moved the gypsum plant. I remember reading in MR years ago (in the Trains of Thought column I think) about modeling big industries in the aisle to to give the thought of them being there without taking up the real estate. This also frees up a siding and gives me another industry to model. I haven't decided what to do with the oil company yet. It will probably be a drilling company that receives pipe strings in gondolas and parts in boxcars.  I've also moved the station to clear some space so I can switch the yard without any complications.