The B&O Delaware Avenue Branch

[TrainCat2]

Yes and yes. My knees are shot from HS football, fall from putting up hurricane shutters and a car accident. I cannot stand for too long. I can walk fine, but not stand in place. The modules height will be 34in. The design is to fully encase the layout with a wood veneer stained to make it look like the other furniture since it would be installed in my den. I have no basement, the garage is too dang hot and full of RC planes and I am not going to carry the modules up stairs to the bedrooms.

The design is such that in 4 yrs, the legs, backdrops and roof with lighting will come off and the modules will be stacked together for the trip to AZ.

[John]

The ideal layout height is supposedly armpit high .. if you measure from a siting position, you could probably do 40" to give you a little more access and storage below ..

[TrainCat2]

I will have to make 16 new legs, but that is not a show stopper. Need to order some more Hysol and 5/16 long Tee nuts.

Hysol will be here in two days, the Tee nuts will not arrive until the 17th. I have enough to redo one of the modules for now.

[peteski]

I'm assuming that the finished sides will not be flush with the layout edge, but recessed deeper so you can put your sitting legs under there when you need to reach and do something on the layout.  Otherwise you will only be able to sit near the layout with your knees bumping at the layout's sides.

[John]

I will have to make 16 new legs, but that is not a show stopper. Need to order some more Hysol and 5/16 long Tee nuts.

Hysol will be here in two days, the Tee nuts will not arrive until the 17th. I have enough to redo one of the modules for now.

Before you rework it .. try one of the modules at different heights to see what works for you .. you can use boxes to stack them on ..

[TrainCat2]

I'm assuming that the finished sides will not be flush with the layout edge, but recessed deeper so you can put your sitting legs under there when you need to reach and do something on the layout.  Otherwise you will only be able to sit near the layout with your knees bumping at the layout's sides.

No Pete, you can see in the pic that the finished side is at the layout edge, but my knees do go under the  layout by a couple of inches. I'm still debating the requirement for the inner angle braces as the legs. An easier adjustment might be to exchange the casters at HD for 4in. I just liked these since they have 3 rotating disks, locks and a 440lb capacity. However, the 4in would buy me an additional 2.25in.

[peteski]

I see what you mean boB, but I still think that this might not be enough to comfortable sit next to the layout's edge.  To me the lower part of the layout should be inset more like 12" to be comfortable.

[TrainCat2]

I see what you mean boB, but I still think that this might not be enough to comfortable sit next to the layout's edge.  To me the lower part of the layout should be inset more like 12" to be comfortable.

Good point, but then the frames & supports would be in the way of all of those switch machines that need to be installed. Having the frame at the edge and careful planning to place turnouts more than 4in from the frame will ensure there will be no clearance issues. Givens and Druthers in full play.

[peteski]

Good point, but then the frames & supports would be in the way of all of those switch machines that need to be installed. Having the frame at the edge and careful planning to place turnouts more than 4in from the frame will ensure there will be no clearance issues. Givens and Druthers in full play.

How tall is the currently installed top edge of the layout, and how tall are the switch machines?

It is your layout, but why not be comfortable operating it (like uncoupling and switching cars) from a chair?

[TrainCat2]

Sorry Pete, but I already posted I will be in a chair and I already tried it out where I had installed the castors on module #2, and sat in the chair I will be using and my legs were under the frame with about 2in clearance. I can increase that by another 2.5in with a castor swap out or replace the legs for even greater. I like John's idea of shimming the module on blocks and give it a spin to see where I like it.

[John]

boB -- I don't remember - are you doing servos?

[TrainCat2]

Not 100% sure yet John. I bought 5 servos for eval and I have about 15 Tortoise from my dismantled 1992 layout destroyed by Andrew. Going to be testing the servos out as soon as I find the right Arduino for them.

[John]

Not 100% sure yet John. I bought 5 servos for eval and I have about 15 Tortoise from my dismantled 1992 layout destroyed by Andrew. Going to be testing the servos out as soon as I find the right Arduino for them.

I'm doing the same thing on my new build ..trying out servos.. the Tortoises have gotten too expensive.  I picked up these .. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H4ZLZLQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[TrainCat2]

That's funny, I bought the ELEGOO Mega R3 design kit back in Dec 2021 to make the Fowler Flaps on the Connie. Put the kit aside once I got my iX20 radio which allowed me to individually program the six servos. Result was complete flaps like the Connie. How many servos are you planning to run off one of the 2560's ??

Not trains, but very cool to watch the first test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glavtrq0BF0

[John]

That's funny, I bought the ELEGOO Mega R3 design kit back in Dec 2021 to make the Fowler Flaps on the Connie. Put the kit aside once I got my iX20 radio which allowed me to individually program the six servos. Result was complete flaps like the Connie. How many servos are you planning to run off one of the 2560's ??

Not trains, but very cool to watch the first test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glavtrq0BF0

I don't know yet .. I still need to figure out how to use them    this years project