TRod's First Layout Build

[TRod]

Well it took a long time but l finally got the design done.

Trying to stay with the "less is more" principal and not just a door full of track.

Saying that, m have a friend picking up some turnouts in Osaka to give to my partner in Hawaii to bring back to Perth. They should be earning frequent flyer points.

Outside loop will be raised at the back, not as much as in the video, and have a bridge of sorts installed for variety.

I have an idea to imbed the track in the synthetic grass or just cut a lot if it out for other earthy mediums like bitumen. Have a double engine shed, coal hopper and a generic industrial building on their way by mail.

Not era or area specific, just Japanes and mostly modern.

This temp layout just turned permanent.

 

[TRod]

Big re-arange in the little shed this weekend, could see a few extra inches added to the base board.

This would allow more realistic landscaping with increased distance between the loops and moving the track away from the edges.

I have a double engine shed, railway building and coal hopper to make and install after that.

[TRod]

Mrs Trod goes on holidays tomorrow, giving me 8 days to increase the size of the baseboard, make all my buildings, install two bridges and 4 more turn outs and add wiring and install switches for turn outs.

Pics to follow soon, stealthy post office pickup tonight.

[cteno4]

Uh oh!

[TRod]

That was fun.

Next is the long engine house kit, but before l go breaking open any packets I'll have to decide on track centres first.

To help me on my way, if I'm using No6 turnouts with a R718 15° joined t oi the turnout, to bring the turnout track into parallel with the main, what is my distance between center?

Edited August 10, 2019 by TRod

[TRod]

I bought two bridges for a bit of added scenery, long way to go yet. Tomorrow I'll have to extend the baseboard and the track, get it going on one level.

[Sheffie]

1 hour ago, TRod said:

 

To help me on my way, if I'm using No6 turnouts with a R718 15° joined t oi the turnout, to bring the turnout track into parallel with the main, what is my distance between center?

 

An EP718-15 to the right, followed by an R718-15 to the left, should leave you 49.5mm to the right of the original line, or 1.5 track spacing. Perfect for a rural platform to go in the gap 

[TRod]

Thanks Sheffie. I feel embarrassed asking but my layout is slightly burried, I'll get to it today hopefully.

 

Edit. Fits perfectly.  Off to buy lunch and a 2400 x 800 base board.

Edited August 11, 2019 by TRod

[Sheffie]

No problem. 

 

I’m not any kind of magical guru. I just happened to have the backing card from a recent Kato EP481-15 and I remembered that they printed out a bunch of track layout diagrams on the back. I just looked it up 🙂

[TRod]

Yes they do, not on my turnout packet though.

Got a slightly bigger base board, same length, 2040 but wider at 860, up from 720(?).

Ditched the grass underlay for light gray felt type outdoor carpet.

Buildings look great, still have to reassemble layout in the next 3 nights to make it look like nothing base changed.  

[TRod]

It's been a busy few months and l haven't been out to my train shed for weeks.

Now its time to pack it away, not because of lack of interest, because l bought a new train room, and the rest of the house attached to it.

I'll be back in a month or 10 bigger, better, inside dedicated room and permanent.

Woo Hoo!

[cteno4]

Wow congrats! That’s the way buy the perfect train room and just make sure it has a few proper rooms attached to live in (you wife might have another plan...)

 

cheers

 

jeff

[TRod]

My wife got a studio for sewing and a space for pottery in my workshop, I'm not silly 😉

I may have to return my new unused base board (door) for a MUCH longer one.

I'm going to really enjoy this.

[cteno4]

Ha all hobbies satisfied, that’s a family win! 

 

Jeff

[TRod]

House bought, now for the bathroom, timber floors, kitchen, studio, verandah roof, garden, laundry, water tanks,  driveway, and train room.

I'm excited.

[cteno4]

Ugh the house cycle, second only to owning a boat...

 

jeff

[TRod]

8 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Ugh the house cycle, second only to owning a boat...

 

jeff

Oh and that too, I finally have room undercover to build a 15ft wooden dinghy. Not to large a hole in the water.

Building from scratch the CLC Skerry.

 

[cteno4]

Nice, I’ve always wanted to do that myself! I worked on a few dories when I was was a kid. One got donated to the local teen maritime scout groups and it would be fun seeing it row by with new recruits. For my fifth birthday I got a fiberglass version similar to the above I would toot around in and scare my mom in when she would dare go out with me.

 

Those holes in the water are created to suck the money out of you wallet no matter how small! I know, I was able to extract large amounts from all my dad’s boats working on them all thru childhood. About the time finished stripping varnish and paint and re varnishing and painting was done from one end to the other, I would just start again at the other end! He loved classic wood boats. At times I felt like Sisyphus... Luckily he had a full crew on his ship so I never had to do it on a larger scale.

 

Jeff

[TRod]

Now we're  moved in to our new house Mrs.Trod gave me a 10yr list of things to do.

So l got apendicitis (removed yesterday) and now a week off work to play trains.

I'll just set up a basic loop for mean time.

I need more curves too so l will be ordering from Japan in the coming weeks or months.

Run the layout along two walls.

 

Yippeee!

 

Edited November 1, 2019 by TRod

[cteno4]

Ouch, that’s a painful way to get a week to play trains! But have fun and make the best of it!

 

heres to a speedy recovery! (Well you may want to stretch it out some!)

 

Cheers

 

jeff

[TRod]

Ok. Design abandoned.

I'm struggling to resize pics for JNS Forum.

I'll go away and figure it out somehow.

I have started my build using a design RogerK shared on my layout design thread, thanks Rog.

Apologies for the FB link but this is where my build thread is, I'll work on getting it onto here in the very near future but for now goodnight 😴

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2757888231162185&id=100008231056954&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic&notif_id=1587388671718083&ref=m_notif

[JR-Rail]

Looks good, I like the fact you have variation bringing the inner loop line back on itself and under the truss bridge.

 

I'm thinking my first layout may take a similar form to yours, although I imagine I ill also go through the same process of swapping and changing things out - this is the beauty of unitrack right!

 

What are your plans for the middle section to the right of the bridge? And any idea on elevation changes?

[TRod]

Got back into it last night, changed the layout because the incline was going to be too steep and l can't be bothered following my plan of lowering the under pass track.

Still got the same problem with the new layout.

Will have a few weeks off soon (hopefully a month) and I'll get it sorted amongst boat building.

Medical tomorrow for Railcar driver job here in Perth. In other words, I'm in! Yay.