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finished laying track for bottom level

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finished laying track for bottom level
Posted by thatboy37 on Thursday, July 20, 2006 9:05 AM

Big Smile [:D] finished laying track for bottom level of layout. it will run a total of five trains all at the same time and be able to switch from track to track with all five trains with ease. each tack has a siding and can get to the main yard from each track which i said earlier. the track plan that is posted has all of that track layed plus i found a way to add another loop or main line plus there's room for my round house in the far corner and the transfer table is connected to the fastrack the right way but the tracks are not level with the transfer table. there are no wires hooked up to the tracks yet as i will be starting that later on today when i wake up, and man am i looking foward to that venture. which i know i will have plenty of questions for you guys. what i will be wiring tomorrow are the switches. no tracks are screwed down yet as i have to run the wire from the switches through the plywood and i wil have to move the track and do so. still want be wired then until i find out where i will hook up the power houses to each individual track which i havent figured out yet. here are a couple pictures for your viewing. i took the pictures as if you are following the tracks around the whole layout and then one shot of the middle track and te whole layout.

would have had these posted last night but shutterfly was down temporarily. but hope you guys enjoy. until next time peace.

thatboy37 aka reggie

LIVE LIFE AS IF YOU ONLY HAVE ONE LIFE TO LIVE ! UNTIL NEXT TIME PEACE !!! REGGIE thatboy37@hotmail.com
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Posted by Jumijo on Thursday, July 20, 2006 11:03 AM
That's a great layout, Reggie. And it's only the lower level? Man, you are going to town!

Jim

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by thatboy37 on Thursday, July 20, 2006 11:23 AM

its the fastrack you dont have to nail each and every tie down just put together and click if it doesnt fit take apart and find a combination of different size track that they have and one of the combinations will work eventually. i credit them for the success and me staying up until 4:00am last night as i was determined to get that bottom layer layed down and ready for wiring for today. it might not look as good to the guys that have been in this hobby for a while as the hand laid atlas or gargraves but its fast and easy to assemble and gets your trains up and running i'm thinking in half the time. but you guys have your own opinion and i think it looks great being that this is my first permanent layout and i can disassemble it rather quickly if i had to for any reason. but until next time peace

thatboy37 aka reggie

LIVE LIFE AS IF YOU ONLY HAVE ONE LIFE TO LIVE ! UNTIL NEXT TIME PEACE !!! REGGIE thatboy37@hotmail.com
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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, July 20, 2006 11:30 AM

WOW!!

I wanna come over to your house and play!!!!

That is waaaay cool!!

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Posted by thatboy37 on Thursday, July 20, 2006 11:55 AM

let me know when you can make it down and i will be glad to have you here for a few days or a day depending on your schedule. let me know and as i would say its on like donky kong. until next time peace.

thatboy37 aka reggie

LIVE LIFE AS IF YOU ONLY HAVE ONE LIFE TO LIVE ! UNTIL NEXT TIME PEACE !!! REGGIE thatboy37@hotmail.com
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Posted by chuck on Thursday, July 20, 2006 12:09 PM
Nice job!  Good looking track plan.  Keep up the good work and keep posting!
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Posted by Jumijo on Thursday, July 20, 2006 12:10 PM
I think the FasTrack looks great, Reggie. Lionel really has a winner there. My layout is all FasTrack too. What do you plan to do for scenery? Gonna go for a realistic look or more of a toy train look with green carpet? Something in between maybe? It's all good. Just wondering where you're headed with such a nice layout.

Jim

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by thatboy37 on Thursday, July 20, 2006 12:23 PM
i want the real look with mountians scenary and all the bings bings if you know what i mean. what i'm doing is going to the construction sites out here where i live and gathering the saw dust thats laying around on top of the slabs as they build to keep from going to buy the already made stuff that can add up very quickly. for my mountians i will use old cardboard boxes as seen on the dream layout video. which seems to be enexspensive. but for now i just want to get everything up and running then i will worry about that.
LIVE LIFE AS IF YOU ONLY HAVE ONE LIFE TO LIVE ! UNTIL NEXT TIME PEACE !!! REGGIE thatboy37@hotmail.com
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Posted by HopperSJ on Friday, July 21, 2006 8:01 AM
Reggie, That is nice. I am jealous of your space (and the cash needed to lay that much fastrack!). I am in the middle of finishing my first permanent layout (6x8) with fastrack and am enjoying it completely. Do you have any pictures of the layout plan or diagram. I'd love to see a top down schematic so I can picture it better. Boy, I love it!
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Posted by thatboy37 on Friday, July 21, 2006 10:22 AM
i posted it on a previous post which is called i got my layout plan today and started laying track here are some pictures. it was posted 2 days ago. hope you find and like
LIVE LIFE AS IF YOU ONLY HAVE ONE LIFE TO LIVE ! UNTIL NEXT TIME PEACE !!! REGGIE thatboy37@hotmail.com
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Posted by Frank53 on Friday, July 21, 2006 11:27 AM

that's a lot of track, and a huge layout. Are you in Florida Reggie?

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Posted by TexasEd on Friday, July 21, 2006 11:36 AM
Stayed up until 4:00 AM?  I know you were excited.  I have done the same thing many times.  I predict that after you get some wiring done that you will have a period of no progress as you enjoy running trains for a while.

Enjoy running the trains, take notes on your track plan and make any adjustments you might need before you move on.

Good Luck!

Ed
http://www.trainweb.org/ttat
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Posted by thatboy37 on Friday, July 21, 2006 11:54 AM

frank53- no i dont i live in tennessee

texas ed- yes i did and man did i pay for it the next day as i said i was going to do some wiring. i didnt do a thing but sit there and look at it as i admired what i had done and then went to the store and bought 7 spools of 500ft 14 gauge stranded wire, and then i put together my tool tray and that was about all. no work or progress was made yesterday as i plan on insulating my track today.

LIVE LIFE AS IF YOU ONLY HAVE ONE LIFE TO LIVE ! UNTIL NEXT TIME PEACE !!! REGGIE thatboy37@hotmail.com
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Posted by pbjwilson on Friday, July 21, 2006 3:46 PM

Reggie,

Your approach to building your layout reminds me of Sam Poseys book, "Playing with Trains". If you havent read it I highly recommend it. Sam Posey was a race car driver who built a great train layout in HO scale. In his book he describes how he built his layout and all the learning experiences along the way. I'm enjoying the enthusiasm you have and the posts with pictures showing the steps of building your layout. Keep up the good work.

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Posted by jkerklo on Saturday, July 22, 2006 9:17 AM
Nice track plan.  You might think of a few "access holes."  You will need to be able to get at any piece of track, especially after the areas you have been walking on are landscaped.  Trains will de-rail!

John Kerklo
www.Three-Rail.com


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Posted by LS1Heli on Saturday, July 22, 2006 10:09 AM

Reggie,

So nice to see a large Fastrack layout. Your plans are my dream. I am so burned out of the 027 and  0 guage already. So nice to see someone using a track system that is 100x better.

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