Glass Shelves

[Sturgeon-Phish]

I salvaged several 5/16 9 x 48 glass panels and was thinking of cutting it 3" wide, poli***he edges and use it for display shelving for my S gauge trains. I would support the shelf @ 12", 24" & 36". My goal is to have the shelves as inconspicious as possible (and inexpensive). I may cut one and test it for strength, placing supports where I spoke of earlier. Has anyone tried using glass for shelves before?
Thanks
Jim

[Jumijo]

Charles Ro has a huge display of old postwar trains on thier walls. These are some gorgeous trains that look as if they were never run, and I mean nice. Old 773's, 726's, you name it. Lot's and lots of old, heavy trains - and they all sit on glass shelves.

Jim

[Sturgeon-Phish]

My experiment is in progress. I cut a piece of glass 3" x 48" and supported the piece as I stated previously. I placed some track on the shelf to duplicate weight distribution and sit three paver bricks along the shelf, which is more weight than I would put on the shelf in trains. The glass shelf didn't even sag. A local glass shop will cut and poli***he edge for $3 cut. I'm going to let the weight set on the shelf for a bit before I trust my trains on it.
We'll see how it turns out!
Jim

[tschmidt]

Jim,

How will you make sure the trains stay on the shelves?

TomS

[Sturgeon-Phish]

What I was thinking was using a hot melt glue to attach the rails to the glass and inserting a brad bent into an "L" and push it in the pin hole on the rails. But I am open to ideas.
Jim

[Jumijo]

Why not just use inexpensive track bumpers instead of a bent brad?

[Anonymous]

Ikea use glass shelves in their flatpack cabinets, and they seem pretty solid. I've had a Corgi "Heavy Haulage" set parked on one shelf for a few weeks now without any problems. The set in question is one of the giant ones with two Scammell Contractors and a massive trailer carrying a casting. All-up weight is somewhat high!

[Sturgeon-Phish]

I dropped the glass off today to be cut and polished. The glass folks said wieght that i'm talking about would not be a problem. Please tell me more about the track bumpers.
Jim

[lionelsoni]

You might consider putting something resilient between the supports and the glass. If the supports are not perfectly in line, the shelf could wind up being supported by only two of them.

[Jumijo]

Lionel # 6-12717 track bumpers snap directly onto the track to keep trains from rolling off.

Jim

[dougdagrump]

I hope that this is tempered glass.........

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Yes it is tempered glass. Distributing the weight on the supports is critical, and will be an important part of the install.
I tried something and it may work for the rail stops. I've got some super small binder clips, like you use on paper. They are about 1/4" x 1/2". If I clip them onto the rail, then remove the silver part so all that's left is the black clip, it is inconspicious, and really grips the rail.
Jim

[tschmidt]

Jim,

I was thinking about the supports you are puting the shelves on. Maybe some kind of a rubber buffer between the glass and the support would be a good idea. It might be less of a chance that the shelves would shift if they got bumped.

TomS

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Actually I was going to lay a bead of silicon on the shelf braces to keep the shelves in place. Please keep the ideas and comments coming. I'm getting anxious to put the shelves up!
Jim

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Got the shelves up and they look pretty good. The trains are now the focal point instead of the shelves. Spaced them about 51/4" apart and as the glass shop guys reccomended went with two supports.
I've got enough for six more shelves, looking for more wall space!
Jim

[spankybird]

Did you guys see these

QUOTE: Originally posted by jefelectric from coffee pot, page 784

Hello All,

Weather here is the same as Laz's, going down hill fast. Thought it was going to blow the greenhouse away with me in it this afternoon about 4:00. Worked today (6 hours is my normal retired work day).

The full view display cases I had ordered came today. I recruited two grandsons to help install them. I really like these cases but they are hard to photograph because they have mirrored backs.

Here they are. The old ones have trains in them, The new ones are empty.