I have a son, who when he was very young, around 2-3 started showing interest in trains. my wife and I went with it and dragged out the old HO stuff we had from our childhoods, it got him hooked, I then kinda got hooked and we built a HO layout. My wife and I went to the train show in MA, and she really liked the G scale trains and the desire for that started. of course our son, just went bannanas about it. so we then had 2 scales going. a 4x8 HO layout was built, and 2 years ago I finally built the outdoor G layout.
Things were just not progressing well with either scale, the HO layout got 90% completed, the G layout is runnable but has some issues here and there and I just never got the engines running the way we want them, my plan was to get an aristo pacific RC'ed but after a year, it still isnt completed.
changes took place and a pellet furnace came into the house. the need for storage space for the wood pellets forced the HO layout to be torn down. and the whole basement was flushed if you will of the things we just dont use or need anymore. we gained a lot of space after that.
my son wrote to santa asking for a G scale amtrak genesis phase V. he sees these stop at claremont NH almost every weekend. well, there will be one and now that means he has one of these in both HO and G.
I am thinking it will be the right move to have us go to just G scale, and not rebuild an HO layout in the basement but to build a G scale loop in the basement. the new playroom area in the basement has a basement window that is actually very close to the Gscale layout out on the yard. I am considering having an extention built and having the trains run from the layout right into the basement window. problem is that the window is 7' from the floor. Also the play area of the basement is only 14'x10', its just big enough for a single loop, but not large enough for the trains to come in through the window and do a descent down to waist height and then back up again to go back out the window.
Ok, so after all that, here are my questions....
1. I am in the right direction here going to just one scale right? we do have HO engines and some rolling stock, but we havent used it in a while, and with the new Gscale amtrak, i doubt nicholas will miss running his HO version.
2. does anyone out there have a lift section in their layout that allows their engines a way to go from say 3' off the ground to 7' off the ground? If there is a decent way to do this, it will make building this extention so much more feasable. if you do have one, how long is it? I am thinking it will need to be about 10' long in order to raise/lower an entire train including some cars from the waist high loop to the window to get outside.
thanks
Kevin
Kevin, you live in Vermont ....... you're under 6 feet of snow half the year. Keep the HO for the winter half of the year. In my opinion 10'X14' just isn't big enough for G scale (unless you do something ala Vic Smith .... very small engines).
I've gotten into On30 for the basement during the winter. About the time you start getting bored with it, it's spring and you can start on the G scale stuff outside, works for me.
Good luck, whatever you do.
Walt
There is a LHS in the next town over, 15 miles away. He has plans to start a small club, he is providing us with some of the materials to buld 2'x4' modules in HO. I figure, this will allow nicholas and I to still have some HO time, but without the need to build a time consuming, money consuming minimum of a 4x8 layout here at the house. We already have the engines we want in HO, we dont seem to have any desire for additional engines or rolling stock. Plus the engines nicholas is interested in are available in G, he will be getting one of them this christmas, the Genesis phase V.
I dont think we will lose HO completly, just not a main focus here at the house.
I am in VT, but honestly 6' of snow doesnt happen anymore. now the folks in western NY over by lake ontario....they are under 9' for most of the winter due to lake effect snows. heck we still have some grass showing in our yard, the tracks right now are under maybe 1" of snow, thats it.
the 10'x14' is tight, I admit. but the largest dia i have outside is 10' as well. our largest most demanding engine is my wife's 4-6-2 aristo pacific, then my son's upcoming LGB genesis, but that thing will navigate 5' dia, I have already tried it.
I was thinking of just a loop something to get the engines in out of the weather when not in use, and a place to tinker with them in the winter. I am not considering a full fledged layout in the basement in G. it would be pretty bare bones.
What I gotta figure out is a way to lift a section of track say 10' long so that it can lift from waist heigh to about 7' so it can go out the basement window.
At one time I had N,HO,HOn3,and some 027 then I got the G bug, I sold off all of my other scale's so I could go "G". that was in 1990, Now almost 19 year's latter I'm still in G and have a start in On30 4-rolling stock and 1 3' felx. BUT I found a Penn.T-1 in O scale that I like very much. what to do?? By the way my wife likes the size of the On30 even thoug she has given me $1000's in G guage stuff.
Dave
The head is gray, hands don't work , back is weak, legs give out, eyes are gone, money go's and my wife still love's Me.
Before I got married, I used to race bicycles, I really enjoyed it and was not so bad at it either. I slowly gave it up after the kids were born, swearing I would return to the sport when the kids got old enough to take to a race and they could handle themselves there. My son is turning 8 this month. prime time, he is primed for it too after starting him with a few kids races last year. he is familiar with people in the club and team. so, if I go to a race i will go with other members who can keep an eye on him during my race. So....this means getting back on the bike and training. this is adding new constraints on time to work on train hobbies. So, if I scale back to just one scale, I can focus better on it too and possibly actually accomplish something with it.
I did talk to nicholas about it and asked him what he thought about extending the gscale layout to come around the side of the house and enter into the basement through the window. he seemed to like the idea. I told him that we could do just a G scale loop in the basement too and not do HO, he didnt seem to have any problems with the idea.
I think its the way to go, it will reduce my needed time of trying to work on 2 different scales and also I can apply al the $ that was predicted to put into the HO layout and funnel it to the G scale.
You think you have problems.... I model in four scales and two gauges!!! When we moved to this house my wife gave me the restriction that I could only build locomotives that could be carried by one person. Up until this time I had been building 16mm scale models running on 32mm track. This gave me the choice of running my hand me down "0" clockwork locos or my own creations. Now I have a huge garden I can build to my "lift limit". My son now has all the "hand me down" stuff from my childhood and has pointed out that it is possible to put "00" 16.5mm track between the 32mm Gauge "0" and 64mm Gauge "3" tracks...
At some future date there may be a 25mm scale live steam 2-6-2 "E.A.Calthorpe" running on the same circuit as Hornby 16 car Eurostar set up!!!
regardsralph
The Home of Articulated Ugliness
Attached is a link to Pete Eggnik's indoor track plan in which he was able to climb his trains to reach the outdoor layout using perimeter shelf. Just click the NEXT button to see photo's of how he his project progressed.
http://www.geocities.com/eggink806/Calvert_21.html
http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/vsmith/study%20Model.pdf
10 x 12 in G, but its designed for small rolling stock, it can be done, but for a Gennie I wouldnt go any less than 6.5' diameter, it can do 4' diameter but really look bad doing so. So the wider curves will reduce the track planage but it could be done. 10 x 14 in certainly within reason.
I would suggest something like the plan above with the operation being in the center and the tracks going around.
Have fun with your trains
I was wondering about the vello - I just entered the "Golden Masters" division for the coming year and will be racing with the fast old farts with more time to train than I have. My new motto is I ride to stay alive for my family, work, and hobbies (I keep telling myself after 50+ miles on a fixie this time of year).
My daughter is 12 and is a big supporter of my train endeavors, indoors and out, and has her own engine to run with me in the garden. I got hooked up with RCS and everything is battery powered so makes some of the track issues a little better. Still have to weed.
Previous lives are still in the "train room" and exist in HO and N with new On30 trains taking over the display shelf. I may have to get some shelving standards ala Ian Rice's ideas and do some buildings in 1/4" scale.
I've found that once you get building stuff in the shop, the cost isn't so bad. It's a good opportunity to teach your son (or my daughter) tool safety and the satisfaction of creating something from your imagination. You don't have to be an architect, just have fun with it.
Neil
That plan does work on getting the engines up hill and out. looks good. but I am not as lucky as him to be able to use the so much of the room as he has. I will only be alble to use the edges of the room . I will use his layout as possible ideas though, thank you very much for the link.
Walt sent me an image of a lift design. it got me thinking. So, I first need to get a good diagram of the room to make sure that my thoughts will work.
the rough idea is this. the in and out will go through the basement window, its only 18" wide i think. so...the trains will enter through the window. I will have a loop that stays level with the window, it circles the room and then goes right back out the window. Now there will be a section after the track enters the basement through the window. it will be 3' by 10' at one end and 1' wide at the other end....the track on this triangle table top sorta speak, will raise and lower, the whole thing, if I need to employe the use of the pulley system that bicycle lifts use, so be it. so this table top will raise and lower, so after the engine enters the basement and is all on this table top, it can be lowered down to match the rest of the lower track that will run around the walls of the play area in the basement. this will allow indoor running in the winter. now when the engine is ready to leave the basement again, I will get it all on the table top, lift it and it will finish the upper loop and exit out the basement window.
thats my vision. will I get it to work? not sure right now.
first we gotta get through the holidays.
Neil-
I am 37, so I could do the M35+, but with knowing the heavy hitters that frequent that group, I will need to stick clear for a bit. 15yrs ago I was heading to become a 2, but college ended, real world crept in, and I wasnt able to stay dedicated as I wanted to and slipped. So this summer, I am looking to re-start as a 4 and see how things go.
at times I feel that I will be sand bagging, but I wont know anyone in the 4's so how will they know and for all I know I might find it a lot more competitive than I remember it.
I dont get to make it out of the NE area for racing. if you ever get up in the area though, I run the claremont NH crit.
Well I'm lucking to get in a couple race and a time trial or crit. I do ride 150 + miles a week with some dedicated 2's but can't keep up during the longer races. It's all good. Don't get to come to the mainland much and then it's all family obligations. I hope to catch a race in March while visiting the in-laws but we'll see. They're not very supportive of the sport - take too much time away from the television!
I still think it would be interesting to simply build a train length elevator to drop to a reasonable height. In fact, you could have more than one loop that way (hmm...). We did a dumbwaiter using an electric garage door opener that was really strong. I imagine it even could be automated so the train would trigger the motion once completely on the lift. Just ideas.
I should try something similar as my situation requres the train come in about pet door height and would be nice to mechanically lift the train to "staging" levels or workbench height.
Well I do both. HO and G, both are the Penn Central.
My HO scale is my operation railroad set in the 72-74 timeframe.
While my G is more of a railfan railroad. I just wanted to see a PC train running around the yard.
its not a matter of nicholas doing well with both scales, in fact he does very very well with the HO scale, its just that the G scale seems to be more attractive for every member of my family. my wife, my daughter included. my wife even says she has plans for the out door layout on top of my plans of extgending it to come into the basement. some times she suprises me.
I was in HOn30 before getting into G. Eventually I sold most of my HO narrow gauge stock...and then a few years later, wished I hadn't. I did manage to buy a replacement AHM Minitrains Baldwin, but I was never able to replace the Joe Works kits that I had sold. I would keep the HO, unless you need the money for G scale. Just my two cents' worth...
SandyR
Hi Kevin
Yes you should stick to one scale, but I cannot tell you that
Because I am working in OO scale and 16mm scale at the same time and even had some "N" on the go at one stage as well.
Its all a case of what you want to do and can afford.
regards John Busby
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