Support for Indoor Elevated Railway

[Anonymous]

Greetings,

I am attempting an elevated wall railway in my family room, 7 foot off the floor. I want to do double track, and I figured I would need a shelf about 11 to 12 inches wide. (note: if any of the sounds wrong please let me know!) The room is 17' x 13' and the ceiling is sloped, 11 inches above one end and 39 inches above the other. The entryway is open, no door to worry about.

My biggest dilemma, being an HO convert, is how to support the shelf. I was contemplating a few ways:

1. Shelf supports underneath every other stud, with the supports every stud under the end where the trains will be parked. The supports would probably be made of wood or steel l brackets covered with the snazzy plastic covers.

2. Simple L braces, 8 inchers, every stud above the shelf rather than below as in example 1.

3. A U Shaped Continuous Channel along the wall (opening facing away from wall), with a 1/2 in plank inserted into the U shape sort of cantilever style, screwed into each stud with the cantilever board nailed every foot or so.

4. Supported from the ceiling.

5. Combo of 3 and 4, with a Cantilever u channel with the board in it, then a fine stainless steel stringer to the ceiling.

I am kind of partial to #3, but do not know if the cantilever will support a 5 pound engine + train a foot from the wall.

Eventually there will be tunnels into the next room from the outer loop and that room will require support from the ceiling.

Thanks for any advice, If anything I tend to over build things.

Randy

[vsmith]

Randy

I did this once using 8" ornimantal shelf brackets and 12" x 48" wood shelves. I used a stud locater to position the brackets cam down from the ceiling till the shelf ROW was just about the entry door and windows to the room and mounted the brackets into every other stud trying to make sure I was screwing into the stud. We can use some very heavy loco's so its very important to have good solid support. I then just used the wood shelf units with a custom cut curved inset for the corners. I tended to place flat plate metal strap-ties on top of the shelves to tie the shelve pieces together so the hardware couldnt be seen from below. I also hid the power wire under a wire mold up the wall and placed the controller on my desk table in the room. Some advice from my experiences. Use a cork for foam rubber underlayment, make sure the track is tied together well ( I used Aristo track and those maddingly small little setscrews the track comes with) and DO NOT use metal wheels on the rolling stock as it creates a very loud and distracting din that gets very old very fast. The plastic wheels and the foam underlayment are FAR quieter and therefor more enjoyable. Good Luck

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice.

I planned to support them every other stud, with a bracket every stud where I plan to park the trains. I think the heaviest engine I will have is 11 pounds, and it will be parked along the wall.

One of the trains will be the Thomas the Tank Engine and his 2 coaches. With 2 small kids, I dont have much of a choice. But the other one will be mine :)

Im glad you mentioned the metal wheels, I was planning to swap everything to metal wheels to help keep the track cleaner (plastic not rubbing off). Or is that just an HO thing? [%-)]

[vsmith]

Yes metal wheels are cleaner but the noise is quite loud compared to plastic. I would suggest using the plastic wheels to start and maybe get a track cleaning car to run occasionally to keep the track clean. Being inside the din from the running train with metal wheels makes it hard to do anything like watch TV or such, at least that was my experience.

[Anonymous]

I built an overhead G scale railroad support shelf in a small 12X12 room. I measured my corners for the 4 foot track radius and cut all 4 of them out of plywood. For the straight sections I used 1X6's and joined them to the corner mounted plywood, both were very close in the same thickness. They are supported with wood shelf supports underneith at each end of the straight sections where they joined with the plywood. Above the wood support, I had small "L" brackets secured in every stud and to the 1X6 and plywood. I have all metal wheels and used a USA GP9, pulling two flat cars with REAL wood logs cut from a cedar tree, these were very heavy. I also had the USA cabose and two box cars. This was a very heavy train and I never had a problem with movement or sag. Very strong.

It was painted a pinehurst type of green and the front edge of the plywood and 1X6's were trimmed off in screen (door) moulding, stained in walnut, glued with liquid nails and tacked with brads. This pretty much joind all wood supports together making it all one piece and also stronger. I also hid christmas lights on the top in the back near the wall, this lit up the ceiling and casted a shadow of the train as it traveled around. The lights were programable, I could set them so it looks like rain droplets on the ceiling....pretty nice effect.

dan

[markperr]

If you plan on supporting every other stud @48", you should definately consider using something 3/4" thick like plank or plywood or you'll have sag in the center of your span. Don't use OSB or MDF as they don't have the strength to go a span that large.

You should also re-consider using every stud, especially if they are 24" on center. It will give you the rigidity you're looking for and will give the shelf a look of mass, which, if done right, is very appealing. I've done two overheads in my home and have used decorative wooden brackets that I bought in the millwork department of Home Depot. By using them on every stud, I was able to lay 1/2" plywood and put a decorative 1" molding on the front of the board to dress it up. Paint the whole thing the same color as the existing wall and you have a substantial piece of animated artwork.

Mark

[Anonymous]

I have done this. My solution was to drill and countersink screws thru the edge of the melomine? that was used at every stud around the room. It was alot of work but made for a very clean install without any brackets. One thing that I did not consider is the noise that is generated from a running train above your head - at speed it can sound close to a jet passing over the house!

If I were to do it again, I would attach a 2 x 2 around the perimeter of the room screwed at every stud and use 1/4 luan for both the top and bottom - cantilevered out the required depth. The luan would also be used for the required ribbing to create the strength that would be needed to support the train. Very similar to how a plane wing is constructed. This style of construction is rediculously strong while still being very light weight. It also offers a place to hide the wiring and SOUND DEADENING!

Whichever way you ultimately decide to build, I would consider using foam for the roadbed with the track glued as opposed to nail. Do not underestimate the sound transmission as I did.

Good Luck!
Gary

[Anonymous]

I am considering either an HO or O elevated railway above door frame/window height in two rooms in my house. The driving force behind this is one of the rooms will be our nursery, and I'm just having fun planning out our new babies' rooms.

however, the idea of having a train on tracks over my sleeping child's head(s) is not exactly comforting... does anyone have experience/suggestions on how to handle this? My first thoughts are plexiglas (or sim) along the front of the shelf, so if anyone has used this, or other solutions, let me know.

Also, I'd like to integrate the wiring/power into a lightswitch - has anyone tackled that kind of mess? Maybe use a knob/dial on the wall to control the speed...

[markperr]

Plexiglas siding over the baby's head is wise. You probably wouldn't need it around the entire perimeter but it would be wise to place it wherever the baby might be under (bed, changing table, corner rocking chair, etc.)

As for putting the low voltage wiring into the wall, it may be easier to hook the transformer up to a switched receptacle and use that, if you have one. Then place the wiring inside some plastic computer raceway and paint it the color of the wall. To try and hide everything in the wall on the DC side might require consulting with an electrician to see what is code. Safety first.

Good luck,

Mark