Let's see your train sheds and storage areas!

[ttrigg]

Train storage, well it is all in a small shed so I cannot get far enough back to put it into just one photo. So, from left to right we have.

Storage for the amusement park at Vine Arbor. None of it is weatherproof so it only goes out on special occasions.

Left end of the train shelves. On the bottom shelf are the remains of six New Brights. I wait until the after Christmas sale to get them for less than $10. The cars become some form of "yard art". Extra cars on a stub siding, storage shed, yard office and such.

The middle of the shelves.

The right end of the shelving.

The fast attack trawler "SS Minnow" in dry doc for repairs and paint.

"Dispatch Desk" with computer to this site.

I save the straight rails from the New Bright sets for the "real" trains to set upon. Each shelf is wide enough for a second train behind. As plastic track becomes available a 2x4 will be added for the back rail to set upon, that way I can see the cars behind.

[lownote]

JITO

How do you close the doors of a train shed to provide a weatherproof and insect/bug-free seal? How do take into account the tracks in the doorway?

looking forward to seeing what everyone has to offer!

michael

 

 

 

Mine is open at the bottom, with hardware cloth and window screening to keep bugs out. It's vented at the top, also with window screening. The door is notched where it fits down over the rails. I don't think you could actually manage to keep bugs out. I had some ants at one point, and spiders--it's impossible to completely seal it. It's more mice that I'm concerned about, and so far so good

[EMPIRE II LINE]

Well Michael,

I have'nt droped in here in quite awhile, but this is how I did it, the room is 11.5' wide by 33' long, an I just run them in and split a consist than just run the remainder of the train around the short loop and right back in. It's heated and A/C'd to---Central Florida summers....  Byron    

Check out YouTube and enter "Empire 2 Line" to see my line in operation August of last summer.

 

 

 

 

 

[lownote]

It is a functional yard, although it's limited by the fact that the two central tracks are
served via LGB 1600 switches. I can't get long steamers into the two central tracks. But an Aristo RS-3 runs in and out just fine. If I was running in 1:20 I would not work---I think the stuff would be too wide.

 

 

 

[ttrigg]

lownote

 

 

 

I love it.  A yard in a barn.  Or is it a barnfull of yard?  Anyway it looks as if it is a fully functional yard.

[lownote]

Here's mine:

 

It's sixteen feet long by a little over two feet wide, with a two foot
 "porch" in the front. I managed to squeeze four tracks inside

I added a siding that runs the length of the shed behind it 

 

 

 

Building the shed is the single best thing I ever did for the railway. It makes it really easy to just step out, flip a switch, and start running It's watertight but ventilated at the bottom and the top. The roof is removable, although it's not as easy as it could be--I have to undo some screws and slide one of the long roof panels out. But it just made the whole experience much more pleasant, and plus much less stuff gets broken!

 

[imrnjr]

 I built my train barn out of 24 guage galvanized sheet metal over a frame of 3/4" angle and 4" c purlin with a 3/4" plywood PTL floor.  I caulked with silicone and sealed it with roofing tar.  

The barn is recessed in the hill (covered with dirt and rock), wired with two 20 amp GFI circuits and holds all the electrics for my track powered railway as well as the sprinkler system controller.  

 It's 14' x 3' 6" x 3' 6" and the visible exterior is 3/4"PTL siding with cedar on the doors and hardiboard  trim whereever the  trim contacts dirt. 

 

I built slidein closures for the ends to keep critters, dirt and the weather out .  It has the mainline and 3 storage tracks that are isolated and can be powered by individual pwr switches.  The reason I buit mine this way was "it's all right on the railway", and I had most of the materials on hand(had to buy the PTL sideing and plywood). 

If I had it to do over again I'd make it longer for more storage.

 

Good luck with what ever you decide to do.

 

Mark

[g. gage]

Howdy Mchael; When I moved to “G” the first downer was where to store rolling stock and how to transport it between railroad and storage. I had been with a HO modular club and found that in addition to being very labor intensive, most rolling stock damage was cause by handling. Each setup and teardown involved handing each piece of rolling stock four times; out of storage, to transporter and transporter to layout then from layout to transporter and transporter to storage.

 

I am fortunate to have a 4 ½’ high crawl space under our house and designed our railroad to have online rolling stock storage in that space. The east mainline enters the crawl space door via a spanner (removable piece of sectional track) and fans out into a yard with six stub end tracks and three through tracks climbing a 2.5% grade. At the top end (16” above the lower end) the west mainline enters the crawl space on a spanner through a pet door and fans out into the previously mentioned three through tracks. The 2.5% grade is built on a combination terra firma and ¾” plywood roadbed reinforced on the under side with 1 ¼” steel L girders, and suspended from above with threaded rods. The pet door is modified by removing the flapper door. Spanners are made from track sections under cut with a razor saw on one end to allow rail joiner to slide back and forth. A chair is provided for an occasional operator.

 

Operation; open crawl space door and pet door, insert upper and lower spanners. Turn on power (Aristo Ultima and Train Engineer) and three trains are ready to run. I operate with a card order system and walk around with my trains.

 

Good luck, Rob

 

 

 

 

[Greg Elmassian]

 

[Great Western]

I can't say about Maryland where Brian lives but I believe that you can legally shoot a burglar in South Carolina.

[two tone]

Hi Michael,   The only thing that would concern me is how safe are your locos going to be out doors? Locos are not cheap and theft as soul distruing. and there is always a ready market for theives.

So think hard befor moving every thing out doors. I keep rolling stock out doors that is covered by home insurance  but locos live in doors.      Hope this gives you a couple of things to think about before you go ahead.

[altterrain]

[JITO]

As spring cleaning winds up, thoughts now turn to additions and areas that could be redesigned. Our summer project, along with rebuilding the creek and pond, is to construct a train shed for storage. It will resemble the snow sheds of Western Canada, with creative license, to house our train. It will be located in a corner of the yard with quick access to the mainline. It will be about 5 feet long with a possible width to include 2 tracks. Ideally, the roof will be hinged to allow for easy access to the cars inside. This will be much preferred to carrying everything out from the basement each time.

So, please share your pictures of your storage area / building / shed with everyone. It will be great to see how creative and resourceful people are. Perhaps I'll see a few ideas that I can incorporate into ours or anyone else's that's considering such a project.

Actually, I've got a question, too. How do you close the doors of a train shed to provide a weatherproof and insect/bug-free seal? How do take into account the tracks in the doorway?

looking forward to seeing what everyone has to offer!

michael