Train Table

[Bob the Train]

I'm wanting to make a train table somewhere in the house. We were thinking that we could make pully system that couse raise and lower the track when we were playing/working on it. What i am wondering is what a good size, and layout, would be nice. Thanks!

[ttrigg]

Large scale railroading is not that conducive to pulley systems unless you use a powered winch, or use a narrow "shelf" type point to point track plan. Large scale will eat up a lot of space in very short time. A good percentage of available equipment will run on 4-foot dia curves, but looks much better on 8-ft dia curves. Some will not run on anything less than 8-ft dia and runs best on 10-foot dia (or larger). Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to say that "it cannot be done", just that it may not be that easy (practical). You will want to start your planning with the maximum available space.

Drop another post telling how much space is available, the type of equipment you plan on using, will you be planning single level or two level, etc. Give us a bit more info and I’m sure you will get plenty of response.

[Bob the Train]

Most likely, the dimentions for the wood would be 4' by 8', the scale for the train would be HO, and we are either going to try to make a pully system, or just have it on a table. It would be Single Level (  is double layer easy to make? because it sounds pretty neat ). The railroad will be indoors* I will post some more information once I know more of what I'm going to do =)

 

 *Edit- i just noticed i posted this in the garden railway section, which it was supposed to go in the model trains, Layout and layouts section, sorry about that...

[ttrigg]

Have a thought about doing a "Murphy Bed Layout".  Build a box about 2 feet deep, 4 foot (plus few inches) wide, from floor to ceiling. Layout hinged so as to "lay out" into the room. Legs hinged out from the end fartehr away from cabinet.  I'm sure one of the guys over in the smaller scales should have a pic or plan on how to do it. 

[gbbari]

Bob - That is exactly what I made for my Lionel layout on a 4x8 platform in the late 1950's and used it up until I moved out in the late 60's. Mine was in the front of the unfinished basement of my parents row house. I simply mounted four 2" or 3" clothesline pulleys (standard hardware store fare in those days) into the ceiling joists directly over top of the four corners of the platform (it had a nice frame with 1x4 or 1x6 around the outside to form a raised edge at the top). I screwed in eye bolts into the platform to attach the ropes.

Had I used a double pulley arrangement, I might have been able to raise and lower the platform more easily by myself, which I had to do most of the time. My engineering was simple -I was only 8 yrs old and had no engineering advice in the family (dad had 10 thumbs).

PS - If double layer appeals to you, by all means go for it. Realize that it will be higher and thus protrude down more in the room when the platform is raised. Personally I cannot stand multi-layer layouts. There is nothing more unrealistic than seeing one landscape sitting over top of another. I know it's popular in the small scales so that one can cram more trains and track into a given area, but to me it always looks like a store display instead of a scale model railroad. Real railroads have the blue sky over top of them, not another world on a platform with dirt, mountains and buildings. Incidentally that is the appeal of garden railroading - out in the real natural world under the sky. And you won't find G-gaugers stacking railroads on top of one another in the outdoors, even when they have small areas.

Al