I have 2 doors that would otherwise go on a closet inside a house and each door is 32" x 80" but I want to do a layout where the benchwork is the ends of the doors butted against each other. I also don't have even the start of a track plan yet. Any ideas on how I can use these doors for a layout? The doors are currently standing on end inside my garage and making a layout on them would take up about half the length of a 25-foot wall in the garage.
This is what I want to try to model in N scale on the two 32" x 80" doors mentioned in my first post in this topic. It's a track map of the Long Island Railroad's freight customers in the area around the passenger station at Hicksville, showing where LIRR delivered freight in April 1966.
Could you post a sketch describing the space you intend to use?
By your name, we can infer this is N-scale.
Here is a possible solution for legs:
http://mrr.trains.com/how-to/get-started/2011/11/benchwork-for-your-model-railroad
I suppose you could get by with fewer joists using the doors. 32" wide is farther than any of us could reach, but you could have mountains toward the back. The biggest downside I see is that you have no elevation.
John Armstrong's book Track Planning for Realistic Operation is a must read. Newbies and the Atlas track plan books stick too much rail into too small a space.
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Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I think I'm going with the Hicksville freight idea that I described. It's going in a 12' x 25' garage with too few obstructions in the room to list here but I'm backing up the layout against one of the 25-foot walls that has storage shelves on almost its whole length.
I think I'm also going to put hardboard panels over the doors so the doors can't separate. If you look up the Carolina Central layout on the track plan database it's actually in the December 1996 MR. If you have that issue the author used 1x4's to mount fold up legs to the door on his project layout so I think I'll do something similar.
Also the garage has an exit door at the rear corner opposite those shelves so I can't really block that.
This is the 1986 Long Island Railroad track map at Hicksville:
http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/lirrtrackmaps/LIRR-maps-1986_JeffErlitz.pdf
If you go to page 42 when it loads you get the map for Hicksville.
Train layout on doors. More plans.
If it were me;
Doors would not be my first choice, But, if I had them I would finf a way to use em.
A door is self supporting,all you need is a leg on each cornor,and some braceing to keep it sturdy.
You need to ''lock'' the two together,where they meet.
''I'' would add some foam to the top.1or2in, just to give you a chance to dig ditches/rivers and such.
I do not use,or believe you need a track plan. Therefore, I would get some track and turnouts,and have at it.When you get the track layed the way you like,glue/nail it in place.
I also believe that as a first layout, good enuff,is good enuff to get trains running. You will learn as you go.If you demand PERFECT,right now, you will soon become disappointed and lose interest.
just my thoughts
Would laminating the doors between partial plywood sheets serve to accomplish the locking problem? Also would an RS3 work for a locomotive and what types of freight cars would I need? No caboose required as it’s basically a 32” d 13’4” switching puzzle.
The track arrangement where the Ronkonkoma Branch splits from Port Jefferson at Divide tower is interesting: two turnouts, two Y’s and a 30 degree crossing.
Laminating would probably work, but be difficult to undo should you want to change or move the layout. A strap on each side would hold them together. I have also seen various types of latches used. You will need a support under the joint, regardless of how you splice it.
I have sawhorses under my layout. They can be set in from the ends to avoid triping on them and as mentioned above they do not need additional framing.. A third sawhorse under the middle joint, with a top wide enough to support both sides should be sufficient You can make the horses narrow enough so they do not interfear at the sides and any height you want.
You might also want to consider alignment pegs in the end of each door to keep them lined up and give additional support.
Good luck,
Richard
RMLI-NscalerWould laminating the doors between partial plywood sheets serve to accomplish the locking problem?
I would go to a big box store and get some angle iron, the kind with holes and hot glue/epoxy it to the bottom of each end and then run a couple bolts in to hold it together. You could use 3" or each side and support it in the middle.
RMLI-NscalerThe track arrangement where the Ronkonkoma Branch splits from Port Jefferson at Divide tower is interesting
Maybe I misread whom wrote what, but this is not on page 48 nor is it a switching puzzle. When I got back into MR after 30 years, I thought switching puzzles were something everyone had. I was misinformed. They are puzzles, they are usually not realistic trackwork.
As far as what locos and rolling stock you need: Some people want to recreate a specific place and time, exactly. The actual industries and the exact type of locos and the exact engine numbers. For others, the kits they feel like building, or want to build or have time to build, determine the industries. The industries determine the type of rolling stock.
A free lancer might pick an RS3 or a Geep or a BL1 and not lose a moment of sleep over the decision. Rivet counters and most free lancers stay true to the time period. No doubt there are some people that will swap out all their cars and run two different time periods at different times. Having a Shay pull a double stack is just weird. It's your railroad and you can do it, but the rest of us aren't going to sit next to you in the bar.
The puzzle is how LIRR split the double track west of Divide into 4 tracks east of the tower (2 double track branches), so it puzzled me when I went to draw it in AnyRail. And the map is page 42 (not page 48 — that’s a different map east of Hicksville, could be even west of Farmingdale).
I was from Long Island and know Divide Tower and the area west of the area. What type of track are you using? Might be tough to divide the tracks with Kato, probably easier with Atlas? Are you going to put any sidings just west of the Hicksville station? There were some freight sidings there. Looking at page 42, and based on the space given, how much of the area do you want to copy? I'm really interested in what you want to do.
Neal
I basically did some selective compression to get the whole thing into what amounts to a yard by 16 feet so I‘m now thinking of ripped down plywood sheets on a lumber frame and I can get the legs from Trio Hardware in Plainview. They’re moving (if they haven‘t already) from the Morton Village shopping center to a new building across Old Country Road from USPS that’s only for them. The only freight tracks I put on my track plan (in AnyRail) are King Kullen, Quaker State, LILCO (the pre-LIPA power company — and LIPA was before PSEG Long Island), Ronzoni and Cerro Wire.
I hate to use Cerro Wire because of the controversy in recent years surrounding mixed use development at the old Cerro site on Robbins Lane in Syosset. But the old LILCO site is still there at (I think) 101 Old Country Road, Ronzoni is long gone, Quaker State is still making motor oil but on on the Island, and King Kullen which billed itself as “America’s 1st Supermarket” took the name sign off its former building on Central Avenue in Bethpage about 3 years ago.