Trains.com

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Laying ONE track

899 views
5 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Laying ONE track
Posted by Anonymous on Friday, October 22, 2004 9:23 AM
Questions to make you think:

IF YOU....
Took all the track that you have on YOUR layout, and laid it
in a STRAIGHT line, how far will it go ?

IF YOU....
Think about all the track work you have done in your lifetime,
how many times have you hit your fingers ?

IF YOU....
Were a miniature person living on your layout, would you want
to be a track layer or M O W for your railline?

Think about it !
  • Member since
    July 2003
  • From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
  • 13,757 posts
Posted by cacole on Friday, October 22, 2004 9:26 AM
1. Probably close to 1,000 scale miles.

2. Hit fingers with what? I don't use a hammer to lay track.

3. With black widow spiders, lizards, packrats, and snakes able to get into the clubhouse, I wouldn't live long if I was small enough to live on the layout.
  • Member since
    October 2012
  • 527 posts
Posted by eastcoast on Friday, October 22, 2004 9:38 AM
1. I have enough to be a small metro.

2. As one who needed to use a few spikes, I guess a few.

3. Live on my own layout ???? That's some really large dust I'm breathing.
I could not live long on my layout, I'd have to move before I die of Lung Diseases.
Or I would have to buy a really good respirator or mask. I could live in my closet,
the subway scene. That is the only decent place to be right now, it's finished.
  • Member since
    January 2004
  • From: Crosby, Texas
  • 3,660 posts
Posted by cwclark on Friday, October 22, 2004 9:47 AM
lets see....i've layed fourteen boxes of flex track in my life..so that's 3 ft. x 100 pieces = 300 ft of track x 14 =4200 real ft. of track (not counting the length of the hundreds of turnouts...) so 4200 x 87 real ft : ho ft = 365400 / 3480 ft in a mile ..that's 105 miles of track in HO scale miles..swing that hammer John Henry!!!

I do use a hammer to spike the rails but i use a punch..can't hit my thumb using a punch.

And i think i 'd like to be the CEO of the railroad layout...that would be one really nice paycheck even if it is HO scale!

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Midtown Sacramento
  • 3,340 posts
Posted by Jetrock on Friday, October 22, 2004 9:49 AM
1. Around forty feet.
2. A couple of times.
3. I live about four blocks off the eastern edge of my layout, in the real world. If I end up having the space I may make a model of my house. It'd be an easy scratchbuild, just a one-bedroom bungalow with stucco walls...hm.
  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Ft Wayne IN
  • 332 posts
Posted by BRJN on Friday, October 22, 2004 11:08 PM
1) Planning for a Timesaver 6' long roughly equals three parallel tracks. Throw in some spurs of undetermined length. Maybe 24 feet.

2) Never. I haven't got that far yet.

3) Personally, I am the owner and majority-stockowner of my railroad. I have the business car to prove it. But being on the MOW crew would be a good seasonal job for somebody to take. The track I intend to model runs about 10 miles IRL, and the transcontinental railroad crews sometimes went that far in a day. I'm not in that big a hurry, since I intend to not have to re-lay everything again within a year. This will be a long-term (all construction season) temp job.
Modeling 1900 (more or less)

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Users Online

There are no community member online

Search the Community

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Model Railroader Newsletter See all
Sign up for our FREE e-newsletter and get model railroad news in your inbox!