Just finished this for my two nephews. Didn't quite make Christmas but I will deliver it next week to them.
I got this door layout from Thortrains and it's really a lot of fun. A switcher and a few cars and you can have a lot of fun. I installed 4 remote tracks to increase the switching possiblities. Also, added a 397 and a milk car/platform and gateman.
I've included a few pics. All wiring is invisible as I had a shop teacher route the bottom as seen in pic 3. Buried all wires and it came out pretty nice. Almost don't want to part with it.
Mike S.
Great looking layout!
Some Beeps and Buddy's would look good on that too.
Chris
Oh, I forgot! I'm including a Milwaukee Beep. It runs better on this layout than my O gauge tubular big layout.
I like the way your wiring looks. You must be a special uncle to your nephews.
Earl
That looks great! I hope to build one with my children someday soon.
Jim
Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale
Lionel collector, stuck in an N scaler's modelling space.
Dave,
Since this layout is for really young boys (6 and 4), I kept it toy like. It's also meant to be stored away when not in use in a vertical position. Because of this I elected not to use ground foam. Mostly because I didn't want my sister-in-law to have to be vacuuming it up all the time. Same for ballast.
I still wanted to give them a turf and ballast look so I basically brushed in some dark green and creamy yellow house paint to give it a faux shrubby kind of look. Kept it wet and just pushed paint around with the brush. Almost like sponging but with a brush.
I figure if they want and my sister-in-law is up to it, they can add ground foam and ballast on their own. Can't do the whole thing for them
That is a really great layout - nice use of space. I especially like the accessories - defintely increases the play value and makes things more interesting.
It is amazing what you did in the space of a door!
I love it! I wish I had an Uncle like you when I was a youngin'
Regards,
John O
Great job!
RIP Chewy - best dog I ever had.
I would say that you are seeing duct tape, not the feeder line. Is that what you mean?
Look great!
Wes
I know I've already chimed in, but I'd like to say it again. That is one wonderful little layout. It's an inspirational, motivational thing for me to see. I hope to build one very much like it soon.
Great job!!!
This is the first door layout I have seen. I assume that this is a 30" wide door?
So is the main benifit weight? Why else choose a door instead of a piece of 3/4 ply? It looks great, it just never would have occured to use a door. Do you just go out and get a blank without the knob hole?
I see this thread has come up again. As an update I'd just like to say that my two nephews are really enjoying the layout.
Now to answer some questions: It's a 30 inch door with no knob purchased at HD. It's primary benefit is size/portability. It's heavier than you might think but can be lifted and stored vertically pretty easily. Sans coal loader and other heavier accessories.
Now there's no bus wire here. It's duct tape that I ran down the main channel. All wiring is neatly tucked in those channels, but I decided to just tape up the main conduit.
Any other questions just fire away. It was a real blast making this and I liked playing with it too.
Here is a little 36" door layout I completed a while ago. Along the side were switches where I could switch off a section of the inner or outer loop. Door construction (especially if you find a light door!) is very rigid, yet light. The only down side is it tends to be a tad loud. I regularly ran two trains that were about the same speed on each loop (for a total of 4 operating trains) plus one or two on the switched sidings. I actually had a lot of fun with this layout until I decided to make it bigger on a two door layout. Now I wish I had kept it!
Jim H
I used 031 K-line snap track on the outer loop. Actually a made a few mistakes on this layout that I might change next time. First is that it was a 36" door. That would be o.k. except it means you have to flip it sideways to go through a door and therefore I had to remove trains, and make sure track, buildings and ground foam was securely attached. For ease of portability I could have gone with a 30" door but I would have lost the outer track. I liked having an outer track so trains could pass in opposite directions. My second mistake (not shown) was adding a fully landscaped mountain on the end (with two tunnels). It was a great idea but made transportation even more difficult! I guess you need to know what you want an then stick with it.
Still, it was a ton of fun. You could reverse train direction with the reverse loop, pick up ice at the ice house and use the switches to drop or add cars. The short siding was long enough so one train could pass another (RMT beep, one car, and caboose). The outside "mainline" was used just for running.
How good do you have to be to run 4 trains at the same time on that small of a track? Also, how did you control each of the two trains on that track? I'm new to controls, and without DCS, I have no idea how you would do it.
Thanks,Wes
Running two trains on the same track was fairly easy to wire but an operational challenge.
I took 1/4 of the oval and insulated the center rail at either end. Then I ran a power lead off the transformer to a household light switch and then on to the center rail of the insulated 1/4 section. NOTE: Power for the entire outside loop was off of just one transformer post....it is just that the power to the 1/4 loop went through the on/off switch.
Now to operate the easy way...lock the engines in forward. I started with very short trains (usually short engine (BEEP), one cargo car, and a caboose). For easiest operation pick two trains similar in speed. As one train (the fast one) begins to catch up just stop the power to the 1/4 loop as soon as the "slow" train leaves the 1/4 loop. The fast train will stop as it enters the 1/4 loop while the slow train will proceed around the still powered 3/4 loop. Flick the power to the 1/4 loop back on as the slower train traverses the powered 3/4 block and is about to enter the 1/4 dead block. Running four trains means that I had to be flicking 2 switches off /on. It was a challenge and is what made it so fun. Then once you get it good at it you can make the challenge harder by having trains that run at different speeds or making the trains longer or allowing the reverse units to cycle. Then be ready for the crash!!! It is part of the fun!
Running the trains at far below maximum speed is probably a good idea. You do not want to be using a switch to apply full transformer power to a stationary train. It could strip the gears. Another option would be to replace the on/off switch with a reostat so you slow the faster train instead of just stopping it.
Thanks for the explanation. I had no idea how you would do it. For a truely hands on, you can replace those switches with momentary push button switches as well. But then you couldn't run just one train all the time, unless the push button actually created an open. I bet it would be fun.
How many other people on here have their main layout on something the size of a door? I think it would be fun to attach two doors together with 6" long dowels or 2x4s and run a subway system under it. I got that idea from my local hobby shop's layout. Of course, theirs was a big layout.
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