Build track into your floor?

[Boyd]

We see pictures of full size trains running in cities and towns where blacktop covers all but the top of the rails and the flangeway. How about doing this in the floor of your house? If you don't have room for a layout or just don't want a layout this might be a compromise.

[Anonymous]

Track imbedded in a floor, interesting ideal.  I see 2 potential problems, one- dirt in the flangeways.  Lots of vacuuming.  Two- it might be prohibitively expensive when the cost of the divorce is included (my wife would kick me out of the house REAL fast if I tried that!....)

[pbjwilson]

  Two- it might be prohibitively expensive when the cost of the divorce is included (my wife would kick me out of the house REAL fast if I tried that!....)

 

LOL!!

[twaldie]

My wife might allow the initial installation, but she would come unglued when I tear the floor up every time I have an electrical problem......

Tim

[Anonymous]

I might consider it for Large Scale (G gauge) trains, but probably not for any others, and especially not for three-rail O gauge.  And, of course, that all assumes one could afford the custom work necessary to do a proper job.

The reason I would only consider Large Scale is that the two-rail configuration would make it far easier to have the flooring interrupted by just two rails with slight gaps on the inside of each rail,  Also, Large Scale track/rails are designed to be walked on, or even driven over.  In other words, they would hold up well over time and traffic/use/abuse.

Basically, I would only do this kind of thing if I could be sure that the floor would still look and function as a complete floor, with the only deviation being where the two rails pass through it.  No track ties or the like would be visible--just the rails, at floor level, with small gaps for the wheel flanges.  It would, no doubt, be a costly, custom-designed proposition, with little margin for any design or installation errors.

[thor]

Switches would be a problem too. Its kind of a neat idea though, almost impractical but not beyond consideration especially if you could design the whole thing from the ground up rather than trying to retrofit it.  Imagine, for example, a Japanese style home with all the load supported on the exterior walls and the house interior subdivided by sliding lightweight partitions rather like those old pocket doors?  Well G gauge rail would be man enough for the weight of that and you could design the layout such that it did double duty for the partitions and the trains and if that was limited to the perimeters of each 'room' area or subdivision, you could still have a large running area.  Also something like a neoprene lip seal could seal the flangeway gap and be flexible enough to deflect when the trains run but still stay flush to make the accumulation of dust and grit not too bad a problem.  Good quality hardwood floors of an attractive wood like cherry or oak plus brass or nickel silver track could make the trackwork an attractive decorative feature.  It would take the highest order of craftsmanship to make it work really well coupled with a minimalist approach to household furnishings but what a spectacular result could be achieved!