David Barrow's CMSF

[jfugate]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rsn48

... it is a GREAT misconception that domino's sections have to be flat, in one of his articles Dave shows how build a domino, kind of like L girder so that you can have height.

While it is certainly true that a "domino" does not have to be flat, or even symetrical, I think the name "domino" does the idea a dis-service, and all the examples David has ever shown are flat, flat, flat. Pictures speak louder than words.

So what else are you going to expect people to think unless they really read things closely?

I think Mr. Barrow (or someone), to break the mold, ought to do a domino article that shows non-symetrical sections with mountainous scenery. Anyone?

[johncolley]

All this going on and on about Dave Barrow's "dominoes", for what? If you don't like it, don't do it, that's easy! If you are interested to see what can be accomplished, check out Free-mo.org It is a great concept for those who don't have space for a large layout. The curves are big and beautiful, the trains look and are run realistically, and you can have terrain, tunnels, gullies and bridges, galore. What more can one ask? And yes, I think the term dominoes instead of modules is misleading. John Colley Port Townsend WA

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by clinchvalley

It would be better to refer to the layout as the South Plains District, which is quite a bit different than the original Cat Mountain and Santa Fe. However, it is all moot as the layout in MRP is GONE. David is starting over again, doing a section of ATSF prototype modeling. I really look forward to see what he's doing, with his penchant for detail and design, I'm sure it's going to be great.

Has anyone heard news about this? I would love to see what he's up to now.

[Anonymous]

I have tried the domino approach and ran into problems related to my layout room. David Barrow's layout is built in a room above his garage. Mine is built in a basement with a cement floor. The floor of his room above the garage tends to have a nice flat surface. My basement floor is a bit irregular to the point that the T-nut adjusters on the ends of the domino legs cannot compensate in some instances. Therefore an open grid or so called "L" girder approach works better for my situation because the roadbed surface can be leveled by raising and lowering risers without regard to adjusting the legs themselves. Also the more traditional construction results in fewer legs. In addition, I have no plans to move and work for myself so don't have to consider a work related relocaton so the portablility of the layout does not concern me.

By the way, David Barrow's layout is called "The Lubbock Industrial District" NOT the Cat Mountain and Santa Fe. The old layout in it's many incarnations was THE Cat Mountain and Santa Fe. From his more recent articles it appears that Mr. Barrow (NOT BARROWS) considers the layout to be the Lubbock Industrial District of the Cat Mountain and Santa Fe. He has some well thought out and inovative approaches to the hobby and is not afraid to tear something down and start over to test his latest approach. Building domonos, however, does tend to use up a lot more wood than an L girder or open grid layout would use if building the same track plan.

For more on dominos do a search on the magazine article database on this website for "David Barrow" and you'll turn up a number of articles which will answer any questions you might have on the subject. Mr. Barrow is a good writer as well as a good modeler. His articles are enjoyable reading.

Cheers,

Ed

[Anonymous]

I see there's a post earlier about the South Plains District. The South Plains District is NOT DAVID BARROW'S CURRENT LAYOUT. The South Plains District was a domino based layout created by David Barrow specifically for a series of construction articles he did for Model Railroader about ten years ago. The South Plains District co-existed with the CM&SF. I believe it was in the CM&SF's crew lounge. My current layout is based on the published track plan for the South Plains District. As I stated earlier I began using dominos and encountered problems specific to my train room. Plans are to add extensive staging and other features to the basic South Plains Division layout..

Cheers,

Ed

[Don Gibson]

BARROW is incorporating ideas that the likes (and uses) in a hot Texas Garage . When he rebuilt the CM&SF he rearranged the sectional pieces easily. I gather that he is a person that like's to change things.

HE LIKES
A 'representational' RR.
A 'walk along' design.
radio control
Buss wiring
Integrating overhead lighting to dramaticly show off the RR and scenery.
Wood sub roadbed

HE DISLIKES Homosote for vertical expansion reason's.

He is an Achitect that incorporate's construction techniques with asthetic's. To my knowlege he has never claimed to 'invent' building a house - (or a model RR) He did give the nickname "Domino's" to his stand-alone sections, since they could be configured widthwise and lengthwise, like their namesake.

As for 'bridging gap's - and he is a nut on vertical vagaries - I have to think the good practice rule of 'not putting track joint over a wood joint' would apply.

[dehusman]

The original concept of the Domino was to give a flexible form of benchwork that could be moved or rearranged as required. The actual design of the benchwork is called open grid. The other major concept which has not be discussed as far as I can tell in this thread is that the Domino is designed to be removed and the work done on it at the workbench. You don't crawl under the layout to wire switches and hook up linkages, You pull the piece out of the layout, set it on the work bench and comfotably seated upright work on the wiring, etc. Same with the track. No trying to fit things in awkard reaches, you pull the section out and can turn it to get whatever access you need.
Another part of the concept that has been lost in the shuffle was that there was (in the original concept) a sub benchwork that supported the Dominoes. That's where the leveling took place. The original concept didn't use 2x2 legs attached to the frame of the Domino like an N-Trak module, it had 1x4's built in a framework that supported the Dominoes.

While I was very critical of the concept when it first came out (it was like somebody was trying to patent open grid benchwork) the more I read about it the more I understood what the purpose was.

The whole concept is flexibility. It is designed for the person that likes to change his mind and try new track arrangements (whether due to moving or just getting bored with the first attempt). The latest incarnation is totally driven towards a short term layout. I wouldn't be suprised if any layout Mr. Barrow builds, well actually more correctly, any trackplan Mr. Barrow builds, lasts more than a couple years. The whole system and concept is geared to letting him build a trackplan, then tear it apart and reconfigure both the benchwork and trackplan in a minimum of time with the maximum of recycling of benchwork and track. i have never read where he said this was a good approach for everybody. If you are a person who likes to switch from railroad to railroad, era to era, scale to scale, this might be a good concept for you.

Dave H.

[Anonymous]

Good greif people, can't you just give a piece of good advice without such harsh critisizm of eachother. You know in some cases the domino layout would be a great solution for many people, although I fully agree that if you want grades to climb and decend this is not the way to go.

If you love to do switching and solving puzzles then this is for you, but if you enjoy running long trains you should reconsider.

Its that simple.

[dehusman]

There is no requirement in the construction of a Domino that it be a flat table top. You can build Domiones with grades, valleys, etc. People have been building open grid benchwork for years with grades. The last 3 layouts I have had were all open grid and I have had up to 8" in elevation difference. The people that say it has to be flat are looking at the last couple itterations of Barrow's layouts, not the original articles on the Domino concept.

Dave H.

[davekelly]

Dave H.
Oh there you go letting fact get in the way of opinion!

Dave