children,s hospital layout

[Anonymous]

Iam looking any information on a club or persons that have built a train layout in a children,s hospital.Any information would be very helpful.Thank you.randel

[douginut]

Randel, the Utah N-Rail Modellers have done that a few years ago.

as I remember...
had to fit on a gurnee,
used 9volt batteries and slot car controllers
had NO switches but a really fun "bowl of spaghetti" long run of flex track
had operating crossing gates (bachmann i think)
had the highest rail we could find at the time so anything would work.
used short trains that were interesting both passenger and freight and a trolley (one of my Bachmanns) all houses and buildings held to the layout with velcro NO loose scenery elements.
LOTS of rerailers. and a regular train set power pack for when we could plug in. but we kept the slot car controller because it was so sturdy and had rounded edges.
doing it again I would have built it lighteer and a little smaller to fit on one of those trays that cay swing over the bed.
AT LEAST one of the Doctors or Administrators at the hospital will be a fellow model railroader and can suggest the best conformance with hospital regs and needs.
UNR did the one for the Shriner's Children's Hospital near Salt Lake one of our guys was a Shriner.
If I can help in any other way any time

[Anonymous]

Thank you Douglas,I would like to know if the hospital pay for the rolling stock,locomotives,and the buildings,scenery or did you club pay for these items.Was these items donated or did you club have fund raises for these items?How big was the hospital layout?From start to finish:how many months to complete this layout.How big is you club?

[douginut]

I left the club 8 years ago though remain friends with all of the members. Second shift and Club model railroading just dont fit very well.
But, on to the impoortant stuff...

1. the Hospital contributed only clear requirements for safety and what folks were going to enjoy the layout so we could tailor it to their needs.
2. EVERYONE had things left over from a wild fit of module building that were contributed. we had about three times as much stuff than we could use.
3. the hospital layout was TINY an n scale layout that would be wheeled into a badly hurt little kid's room over the kid's bed and the kid then was passed the slot car controller to run the trains. about 3x6 feet max with two by four more useful.
4. The layout took nearly a year, then one saturday to do it all. the rest of the time was spend discussing it thoroughly.
5. without rolling stock the whole thing would have cost less than fourty dollars (2001 dollars). we used Kato for the trains which were collected for by the club and the trolleys (2) were a gift from the club's trolley nut (ME) and cost 24 bucks. ( would now cost 36).
6. the club had 34 members at the time if i remember right, and about 14 active ones.
Anything else?

Doug