I have been in the benchwork mode of building my "Dream Layout" since early February. It's a 15' x 20 1/2,' backward E shaped, cookie cutter layout that takes up most of the recroom in my basement (19' x 24'). It has a staging section that is 21" below the upper level which is 50" from the ground.
I've got the lower level table and the 2% grade sub-roadbed completed going to the upper level.
The problem is, I think I may have over did it a bit. I didn't take into consideration cleaning all that track when the time comes. There is also a spot where the reach is questionable, however, I did leave an opening in the benchwork so I could get to trains.
After speaking with my wife about it, she thinks it is too large since access to the outside door is tight at 30".
So I have decided to dismantle everything I've done and go with a more moderately sized layout. The next design will be a smaller layout that will give me more room in the basement, is less complicated (one level) and is open grid rather than cookie cutter.
I will be able to use some of the wood I already have but know that a good amount will be wasted.
This is a newbie mistake that everyone has warned about. I guess I'm just one of those that have to live through it before it's understood.
So, am I in this boat alone or has anyone else made the same mistake?
Bill
While it wasn't my first layout, been there, done that.
I did a large E-shaped Homasote on L-grider layout. It was torn down before completion for a move and didn't survive anyway. Since then, I've done linear modules. Not only can I domino the things, I can easily remove/replace modules I don't like. Plus moving would be relatively easy.
So, I'd advocate an around the walls modular layout to start. You can always add a peninsula later if you plan ahead a bit.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
You're probably better off than someone who didn't realize that his layout was too much until after he'd laid a mainline all the way around his basement. I'm sure there are lots of basement empires out there with one small section complete, and the rest just plywood, foam or just open benchwork which has become a storage rack for lawn chairs and bike helmets.
I agree with the idea of starting smaller and allowing for expansion. For me, that means a 5x12 foot island layout. I've been building for just over 2 years now. My track work is basically done, although a lot is just pinned down and more is still unballasted. About a third of layout has complete scenery on it now. At this rate, if I don't expand the layout, I should be "done" in another year or so. So, that would be 60 square feet in 3 years, or 20 square feet a year. And my wife says I put too much time into the trains.
My connection point to the proposed extension is at the unfinished end of the layout, and adding more space would cause me to re-think some of the scenery at that end as well.
I'd be interested in other modellers' experiences with how fast they build a section of layout.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I started my layout about the same time as you (I spent October - Feburary framing, wiring, tiling, sheetrocking, and installing finish trim in the raw space first). My layout is about 8 x 12 and is open benchwork. I have completed the mainline(s) and yard track laying and wiring, but decided to wait with service spurs until I have completed a good share of the perimeter scenery. Waiting with the spurs will allow me easier access for perpherial scenery construction and allow me some addtional time for ideas , visualization etc. as to spur industries, roads, etc.
I have humpyard manual switches on order and anticipate spending my summer months installing them and working on my control panel.
My wife is also sensitive to my train time. I told her that "train time" was a lesser vice than womanizing and drinking!
Just over a year ago, while I was trying to figure out how to cram my list of givens and druthers into a too-small bag (one stall of a 2-car garage,) my wife relinquished title to her half of the garage and told me to go for it.
Rather than go berserk, I simply unfolded and un-bent my scheme (which has been pretty much set in stone for a LONG time) and expanded it into the bigger space. Construction had been, and remains, steel stud 'C acts like L' girder, so all the original steelwork recycled nicely. I use cookie cut plywood sub-roadbed in the shape of the track diagram (not solid tabletop,) so there is plenty of access even in the netherworld. Maximum reach-in is a tad over 30 inches, at a height where I can bend from the waist to increase my reach. Since I have become the sole owner of the garage, the 34 inch door-to-main-aisle clearance isn't an issue. Operating locations have 30 inch minimum aisleways, while accessways have to settle for 24 inches.
I do have the advantage of several decades of home and club layout building, so I've long since made most of the less intelligent mistakes.
As for track cleaning, I've never found it particularly necessary. That may be a result of frequent operation, or may simply be an inherent advantage of nickel silver rail in a dessicated environment. I wasn't being entirely facetious when I posted (in another thread) that when the construction debris gets deep enough I run my wedge plow! Newly laid track gets cleaned with metal polish - once. I haven't had to go back.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Bill54 wrote: ... I didn't take into consideration cleaning all that track when the time comes. There is also a spot where the reach is questionable, however, I did leave an opening in the benchwork so I could get to trains...
... I didn't take into consideration cleaning all that track when the time comes. There is also a spot where the reach is questionable, however, I did leave an opening in the benchwork so I could get to trains...
Bill, if you are waking up in a sweat some nights, and you can attribute it to anxiety over your notions, then you must do as you are saying. But I wouldn't be too quick to tear this effort apart. In other words, if you know you have made a glaring show-stopper, or a series of cumulative errors that have you cold on this rendition, then ditch it.
However, access problems are fixable with some carpentry and scenicking skill. Make an access hatch, and try hard to obviate its use by making bullet-proof track behind it.
Cleaning track is not all it's cracked up to be. I have never, ever, undertaken a maintenance day with the sole purpose of restoring the surface on my rails. It just isn't necessary for so many of us. If you run your trains for about one hour a week spread over two session, and if you cover all your rails, you should almost never have to clean your tracks. Also, metal wheels, and those on engines, will tend to scrub the rails nicely.
You will find, if your experience is anything like mine, that your engines will point out the "weak" spots. They'll die near a join, or somewhere that will suggest to you that there is a continuity problem at that place. I move the loco, take up a small piece of 600 grit sandpaper, and do a light polish for 12" on either side of the apparent fault. The entire process takes 30 seconds. If you were to do all of your tracks, it would clearly take some considerable time. Thirty seconds twice a week to clear the worst spots is hardly onerous.
If you are like me, you will do a good cleaning of each completed section of track before you load it up with engines and rolling stock. You may have to do the same thing once annually, but that is not my experience now with two layouts. The passage of trains every couple of days will keep them reasonably clean.