# O Scale Shelf Layout Complete.



## [email protected]

Thanks again for all the help I have received on this forum while working my way through this project. I took some pictures and video of the final product to share. 

The shelf layout has 2 separate loops and travels through 3 bedrooms. Inner loop is about 50 feet and outer loop is about 95 feet, with a crossover section in the middle.

The proposed layout was drawn out using MTH's track design software, and some input from T-Man brought me to this layout:









Couple pictures of the shelf details:

































Looking into my room from my son's room:





Other direction through the corner tunnel





Both trains diverging and converging through crossover section:





Around the corner





Full circuit through all 3 bedrooms and closets





Passenger train in the dark through the closet


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## Chiefmcfuz

Wow this looks great! I love it!


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## TheTooth

That looks fantastic! Nice work.


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## Reckers

I'm impressed. Not only did you make the train work, but you're an accomplished carpenter, too!


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## Coolbreeze

when can you come and do this to my home?


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## tjcruiser

How COOOOLLLLLL is that! GREAT job!


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## tjcruiser

I recently built a 4x8 HO layout for my kids, and "slaved" over the construction and detailing of a tunnel/mountain. As a precaution for any in-tunnel derailings, I built two little access windows into the back (unseen) face of the mountain. But ...

All my kids now want to do is watch the trains go through the tunnel via the little access windows on the back side. Forget about my roads. Forget about my trees. Forget about my buildings. The kids like the little access windows best. So ...

I'll soon be sending my kids over to YOUR house, where they'll be spending all day running back and forth between rooms, watching your trains poke through the little wall cutouts! Hours and hours of fun!!!


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## [email protected]

Thanks for the comments folks! Glad you enjoyed it.

cruiser : That is too funny about your tunnel. That's always the way with kids eh? My son does indeed run between rooms constantly to follow the trains. Although I have to admit I still do too! 

I absolutely love running the passenger train at a crawl around the outer loop at night, it is so soothing to look at and listen to. When it runs at slow speed, it is gone from the room for a good 2 minutes before re-entering the room. The shadow play is great going into/out of the tunnels. This was so worth the time I put into it. 

I think this rivals my previously most fun project:









For any interested tinkerers, here is a build thread for that project:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=75782.msg809831#msg809831


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## T-Man

Glad it worked out for you! I still need to look at the videos.


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## tjcruiser

Hi Rob,

Great job with the shelf layout ... and the video game ... TOO funny!

It's a good thing that our kids smile a lot ... hopefully, it rubs off on us a bit, and keeps us (a bit) younger at heart!

All the best,

TJ


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## Chiefmcfuz

I am still amazed at this! It is beautiful! Would love to see more pics of the run and the production.

Definitely got me inspired to do something like this when I can.


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## tworail

Wow the kids must be going bananas over this. 

Great work!


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## [email protected]

Thanks for the compliments guys. 
Yah, the kids totally love this! My wife and I do too. The kids go to sleep to the sound of trains now 

This is really a great way to get a long train run without really using any extra space in the house. I am so glad we came across this idea. Definitely would recommend a project like this to anyone.


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## Big Ed

EXCELLENT ROB I LOVE IT!

I take it they are O gauge?

You did all that in the last couple of months?:thumbsup:



"She" (the Queen) just told me not to get any ideas from you.:laugh:

Whats next G gauge through the garden?


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## [email protected]

Thanks Big Ed!
Yep, those are O gauge. 

I started collecting up the parts around Christmas, so a little over a month I guess. Spent most of the time in the shop cutting, staining, and shellacing my shelves. Was a bit tedious, but the actual installation was pretty quick after that. 

No garden railway plans (yet), but I do kind of have an N scale coffee table setup rolling around in the back of my head now. That would be the exact polar opposite of this setup! 

Cheers


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## [email protected]

A couple more videos I forgot to post before:

Highballing around the corner. 





View down the crossover section.





Short connection between rooms.





One more in the boy's room


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## Big Ed

Did you think of painting the walls with scenes? Or buying some interesting panels.

Mountains,hills,streams, etc. 
I think the would look good all the way around where ever the track runs.

desert one room? Rocky mountains another? coastal scene in another?

How much money do you think you invested in the wood?
What kind of wood is that?


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## [email protected]

big ed said:


> Did you think of painting the walls with scenes? Or buying some interesting panels.
> 
> Mountains,hills,streams, etc.
> I think the would look good all the way around where ever the track runs.
> 
> desert one room? Rocky mountains another? coastal scene in another?
> 
> How much money do you think you invested in the wood?
> What kind of wood is that?


I thought about that idea, but we decided to just keep it low-key for now. (Although "low-key" is a relative term when you have 2 long trains cruising through your bedrooms). I like the clean look of it as is. I may just paint the top section of the walls with a contrasting color and possibly install some rope lighting. Also I will add some O scale light poles, billboards and such eventually for some extra appeal.

The wood was not too bad. All the shelves are strips of oak plywood (5" wide), and I think I went through 4 full sheets, so around $160. Then I added cove molding and base shoe molding to trim the plywood edges. I used some fake oak composite molding from Lowes which I can not tell from the real oak and it was cheap and easy to work with. Then cut the shelf brackets from 3/4" solid oak. I would say I spent maybe $40 for the brackets.

For the holes through the walls, I took some aluminum roof flashing sheet metal, spray painted it with a brown stone-looking paint, and tacked it into the holes before nailing on those arched moldings. Looks nice and clean, and I like the arched openings.

Overall it turned out better than I expected. 

Now I just need to build a nice wall box to house the controls. I have to figure out a good way to separate the controls that I will allow the kids to have access to from the switches, etc that could cause issues if not used correctly. Also need to have a throttle stopper to keep that diesel from derailing...that sucker hits close to light speed when opened up.


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## Big Ed

[email protected] said:


> I thought about that idea, but we decided to just keep it low-key for now. (Although "low-key" is a relative term when you have 2 long trains cruising through your bedrooms). I like the clean look of it as is. I may just paint the top section of the walls with a contrasting color and possibly install some rope lighting. Also I will add some O scale light poles, billboards and such eventually for some extra appeal.
> 
> The wood was not too bad. All the shelves are strips of oak plywood (5" wide), and I think I went through 4 full sheets, so around $160. Then I added cove molding and base shoe molding to trim the plywood edges. I used some fake oak composite molding from Lowes which I can not tell from the real oak and it was cheap and easy to work with. Then cut the shelf brackets from 3/4" solid oak. I would say I spent maybe $40 for the brackets.
> 
> For the holes through the walls, I took some aluminum roof flashing sheet metal, spray painted it with a brown stone-looking paint, and tacked it into the holes before nailing on those arched moldings. Looks nice and clean, and I like the arched openings.
> 
> Overall it turned out better than I expected.
> 
> Now I just need to build a nice wall box to house the controls. I have to figure out a good way to separate the controls that I will allow the kids to have access to from the switches, etc that could cause issues if not used correctly. Also need to have a throttle stopper to keep that diesel from derailing...that sucker hits close to light speed when opened up.


I bought some oak crown molding a while back. MAN THEY ARE NOT CHEAP!

Three D mountain scenes would look good.
But the clean look is nice too.:thumbsup:

I was measuring my walls and got a, "DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT" from the Queen. She did like what you did though she said, "NOT IN OUR HOUSE!":laugh:
And she told me to tell you your NUTS too.:laugh: 
Take that as a compliment coming from her as she actually took the time from her _LOVE_ channel to watch all your videos. 

She also said, "you got the whole basement for your trains".
She should have kept quiet.
As that got me to thinking (clankity, clank, clunk, smoke, smoke) about something like that but in either HO or N most likely HO, down in the dungeon.

If she doesn't shut up about my "STUPID TRAINS", I am going to cut her laundry room in half!:laugh:

I was going to say something about the speed but it looked like it was running nice and smooth. You wouldn't want to crash to the floor from up there. Thats fast track right? I think you made the right choice of track for the shelf layout.

OK I'm here to learn too.
A throttle stopper? 
What's that?

How about a electric speed limiter system? Better explained by the teacher. (t-man)


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## [email protected]

Hey Big Ed,
Yah, that oak crown molding is crazy expensive. I originally was going to do that, but since the shelf is sitting at the level right on top of the door/window frames, I would have had to start/stop the crown several times, and would have looked pretty busy and bulky I think. This style blends into the existing woodwork pretty nicely. (And is way cheaper, woohoo!)

What I mean by throttle stopper is just probably a removable pin or something to physically keep the throttle dial from going too high. That way I can let my kids change the speed around a little without worrying about derailments. 

Although I would like to hear more about an electric speed limiter, however that works.


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## Big Ed

[email protected] said:


> Hey Big Ed,
> Yah, that oak crown molding is crazy expensive. I originally was going to do that, but since the shelf is sitting at the level right on top of the door/window frames, I would have had to start/stop the crown several times, and would have looked pretty busy and bulky I think. This style blends into the existing woodwork pretty nicely. (And is way cheaper, woohoo!)
> 
> What I mean by throttle stopper is just probably a removable pin or something to physically keep the throttle dial from going too high. That way I can let my kids change the speed around a little without worrying about derailments.
> 
> Although I would like to hear more about an electric speed limiter, however that works.




T man wrote this thread, a link for you if I did it right.
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=2044


Yes it worked, but he experimented on HO wait till he comes on I don't know if you can do it on O gauge.
T will explain better. (maybe)


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## T-Man

THe problem with slowing trains is the heat dissapated with the resistors. The diodes ate at the voltage but took a lot to show any difference. So a mechanical stop for the handle is probably the most practical. I never did get a dimmer to test it out.

Everything looks great. It looks like a lot of fun. The wood work is excellent. I have been avoiding threads to get some projects done but I had to comment on this. We have had a lot of shelf questions so it is good to see a great example in operation.:thumbsup:


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## Chiefmcfuz

Any more updates on this awesome layout?


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## Big Ed

Chiefmcfuz said:


> Any more updates on this awesome layout?


Maybe he will now that you bumped the thread. Might have been sent to his e mail notification alert.

I still say a backdrop of some sort would look real nice. And I don't think it would go unnoticed to someone like me....... 6'4".
Just up top behind the rail.:thumbsup:

And even if you view the video you can see parts of the wall in it. An ocean scene if you like water? When the trains goes into a different room a mountain scene? Then in the kids room a jungle scene with all the jungle animals? 

Or a T Man Room with the dinosaurs? (or T's future flame spewing dragons?)


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## [email protected]

*Still chugging!*

Hey guys, no updates on the layout since it was "complete" in February. It is still getting a lot of runtime every day. I still have to stop and watch every time a train comes streaming out of my wall into the room  

Eventually, I will be building a nice built-in wall cubby for the train controls, but summertime is for R/C flying, so that will have to wait til winter!

Thanks again for all the nice comments in my project, nice to know others enjoyed it. The most often heard comments from people visiting our house is "Wow", "Awesome", and "You're nuts!". LOL. The last one is definitely true.

Cheers,
Rob


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## tjcruiser

You are a bit nuts ... but only in the very best way, mind you!

Those are the coolest room-to-room tunnels I've seen. Great fun. Great work.

Have fun flying!

TJ


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## BNSF Fan

Great work. I really like that, you did a beautiful job, I'm jealous. I just wish I could get mine to run a consistant speed all around. Thanks for putting up the videos.


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## Big Ed

It's good to bump this thread, so the new members can take a look.:thumbsup:

Did you have any "accidents" yet?
I forgot, can you run 2 trains on the same track at once?

I'm going to check out the video one more time.:thumbsup:

Edit......
I did notice one thing looking at them again.
If you ever run a smoking train on your rails your going to set off the smoke detector.:laugh:
Does anyone know if he did run a smoker up there, would the smoke from the engine leave a residual stain on the ceiling from the smoke?
I never thought about this before.

She still says your nuts but told me to tell you she loves the woodwork you fabricated for them.:thumbsup:

Every time I walk around looking up by the ceiling I get a don't even think about it.:laugh:


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## erkenbrand

I just stumbled across your post on an unrelated search, and have to say I absolutely love that layout. I'm starting an O layout in my basement, but have all of these HO trains that are just going to be boxed. I do believe I know where to run them now . . . 

I did broach the subject with my wife and got an eye roll. I don't take that as a firm 'no'. She usually doesn't care as long as the house doesn't burn down. I can think of at least one room that's going to get your treatment. I just don't think i can convince her to let me stretch it outside that room. 

But, we'll see. 

Beautifully done!


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## Big D

Very nice. That is beautiful work.


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## [email protected]

Hey guys,

@BigEd - No, we haven't had any "accidents" yet. All the trains have remained safely up top where they belong. I am running a couple MTH steam engines right now, and at top speed they will not derail, so we're OK. That MTH diesel from the video would fly off the corner if I ran it up past 3/4 I bet. 

I did run with steam on a few times, and no residuals on the ceiling yet, and no smoke alarms either. Only done it maybe 1/2 dozen times though. It stinks up all those rooms like the dickens!

@erkenbrand - Thanks for the compliments. Personally, I would say an HO high shelf layout might not be as good a choice as O, just for the visibility factor of it being up so high, but I have seen a couple people have done them and they look pretty good. But especially for my shorty kids, its nice to have the big O's going along.

But I have to say this has been totally worth the time, as they are running on a daily basis ever since they went in. We run the trains chugging slow at bed time for the kids and they love it.

Keep working on those wives - maybe they'll cave eventually! My wife actually was the catalyst for expanding the layout from a single bedroom to a 3-room loop. God bless her!

Cheers everyone, and thanks for the continued compliments. 
Happy Holidays train nuts!

-Rob


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## Big Ed

I just watched them again.....very nice Rob.:thumbsup:

They sell scented oil you know.
They have a bunch of different scents, though I personally have not used or smelled any.

No scenes painted on yet?

You know trains do run slow sometimes?
Take a video of the full throttle trains, at a Casey Jones speed.:thumbsup:

Whats next? A Garden train in the future?


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## tjcruiser

Nice update, Rob ... very glad to hear that things are running so smoothly, with plenty of smiles to go around and around and around!

TJ


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## Big Ed

A little up in smoke history,

The first smoke mechanism Lionel used in 1945 simply allowed a smoke
pellet to rest in the headlight bulb with a special dimple in it. This
didn't work very well and was quickly replaced with a resistance coil.
Either heat source caused the pill to slowly melt and vaporize.
Unfortunately Lionel pellets are no longer made, as where they were
patented by the engineer who created them for Lionel. Production of
the pellets likely ended in 1969 and many bottles can still be
purchased, but they are becoming less common and are going for high
prices. K-line made their K-151 pellets in the 1980's which, though it
did not smell like the Lionel pellet, it worked reasonably well. K-line
has not made pills since the early 1990's. To alleviate the patent
fees, Lionel converted to a petroleum based liquid smoke in the
1960's. Since smoke units designed for liquid have an absorbent
material built into it, the pellet and liquid should only be used in
their respective style units. Flyer and Marx used only liquid smoke
units. Smoke liquids currently available can be used interchangeably
in liquid smoke units. Additionally some new liquids are designed to
give off specific scents such as the smell of original Lionel smoke
pellets.

Original Lionel smoke pellets have become collectible in their own
right, so if you have them, use them sparingly and fill in the gaps
with other brands. You might also use a few drops of liquid smoke in
your bottle of pellets occasionally to keep them from disintegrating.
This will also extend their life inside the smoke unit. Using a pipe
cleaner to brush the white residue inside your smokestack back into
your generator will extend the effectiveness of the pellets you use.

It has also been suggested that scented lamp or Seethe oil may be
used. Other home-remedy smoke includes aspirin and candle wax. I have
not tried any of these.

Absorbent material can be added to old pellet smoke units in the form
of a small tuft of fiberglass insulation. Again, I have not tried this
and cannot attest to the reliability, efficiency or safety. Also once
material is added, it will no longer function properly with pellets.

Personally, I have a small stash of both Lionel and K-line pellets
which I enhance with some fluid. Fluid will work in an unmodified
pellet unit, but could fowl it. I only used fluid in a pellet unit in
addition to the pellet (not in place of it) or when the unit is at
operating temperature.


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## Chiefmcfuz

I still love this layout!


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## CyberO27

Rob-
Out-Standing! Very glad that your video links are still viewable.
TERRIFIC work!


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## jcanfield

Reviving an old one here!

Rob, chiming in with everyone else when I say this is awesome! Well done. One thing I am interested in, is there any way you could put the camera on a car so we could get a ride on view?? That would be really neat! Just a thought.


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## Big Ed

Rob has not been back since his last post. 12/10/10.hwell:


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## robert_seerveiss

we really love the trains going into all the rooms including the closet.

Robert


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## matt1466

This thread/layout confirms my belief: the 20 year old stack of 1" oak boards out back are about to become train shelves!


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## 93firebird

Love it, I may have to do a tunnel through my kids closet when I go to do the one in their bedroom now.


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## Mr.Buchholz

I could watch that train and follow it through all the rooms for hours! Really well done! Just awesome 

-J.


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## Bone1977

Wow, Amazing setup  Love it!

I think it is safe to say everyone on here would be happy with a perspective video of the trains traveling around the tracks with a GoPro or similar style small vid cam.


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## 93firebird

Bone1977 said:


> Wow, Amazing setup  Love it!
> 
> I think it is safe to say everyone on here would be happy with a perspective video of the trains traveling around the tracks with a GoPro or similar style small vid cam.


What he said! 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk


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## GuilliversGate

Very nice!


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## MMID301

Very nice. I love your layout.


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## cosmos2002

What a great idea. Love it. Happy 2015. :appl::appl:


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