# SNNRail Ceiling Shelf Project



## SNNRail (Aug 31, 2014)

Hello my name is Steve and I'm working on a handful of a project. Originally began with picking up my old Tyco and Bachmann HO train set from my parents home, and a dream of running a small train suspended from the ceiling in my 2 month old's nursery room. That lead me down the rabbit hole to looking up examples online of anyone else suspending model trains from the ceiling. Once I gleaned some great concepts of how to layout my shelf along the wall, I began the next major discovery. That my old toy trains just didn't have what it takes to run consistently.

I came to the decision I wanted a much larger layout, longer powerful train, and so on. I abandoned the idea of hiding away such a dream layout upstairs where few guests visit, and am now setting up in my larger living room space.

My setup will wind around the wall approx. 6-10" below the ceiling. The highest point is above my front picture window slopes down to my suspended "yard", goes back up around the walls and over the TV, lastly I will need to float the track across the ceiling with no wall mounts to make it past my front door and stairs.

Presently I have half the shelf anchored up, with 25' of old brass flex track until my newer nickel silver flex arrives. I just began cutting 4" wide strips of cork padding to lay over the pine boards and have to glue that down. My control system is Bachmann's DCC EZ Command (before anyone mentions NCE or Digitrax please understand I just upgraded from DC to DCC and money being a factor I have to begin with the EZ). I have 14 and 20 gauge wire to eventually route around the shelf to connect to the rails for bus and lead. Currently I have only been able to afford, in the DCC upgrade, to get one Bachmann GP-40 DCC engine. I also have a small DCC Switcher engine.

Here I will include some photos of my progress and inventory so far. It is slow going and I'm not a great carpenter, electrician, or modeler so I'm doing the best I can with my skills.

The United Pacific engine is my new DCC, that I hope to run my main freight line. I aim for a more modern day feel with this train and want to run 20+ cars. The army train is DC and is going to run on a future secondary track sperate from my living room.


Two shots of my pile of cars I have gathered from my old collection and eBay (I had to pile them up to make room for guests). Also a small Dewitt in there.





Last one of my model collection for now is of my recent purchase of 6 passenger cars. I have read these Spectrum cars have their problems but I really wanted a passenger car train eventually and believed getting this set at the time was a decent deal. I hope to pair it up with a F7a or a nice steamer to contrast my modern diesel freight.


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## SNNRail (Aug 31, 2014)

Here I will display some of the shelf as it is now. Still very much a work in progress.

First two pictures are of the suspended "yard" area. I hope to have turnouts here someday to be able to park whichever train isn't in use. I also put in a small mirror on the ceiling to help viewing from the floor. Birch plywood anchored to wall with angle brackets above the wood, and threaded rod plastic anchored into ceiling.





Next two are of my turns, I used a beam compass here to measure out the wide radius. 42" inside and 48" radius outside. This is to accommodate many size cars and provide better look.


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## SNNRail (Aug 31, 2014)

Reserved post #3


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## BNSFcountryCA (Jul 22, 2014)

Your curved wood turns look really nice.


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## SNNRail (Aug 31, 2014)

Thanks BNSFcountryCA.

I was just messing around today with my father in law's Civil War train set, and lined up all my locomotives.


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## BNSFcountryCA (Jul 22, 2014)

Is that Bachman track?


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## SNNRail (Aug 31, 2014)

His track that came with the civil war sets. But yes it is Bachmann EZ track.


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## SNNRail (Aug 31, 2014)

Latest Project Update 9/19/2014

Some of the latest shots of the little bit of work I have been able to work on. Temporarily laid some track just so I could display my passenger cars. Chessie engine is an old Bachmann just there for looks. Added led strip light, corner mirror for visibility, laid a few feet of cork, and a small sample section of 3D rubbery rock wall which I plan on getting more of.

Now for the pictures!


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

Your son will LOVE that as he grows. So will you, and hopefully the Mrs. It looks surrealistic with the rope lights. Pretty cool!


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## SNNRail (Aug 31, 2014)

Fire21 said:


> Your son will LOVE that as he grows. So will you, and hopefully the Mrs. It looks surrealistic with the rope lights. Pretty cool!


Right now with no moving train or sounds he doesn't notice the train parked, but he does love the new color changing lights (he is almost 3 months old).

The misses doesn't like how much I've spent or the mess that was in the living room for awhile, but she did admit to me one night that once done this should look pretty cool.


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## BNSFcountryCA (Jul 22, 2014)

The led strips look great. I like the white purple tint it has in the one pic and the greenish white it has in the other. It's coming along nicely. Smart idea of the mirrors by the way...


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## SNNRail (Aug 31, 2014)

BNSFcountryCA said:


> The led strips look great. I like the white purple tint it has in the one pic and the greenish white it has in the other. It's coming along nicely. Smart idea of the mirrors by the way...


Thanks, I spent extra to get the RGBW LEDs so there was dedicated white LEDs. It looks great and lights up the shelf so I can see what I'm doing up there now. The mirrors are over the wider plywood section that will my "yard" and this gives me a space to do some scenery and allow it to be viewed from below.


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## SNNRail (Aug 31, 2014)

*Video of second test of rolling stock.*

I uploaded a few videos I made of my train. Not on my ceiling layout but on father in law's EZ track for testing purposes.

First is short one of the train going around with 19 cars. There was maybe a third of an inch between the last gondola and the engine. Going to need longer test track to see what maximum pulling capabilities are 



Second video is of the Walthers Proto locomotive and it's sounds.



*Mod edit: Fixed the links for YouTube.*


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

I scanned all over your post and didn't find any link to
the videos.

Wanna try again?

Be sure to read the instructions for doing so first.

Don


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## SNNRail (Aug 31, 2014)

DonR said:


> I scanned all over your post and didn't find any link to
> the videos.
> 
> Wanna try again?
> ...


On my browser (Firefox) it is showing the videos. I posted them using the YouTube button here and copying the URL. Anyone else not seeing the embedded videos?


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## BNSFcountryCA (Jul 22, 2014)

It worked for me.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

This is what I see, just your words. Did you copy just the stuff after the equal sign and insert it between the youtube thing, this? {YT}{YT}
Don't copy the whole link just what is after the equal sign.

This is what we see, a copy and paste, just space where the videos would be.

Video of second test of rolling stock.
I uploaded a few videos I made of my train. Not on my ceiling layout but on father in law's EZ track for testing purposes.







First is short one of the train going around with 19 cars. There was maybe a third of an inch between the last gondola and the engine. Going to need longer test track to see what maximum pulling capabilities are 










Second video is of the Walthers Proto locomotive and it's sounds.


__________________
My Ceiling Shelf Project 
SNNRail is online now Report Post


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

I still get only the link to MY CEILING SHELF PROJECT and your

prose. No links to videos.

Don


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## SNNRail (Aug 31, 2014)

Sorry guys don't know why the embedded videos are not working for you.

I'll just post the raw URL and you can view them there.

Short
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lwcrKkolCY&feature=youtube_gdata_

Longer with sounds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrgcAEyXfOY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I'm posting on my Android phone and it isn't very easy to highlight and copy only pieces of the URL and past them into the brackets.

Hope you guys enjoy!

*Mod Edit: Here's the embedded versions.*


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## Greg903 (Dec 27, 2013)

You hit the ground running, nice stock of cars and engines you have too. I like the mirror idea and the shot with the lights looks great. I'm having a hard time with everything on a table in front of me,I couldn't imagine trying to tackle a suspended layout!


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## JoeG (Feb 3, 2013)

I like what you are doing with your layout. The lights are a nice touch backlighting the trains. Where does all your power coming from? Does it plug into the wall and run up the wall to your layout? Also, have you thought of using plexiglass to be able to look from under the train? 
I too am looking to build a shelf layout so any advice that you have would be a big help. It looks like you have a great layout and are well on your way.


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## SNNRail (Aug 31, 2014)

JoeG said:


> I like what you are doing with your layout. The lights are a nice touch backlighting the trains. Where does all your power coming from? Does it plug into the wall and run up the wall to your layout? Also, have you thought of using plexiglass to be able to look from under the train?
> I too am looking to build a shelf layout so any advice that you have would be a big help. It looks like you have a great layout and are well on your way.


Thank you for taking a peek at my project so far. I have some more work I was able to accomplish on it while I was on vacation. 

The power right now is coming from up the wall along a white extension cord. I plan to either get another outlet box up by the ceiling, or cleverly hiding the wires and other items behind a custom wall cabinet. That won't be for awhile until I get to that stage where I'm prettying everything up.

I have thought about using plexiglass. I wanted to use it in my two floating turns, but as of right now just setting up the shelf has been a long patient process. I am not a great carpenter so I just throw things together and tweak as needed. I'll be happy to get the wood shelf up, cork and track laid, then as I test trains on it I will be making adjustments.

I AM going to be using plexiglass under my "suspension" bridge. This area of track is the first seen when entering my home and I want it to show off the train best here. I plan on transitioning from the pine board to plexiglass for a 3 foot straightaway. Two concerns I had using plexi, was the flexibility and bowing of the plastic, and keeping the track level when going from wood and cork to just plexiglass.

My solution to try will be to cut out with a jigsaw, the center piece of a 3 foot board, lay the plexiglass on top of that so the wood supports the plexi and attach it so the cork is level with the plexiglass bridge bottom.


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## JoeG (Feb 3, 2013)

SNNRail said:


> Thank you for taking a peek at my project so far. I have some more work I was able to accomplish on it while I was on vacation.
> 
> The power right now is coming from up the wall along a white extension cord. I plan to either get another outlet box up by the ceiling, or cleverly hiding the wires and other items behind a custom wall cabinet. That won't be for awhile until I get to that stage where I'm prettying everything up.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the reply, I was going to use a thicker plexiglass and wooden supports closer together. My one concern was the cost of the plexiglass in comparison to the wood. Also, I was going to make a lake scene with plexiglass so you would be able to look up under and see who was in the water or any fish and so on. I look forward to your updates and getting some good pointers from you. Thanks again.


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## SNNRail (Aug 31, 2014)

Been a little bit since an update but much has changed since last I wrote. First I reworked half of the shelf to get rid of any major grading. The track won't be perfectly level but is much closer to level than it was. I also sold most of my cheaper DCC engines and got a used BLI AC6000 (my post about the engine). I just bought a used Digitrax system and will be learning that once I receive it. 

As far as layout construction I finished repositioning some of my current boards to level out much of the track. Built an 8 foot bridge section to hang in front of my picture window. Unlike the rest of my shelf, I constructed all of the bridge before mounting to ceiling. I used #6 & 8 all rod with some brass door push plates as the bottom supports under the wood. Glued down my cork underlayment with liquid nails project caulk then clamped that down to set the glue. Lastly I ran two sections of flex track, secured with track screws. I etched out some cork and soldered my drop wires.

Here are some quick photos I took of my current progress.




























Next I will be finish closing my last expanse by my front door where I plan to have a 3 foot plexiglass bottomed bridge, suspended from the ceiling. Once I am done with that I have to lay cork around the rest of the shelf, track and bus wires.


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