# Layout Progress in 10x18' room



## riogrande (Apr 28, 2012)

Update on my layout with a quick summary since many photo's posted in another topic - early photo's: Had to paint the room first, then early stages of benchwork:


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## riogrande (Apr 28, 2012)

Above bench-work gets filled in more:





Bench-work gets extended around the room further:


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## riogrande (Apr 28, 2012)

Track work in lower staging is going in before the upper level can be started:


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## riogrande (Apr 28, 2012)

I've closed the gap at the entrance - it is now officially a "duck under". Thhe entire room is fully enclosed by bench-work now, and I'm running sub-roadbed along that side on risers and some cork and track is down too. I need a bridge for once side to cross over the other - which I'll order when I get back from a trip up north to visit my daughter in central NY and my wife's uncle in Toronto Canada. I'll try to get a few photo's 

Once the track mainline is run around on both sides, I'll be adding the second level.

Here are a couple of progress photo's from the past month or so:



The broad curve in the middle is 56-inch radius by the way. Most of the other curves are 32-inches, or 36-inches.



This is from the opposite long wall - staging - which will be under the main yard.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Here it is,
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=23957

Click on your user name, then click view public profile, then click statistics, in there are all your post or threads you made.
When you click the statistics you have a choice either posts or threads click the one you want to view. 

You can do this for any member name to view their posts or threads.


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## riogrande (Apr 28, 2012)

During October, the 2nd level is starting to take shape:


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## riogrande (Apr 28, 2012)

big ed said:


> Here it is,
> http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=23957
> 
> Click on your user name, then click view public profile, then click statistics, in there are all your post or threads you made.
> ...


Thought I'd looked far enough back in time. Too late!


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

riogrande said:


> Thought I'd looked far enough back in time. Too late!


A mod (with a sharp eye) might combine them for you.
If they see it. 

Do what I said click on my user name then public profile then statistics then threads, there are all the threads I started.
Now with posts it will only go back so far, with me I can't go back to my first post unless I stumble upon some of them . It won't show in the statistics.


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## Mr.Buchholz (Dec 30, 2011)

Looking good so far. How big is the gap between the lower and upper levels? Is there enough room to service and/or work on any trains in distress? From what I'm looking at in the picture, it looks like around 6". 

-J.


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## dsertdog56 (Oct 26, 2014)

Looks like a great plan from here.


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## cosmos2002 (Jun 14, 2007)

Looking good. Go for it.:thumbsup:


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## riogrande (Apr 28, 2012)

Mr.Buchholz said:


> Looking good so far. How big is the gap between the lower and upper levels? Is there enough room to service and/or work on any trains in distress? From what I'm looking at in the picture, it looks like around 6".
> 
> -J.


The clearance from the deck underneath to the top of the plywood above is about 8-inches. Is there enough room? Barely. Would I rather have more? Yes, but for this size of room, I wanted to keep the grade under 3%, which I did, just barely.

Here is a little more progress - slow right now with having to study for a certification and holidays etc.


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## riogrande (Apr 28, 2012)

Bin since late last year that I posted a few photos and then took a break to travel overseas and concentrate on family life for a couple months - here is where I left off in December:

Was test fitting some subroadbed:



Still had a section over staging open and needing to be installed:







Resumed work in February and March - last section over staging installed and has homasote:







Subroadbed being test fitted in Decmember is on risers now and cork laid on centerline:















Test fitting turnouts on the yard above staging:











Next will be to get track laid over the cork and up to the yard


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## riogrande (Apr 28, 2012)

Update: 

Did some work over the past couple months on the yardabove staging:









And a little cardboard webbing in via hot glue - going for the Ruby Canyon look on the border of western Colorado and eastern Utah.


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

Looks like you're making good progress. It seems that you are doing the same thing I did when I was putting my yard and engine servicing area in. The heck with a track diagram. I laid out the turnouts and track in position so I can have the smoothest flow of track. 

Looking good.


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## riogrande (Apr 28, 2012)

I actually did draw out on graph paper a close to scale drawing of pretty much everything in the photo's. There isn't an engine servicing area yet, that will probably go into the blank area near the front edge on the end with the grain elevator. I have a Pike Stuff 2 stall engine house for that. On the other end, near the front edge or end I'm thinking of a metal scrap yard for gondola's.

Smooth flowing track is a consideration. The crossover and turnout into the 2 TOFC tracks are all #8 turnouts because I'll be pushing 89' long flat cars into them.


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

I had a problem fitting both a yard and engine facilities into the space I had left. My layout is built as a switching layout with a yard and engine facility at each end. Here's a before and after. It was a bit of a puzzle at first. I did have a rough sketch of what I wanted to do, but found after actually laying the track and turnouts on the surface it was a lot easier to determine any possible problems. I also had a few industries in the same town that had to be worked in. I didn't finalize the trackwork until I had buildings partially built so I know what the exact footprint of the building was. Once that was done, it was easy and everything went into place easily.










Here is the area after the yard and town were at a more advanced stage. 










Looking forward to more updates. Looks like an interesting layout.


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## riogrande (Apr 28, 2012)

Photo's are blocked at work so I'll check out when I get home.

Space limitations are often what controlls what we can do or not do! I sketched all the major elements old school style on graph paper which had the boundaries of the 10x18 room drawn to scale and drew in the major things like curves and where the yards would go etc. I have John Armstrongs Track Planning book but I could never wrap my head around his "squares" principles so I use everything else but that.

Of course I"m trying to squeeze way too much in this small room like longish trains (15 to 18 feet long), with broad 32-inch minimum mainline curves etc. Oh well. Kinda like trying to eat a meal you don't have room for! The staging can hold 10 trains and still pass one through. Crazy I know.


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

Space is always a problem with a model railroad. One never has enough space. I did notice the broad curves. Looks good. My minimum is also 32 inches, but most are a bit broader. I model the transition era and my freelance road services a more rural area. For me a normal train is about 14 cars. I could have had a lot longer main line run, but I wanted to have more room for towns and industries and trying to maintain broad curves and have more room for scenery. Trains look so much better on broader curves.

A train, a local would leave one yard and service industries along the main line and end up in a yard at the other end of the layout, or possibly return to the yard where it began. An outbound train would be made up with any outbound cars and would go into hidden staging tracks. I only have three of them. These hidden tracks will allow for continuous running if a drop down bridge is put up. 

I have no other model railroaders in my area that I know of so most trains are local runs. When the grand kids come over I'll sometimes run a 40 to 50 car train arounf using the hidden tracks. Keeps them amused.


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## riogrande (Apr 28, 2012)

A lot of people are still going with 18 and 22 in curves, which is something I can't wrap my head around, but I do want the ability to run passenger cars, auto racks and TOFC flat cars, - you know - freight cars typical of the 1970s and 1980's! The minimum in staging is 32-inches and up to 38 inches. I think one or two of the curves out on the mainline is also 36 inches too, I can't see the markings on the wood anymore but its probably still on the graph paper.

Probably because I haven't had a space for a layout and haven't been able to run trains for the past 20 years, I probably would like to amuse myself with some long trains, but the 2.9% grades necessary to reach the 2nd level will probably make it unwise to run trains 40 or 50 cars long - I'll probably keep mine down to 30 cars or less - not sure how it will work out in real life until I try. I think those unreliable McHenry couplers are part of the formula - need to change them out but cash is a little short in supply until the wife gets working again - she is working on her CNA license atm.

They say the inside radius on the Shinohara and Walthers #8 are not really 32 inch as advertised but more like 28 inches so I may have to concede my minimum is really 28-inches, but only at those locations!

It's surprising how sharp even a 32-inch curve and look under a Walther auto rack! Thats why I decided to have at least one "cosmetic" curve, the broad curve coming out of the area with the cardboard webbing is 56-inches drawn using a long trammel on my back deck. Trains do look so much better on broader curves! Years ago I was at a big train show in Louisville KY and there was a modular layout there running long trains of autoracks, which looked great rounding the corner modules. I asked the guy there what the curve radii was for them, I think he said in the 50's!!!


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

I will have to agree with you about the 18 and 22 inch radius track. Back in the 70's when I got out of the service, I was in train withdrawal but didn't have room for an HO layout. I built a small N scale layout which I later incorporated into a larger N scale layout with about 11 scale miles of mainline track when I was finally able to move home to Montana and build a house over a basement. The folks at the hobby shop introduced me to flex track and I never bought a stick of sectional track since. 

I finally get fed up with the poor running quality of the locomotives that were available back then and ripped out the N scale and moved on to HO scale. One thing that also bothered me was the grossly over sized rail in N scale so I started my current layout handlaying code 70 rail and turnouts. When my Kadee spike gun died for the 6th and last time I started using Shinohara code 70 track. 

With that grade, you may consider using helpers to pull the grade. My ruling grade is just over two and a half percent and when I do run long trains I'll put a helper or two at the head end or maybe one in the middle. I have changer all my couplers to Kadees, even McHenrys because thay are, as far as I'm concerned, a lot stronger. 

Here's a short video of a short passenger train. The locomotive is DCC with sound but I operate with DC only because I am a lone operator and being that the layout was built mainly for switching, I rarely need to run more than one locomotive at a time. The video shows how much better passenger cars look on a broader radius. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7zO8kdjGGA


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## MtRR75 (Nov 27, 2013)

riogrande said:


> Photo's are blocked at work so I'll check out when I get home


Chet,

I am at home, and I can't see the photos either.


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## riogrande (Apr 28, 2012)

I'm at home and getting x's for your photo's so something is amiss! I know photobucket is blocked for me at work but most everything works at home.


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

riogrande said:


> I'm at home and getting x's for your photo's so something is amiss! I know photobucket is blocked for me at work but most everything works at home.


Trying to down load them now but getting a server time out.


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

Let's try this.


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

Here's one more picture showing the yard entrance and engine facility. A lot of detail work still has to be done.










These pictures should come through.


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## riogrande (Apr 28, 2012)

Ah, that worked. Nice photo's. Did you lay your track right on the plywood and then color or paint it?


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

In yard and industrial spurs, I brought the track level to ground level. On any main line track, they are elevated. I used Homabed, a homasote roadbed material with the same contours as cork roadbed. Once the track was down, ballast was added and then ground foam ground cover. You'll see the different level of the tracks. 

Click on the "New Cab Ride" in my signature. It will take you from one yard, through the layout, past another yard and then end just as the train enters the hidden staging tracks. As the train leaves the yard in the video and turns to the left, the two locomotives coming out of the tunnel are leaving the hidden tracks. I have a drop down bridge in the hidden staging area that will allow continuous running.


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## riogrande (Apr 28, 2012)

It's been a while, here is an update with more progress on the subscenery:









I'm forming much of the shape of the canyons using the carboard strips. I do like the control I have with cardboard strips in following contours as I add them one at a time - kind of like raster scanning scenery but doing it in the Y plane moving from left to right or visa versa, rather than the X plane, moving from bottom to top (law of super position - from the old geology text book LOL). Moving along from left to right etc. allows me to form as I go 3 dimensionally, sort of like how a raster scan CRT monitor used to form a picture. 

If you've ever seen the Fifth Element with Bruce Willis and Mila Jovovich, at the beginning the computer reconstructs the body of the Fifth Element (Leelo) in the lab from the DNA sample - it formed her from one side to the other, building it layer by layer from one side to the other. First the skeleton, then the muscles and sinew, and the skin. That's kind-a how I'm building the land form - each cardboard strip is like a slice from the 3d computer of my brain, building the land form, slice by slice.


I've sprayed on a coat of Rustoleum camouflage brown on some of the track.

I'm working on the river area next. It's drywall mud for the base and next the boundaries are going in, the plaster cloth and then plaster. Acrylic's will color the river bed following that.


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

Your level of planning and building those canyons is fantastic. You have great attention to detail and I'm sure they will come out great.

I will confess that I didn't understand what you said in your post prior to spraying Rustoleum.


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

The broad sweeping curves reall look great. Can't wait to see what you do with the scenery. Well done.


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## riogrande (Apr 28, 2012)

I sprayed camouflage brown Rustoleum spray paint on the tracks to color the rails and ties.


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## riogrande (Apr 28, 2012)

A couple more photo's. 
Corner before filling in with cardboard strips.



End is filled in now and river banks are formed from more cardboard strips.



I've also started in with more plaster cloth and started covering the mid section and some to the side.


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