Large Scale Central

Latest creation

I have to give some of the credit to my wife since she kinda came up with the idea. Our new house has a formal room we like to call the sitting room (Shut up Rooster). Since buying the house we could never really decide what we wanted to do with the room, everything we tried just did not look good and we didn’t want to spend too much money on it. One night we got on the subject of “what should we do with the sitting room”-shut up Rooster…

My wife out of the blue said why don’t we do an overhead train in the room…insert- me chocking on my wine. I have always half joked about doing one in our bedroom or my sons room. After pinching myself and realizing it was not a dream, we discussed how we would do it. We wanted it to be simple and rustic. We didn’t want it to go around the entire room, we felt it would be overkill and make the room too busy.

I always liked the idea of doing a trolley line or something on the ends of the Strassburg RR in Lancaster. The only issue was I needed a reverse unit and new they were not cheap. After searching ebay I found a unit (forget the name off hand) for under $45. I figured it was worth a shot. After adding diodes and testing it, I decided it would work, although it does give the train a low buzzing noise. Eventually I would like to get a Piko or LGB to replace it but for now it does what its suppose to do.

We went to Lowes and picked out some nice metal shelf brackets and pine boards that would be used as the base for the track. The boards were stained oak to go with the more common tree in our area. I built the shelves to go along two of the four walls. We found a nice country scene boarder as a background for the train. I had two old B&W train photos and Dietz NYC lantern to hang on the wall. Some shelves were added to hold one of my live steamers and old knickknacks. Its still a work in progress but so far Im happy with the way it looks.

I did add some nice trim along the front edge of the shelves to clean it up. The rings on the metal brackets will eventually get figures placed in a few of the rings, like a guy fishing etc…

Im still trying to find a better hanging system for the lantern, just havent found what Im looking for yet.

Looks great Shawn the backdrop adds alot

Looks cool Shawn

  • I’m still trying to find a better hanging system for the lantern, just haven’t found what I’m looking for yet.

a garden hook?

This one is from Home Crapo. They are out there!

very cool

Great Job, I also love the background. Did you get that at Lowes too?(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

Shawn Viggiano said:

My wife out of the blue said why don’t we do an overhead train in the room…

You realize of course you’re the most fortunate man in the world.

You’re gittin’ there, Shawn. A work in progress.

Shawn,

Nice job, the background was a great idea!

Kevin

That work is making nice progress. And what a find on that background border!
Hmm …

Suggestions for where in our regional city, Columbia, Missouri, would be a good place to find those borders since our little farm burg isn’t the most likely spot to do so?
Or online?

Thanks guys.

Sean the first hook is what Im looking for. Lowes and Home Depot were out of hooks for the season.

The border came from the web. JustBorders.com

What you need running up there is M-10

I second Ken. A doodle bug of some sort would be cool

Ken,

For some reason seeing that just gave me an idea for a “microbug” i have a Bachmann lil hauler baggage coach that I have no use for. I think I will add that to my bucket to make a tiny doodle bug.

Looks great, Shawn! And I second (or third) what everyone else said about that border- it really ties everything together (Hey, I think there’s a pun in there… “ties!!!”).

-Kevin.

Haha Ken I was thinking about getting something like that or one of those Hartland/Delton railbuses. Can you buy or make one for me please…

Devon Sinsley said:

I second Ken. A doodle bug of some sort would be cool

Ken,

For some reason seeing that just gave me an idea for a “microbug” i have a Bachmann lil hauler baggage coach that I have no use for. I think I will add that to my bucket to make a tiny doodle bug.

Devon, there’s a trolley guy making fronts and duckbill roof ends that fit the bachmann coaches. Not sure they’ll work with the Lil Haulers.

http://lightrailproducts.com/assets/light-rail-products-catalog_spring.2014.pdf

Shawn Viggiano said:

Haha Ken I was thinking about getting something like that or one of those Hartland/Delton railbuses. Can you buy or make one for me please…

There was a Yahoo Group for the Lancaster, Oxford and Southern at one time. Whether they’re still around or not I don’t know. They did have plans for M-1, which is what it’s original number was.

If I get up by the SoLanco Hstorical Society, I’ll see if they have some, although I don’t think there is anyone there all the time.

Ken Brunt said:

Shawn Viggiano said:

Haha Ken I was thinking about getting something like that or one of those Hartland/Delton railbuses. Can you buy or make one for me please…

There was a Yahoo Group for the Lancaster, Oxford and Southern at one time. Whether they’re still around or not I don’t know. They did have plans for M-1, which is what it’s original number was.

If I get up by the SoLanco Hstorical Society, I’ll see if they have some, although I don’t think there is anyone there all the time.

That would be great Ken. That is neat and really would look good. It would fit in well with that country border.

Pete Thornton said:

Devon Sinsley said:

I second Ken. A doodle bug of some sort would be cool

Ken,

For some reason seeing that just gave me an idea for a “microbug” i have a Bachmann lil hauler baggage coach that I have no use for. I think I will add that to my bucket to make a tiny doodle bug.

Devon, there’s a trolley guy making fronts and duckbill roof ends that fit the bachmann coaches. Not sure they’ll work with the Lil Haulers.

http://lightrailproducts.com/assets/light-rail-products-catalog_spring.2014.pdf

Thats a good page to bookmark. Its got me thinking now. Thanks Pete and Ken.

Hehe! Looking good Shawn. From that suggestion I’ll say she’s a keeper.(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)