A CAR BARN AT FIELDS LANDING

Rick_Marty · February 19, 2011, 4:55am

Hi all, I have a little project going if your interested. I was/am in need of car storage space out on the railroad during the “operating season” and thought a storage container disguised as an industry building would be the thing to use. There are several good threads on constructing these on a couple of websites so I wasn’t long in coming up with some construction ideas that would fit my plans. I am ready to start construction on the Humboldt Bay end of my “point to point” table top operation so thought the car barn would be the best place to begin as it would be the end of the line. I started with my typical table construction using 2X4 and 4X4 pressure treated lumber. If the construction seems very similar to Richard Smith’s it’s only because I stole all his ideas. Although I have deviated somewhat as I set my 4X4 legs about a foot and a half deep using concrete I find it gives me better stability without the need of cross bracing. These first two table sections are 30 inches wide by 8’-3” long. I buy 10 foot posts and cut them in half; it saves on material costs by doing it that way. To establish the location I use a string line then set the frame on the ground to locate the post holes. After the holes are dug I raise the frame to the approximate finished height and clamp it in place then plum the posts and pour the concrete. In this picture the first four posts are set and the concrete is curing, while the next frame is laid in place and the holes are dug for the next posts.

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Here the 4X4 posts are all secured in concrete and the basic table frames are secured in place. The 2X4 intermediate legs are cut and leaning in position. The 2X4 legs bear on bricks and are for down load only not for sway strength. This method provides table top support every 4 feet of table run. Also notice that 2X2 center bracing has been staggered down the center of the tables, this helps carry the load of the deck wire so it doesn’t have such a long open span.

This is a repeat view but here you can see that the first table (on the right) is set ¾ of an inch lower than the table on the left. The reason for this is to allow for the thickness of the strips that carry the track inside the car barn.

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More later Rick

AndyC · February 19, 2011, 11:18am

nice start.

Rooster · February 19, 2011, 1:37pm

Rick Marty said:
If the construction seems very similar to Richard Smith’s it’s only because I stole all his ideas.

LOL :)

Doug_Arnold · February 19, 2011, 1:51pm

Keep up the good work. I sure like my train barn!

JRad · February 19, 2011, 2:06pm

Looking good Rick. I’ve thought for a long time that Richard has one of the best ideas for an outdoor railroad. In your situation, with the tree line in the distance, you will be able to get some very real looking photos.

Rick_Marty · February 19, 2011, 11:22pm

A little more progress. The car barn table in the back ground has the ½ inch hardware cloth in place and window screen over the top of that, the bottom will be left open like this for ventilation. The ¾ inch stripping has been installed and the 4 storage tracks installed. In the front of this a 30” long piece of ¼ inch lexan (painted brown) has been installed solid to the table top. The stripping for the track installed on top of the wire and screen brings the “sub grade” up even with the Lexan surface.

A piece of AMS Flex-Track has been used to make the stub or swing switch, all but a few ties (left to maintain gauge) have been removed to make the rails more flexible. The piece of flex track free floats on the lexan surface and is easily shifted from track to track.

I know that the swing switches are available commercially, but what a price, so I built my own. A few detail shots comming up next. Later Rick

Kettle_Valley · February 20, 2011, 12:16am

You’ve got a great start ther Rick, looking good. I too am of fan the Richard’s bench work.

Gary_Armitstead · February 20, 2011, 1:50am

Hey Rick,

I’m looking forward to seeing your construction work. That barn is going to be nice. Are you planning on keeping your rolling stock outside all the time for storage?

My son lives in Sacramento now so it seems like I have an excuse to get up there to “supervise”. He. He. He.

Rick_Marty · February 20, 2011, 2:55pm

Hi Gary,
That’s great news, when are you coming up? According to my wife I need supervision 24-7:)=)

The car barn will probably only be used about 7-8 months a year. I will store the cars in the shop during the wettest part of the winter.
I’m hoping that the Summer heat will not be an issue by leaving the bottom open and having a monitor along the ridge it should get enough ventilation to stay reasonably cool.

Later
Rick

Gary_Armitstead · February 20, 2011, 4:13pm

Rick,

I’ll let you know our plans when I know for sure. We would be driving, so maybe I will bring the Accucraft #346 AND if I get my BBT drive installed in time, I can bring the “New” Connie, also. I know this will be AFTER the surgery.

Rick_Marty · February 21, 2011, 1:52am

Gary, Bring them all, we have 8 foot min radius so can accomodate most anything. The weather will be warmer then also :)=) For a little more progress I have the following. Here is the main anchor point for the piece of flex track; this is the pivot point from which the rails swing. It is bolted through the ties and the lexan as well as screwed through a tie to the table structure.

(

This is the rear anchor point on the second table. First the hardware cloth and ground cover have been installed on the table frame under the track. I soldered a set of rail joiners to a brass plate and that was screwed through a tie thick block and into the table structure. This prevents the rails from crawling backwards when swung. Then I drilled holes through the rail and joiner and dropped a pin (actually a small nail) through to prevent the rails from crawling forward when swung.

At the barn end each set of tracks in the barn was custom cut in place to meet the swing switch tracks as they pivoted into place. Again I soldered a pair of rail joiners to a brass plate and also soldered on a thumb catch to slide back and forth to lock the track in place at each set of rails. Since this end of the layout will cater only to onboard battery power the metal track jumpers will not be an issue.

More later. Rick

JRad · February 21, 2011, 8:46pm

Rick Marty said:

(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/rick_marty/_forumfiles/Car%20Barn/carbarn6.jpg)

That’s a great idea and I have several places where I can use it to hold gauge at bridge openings on curves. The plastic ties don’t seem to get the job one - but that will. A large scale gauge bar!! But going back and reading the rest of your post I realized that this is a dead electrical short. I’ll have to modify by breaking it in the middle and mounting to lexan or some kind of acrylic.

Rick_Marty · February 22, 2011, 1:33am

Hi all, Got a little more done between rain storms. I scrounged around in the barn and found enough pieces of siding that matched, and was able to cut the sides and ends and prime the inside white. The primer will seal the press board siding from moisture since the inside will technically be open to the atmosphere. The 1 ½ X framing was ripped down from old 2X4 stock. Everything is assembled with screws.

Truss shaped pieces were cut from scrap siding and ¾ inch square cedar was glued and pinned along the edges to form a truss like structure that the sub roof would attach to. For the sub-roof I used a sheet of ¼ inch Luan Mahogany plywood (finally had to buy something for this project) that was 10 bucks at Lowes. It was primed before being glued and pinned in place. The roof panels are leaning against the table legs waiting for a test fit.

The roof panels were installed and the 30# brown mineral felt roofing (rolled roofing also on hand) has been glued to the roof panels with construction adhesive. You can see the tops of the roof trusses peeking out along the ridge, an opening 4 inches wide and just less than 6 feet long was left along the ridge for ventilation. A roof monitor will fit here, more on that later. Also the painting has started pale yellow with brown trim to match the house and out buildings. These colors were chosen because this structure is quite large and will remain very visible until the shrubs grow up to hide/soften the outlines of it.

Oh yea, about 3/4 of the way back on this side is a removable 2 foot section of siding for emergency reach of stranded cars. You can see the drip flashing for it just below the roof edge. The blue jean clad legs belong to my painting contractor. That’s all for now, thanks for taking a look. Rick

cncrr · February 22, 2011, 3:04am

Nice work Rick, but you hired a “Painting Contractor”?

Gary_Armitstead · February 22, 2011, 3:36am

Lookin’ great Marty!

Rick_Marty · February 22, 2011, 4:31am

Chuck Inlow said:
Nice work Rick, but you hired a "Painting Contractor"?

Hi Chuck, Yea, she moonlights as my wife :)=) Rick

admin1 · February 22, 2011, 11:42am

Rick Marty said:
Chuck Inlow said:
Nice work Rick, but you hired a "Painting Contractor"?
Hi Chuck, Yea, she moonlights as my wife :)=) Rick

How do you get the CFO to paint?

Ken_Brunt · February 22, 2011, 3:35pm

Just hand her a paintbrush and a can of paint…

Rick_Marty · February 23, 2011, 4:06am

Bob and all, I am one of those lucky select few. Not only does my wife approve of my hobby she enjoys participating in it as well. A little more progress. I went down to the shop yesterday and made up the flashings for the monitor and the monitor roof. I am lucky that I still have access to the Sheet Metal shop and equipment even though I have been retired for a number of years. The base flashing for the monitor I made in one piece and punched a series of 2” holes along the centerline then broke the angle of the roof pitch. The holes, of course, are for the flow of ventilation.

Here the wooden monitor structure is test fit to the base flashing and to the monitor roof. I decided to make the monitor roof from sheet metal rather than wood simply because it was easier and faster. Everything looks like a good fit, on to the next steps.

Next is the installation of the window screen and the hardware cloth to the inside of the monitor for air flow and the exclusion of insects, hopefully. I used a hand stapler to tack the material in place than ran a bead of construction adhesive around the edges to act as a seal.

Here is a close up shot of what the finished screen installation looks like from the outside. Not exactly a louvered finish but should do the job for this structure.

That’s all for now, thanks for taking a look. Rick

Ric_Golding · February 23, 2011, 2:01pm

Rick,

That looks great!