Large Scale Central

Indoor Large Scale Layout for the Kids

Track and Trestles
#21

I beg to differ.

I recommend a plain surface without any 200-Euro design, or any other design either. These things look good to adults, but they subtract rather than add play value for children, forcing their play at least partly to follow the preset mold you have created.

Rather, give the kids a surface to play on freely and a bunch of stuff they can move around anywhere they please, such as trees, building blocks, vehicles, and animals. Provide small people and animals that can go for rides on the train. Leave the tracks de-mountable so that the children will be able to set up alternateive layouts of their own invention.

Frank Lloyd Wright became a great architect by playing with blocks, which he did all his life. Edison fooled around with a massive junk collection, and Churchill became a great strategist, starting out by playing with toy soldiers.

The ones who should be exercising their creative muscles are the kids, not the grownups.

I set up a children’s layouts at train shows around here, and they are invariably the most popular thing at the show. Parents often have to tear their kids away. Even many adults want to try them out.

My setup is devastatingly simple. I don’t have the vehicles or blocks that i recommend to you, Jose, because I have to keep it even simpler for transport, and in any case at the shows, children don’t have the time for all that, as they would at your home.

To see just how simple my setup is is you could download a couple of our club newsletters at http://www.backyardrailroaders.com/newsletter.html

Download Feb 2013 and Nov 2014, and you will find articles on my displays. Cheers!

#22

Hi all:

Christmas time is coming and preparation activities (mainly general decoration and lighting for me) takes most of the free time. So, for now, the layout for the kids will continue to be mounted on the floor.

I’ve noted, as John says, that the kids really like to mess around with the train parts and track pieces, and mix trains and other toys – cars and Lego – no matter what the scale. So keeping the layout floating freely on the floor has a number of advantages – while it continues to be a chore to mount and dismount the layout. Also, I am not sure that the Bachman tinplate track supports such repeated assembly and disassembly.

In the short term at least John’s suggestion is surely appealing – more play for the kids, less work for me… :slight_smile:

Anyway, I explored earlier the suggestion of keeping the whole baseboard in a single piece, using a Murphy bed like mechanism, and would like to share with you the results.

I still think that a single 10’ by 5’ baseboard – the minimum for a G gauge layout - will be too large and would imply a heavy support frame. It would be however possible if three conditions are met: 1 - the wall height is larger than the board length; 2 - you can find a free wall width equal to the board width and 3 – the free room width in front of the board is at least equal to the board length (10’ in our case).

These three conditions are hard to be met – they are not in my case – but, if they were, a possible solution would rely on putting the lower edge of the board near the floor when closed, and raising it to operating height when opened. A possible scheme is presented in the following figures:

Figure 1 – Principle of operation.

Figure 2 – Required metal parts

Figure 3 – The hinge area in closed position

Figure 4 – Opening operation

Figure 5 – Fully opened position

Of course a certain (considerable) amount of lifting force would be required near the hinge to raise the wall edge to operating height when opening; conversely, when closing, a supporting force would be required to avoid the lower edge slamming into the wall – hence the proposed rubber bumpers. These problems could be avoided if gas dampers, similar to those used on cars’ tailgates, where used.

Anyway, a quite complex contraption for a, in my view, limited benefit.

José Morais

Headmaster of the Lapa Furada RR

#23

Glad we didn’t scare you away!
It’s all up to you José , you have to deal with it not us!
Very nice draw up .
I thought of you when I saw this

#24

That is a clever solution. I like it. It may be a little ungainly but then so is schleping 4 seperate pieces, finagling the track joiners together and hoping they stay put . You could use a light pulley to lower the far end then switch the hook to lift the wall end. Yeah more complex but everything about the project entails a certain complexity.

I would say go with whichever solution your most comfortable with an just go for it.

#25

My kid brother built a beautifully panelled Murphy bed surrounded by bookshelves in his basement about ten years ago.

I haven’t examined its operation, but he demonstrated it at the time. It was evident that the weight of the bed was counterbalanced by some means: springs, weights, or perhaps pistons. I’m inclined to think springs.

Murphy bed hardware is still available. Doubtless one could Google it, and perhaps spare oneself re-inventing the wheel…

#26

For No2 son we fitted a 10" deep shelf along the wall and hinged the layout onto it…this was so that any buildings etc did not have to be removed.

When folded up the underneath of the layout became shelving and the back of the layout a false wall with with pictures etc .

It was not that heavy to push up and down, my main problem was ensuring it was secure when folded up, to prevent it dropping down…several door bolts did the job!

#27

John Le Forestier said:

My kid brother built a beautifully panelled Murphy bed surrounded by bookshelves in his basement about ten years ago.

I haven’t examined its operation, but he demonstrated it at the time. It was evident that the weight of the bed was counterbalanced by some means: springs, weights, or perhaps pistons. I’m inclined to think springs.

Murphy bed hardware is still available. Doubtless one could Google it, and perhaps spare oneself re-inventing the wheel…

Here in Florida, Murphy beds are very common. Grandma wants somewhere for visitors to sleep, but prefers it off the floor when using the desk! We had a pair of them in our condo when we bought it.

Yes, they are counterbalanced with springs, with the end frame bolted to our (concrete) floor.