Hi all. Been collecting LGB for 3 decades but mostly just stored it (a career in the USN interrupted the middle portion of my life) but, am now ready to do a permanent set up in the garden. Looking forward to learning, asking “dumb” questions, and, (eventually) contributing. Thanks!
Welcome aboard, Sam… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Thanks Andy! At this point, I am interested in German railways (that is what I collected) as I have spent a bunch of time over there and definitely got sucked into its allure. I plan on raising my bed about 12" within a rough stone block wall and will use track electric to power the engines at least initially. Most of my collection is analog and will set things up that way for the time being (with lots of blocked sections). Have plenty of catenary to allow 2 trains operating simultaneously. I will also incorporate a medium sized pond (which I have previous build experience). Can’t wait to dive in (pun intended).
consider going a bit higher, to where it becomes a convenient seat for visitors. I settled on 21" but that might be a bit high for some people.
Greg
Greg Elmassian said:
consider going a bit higher, to where it becomes a convenient seat for visitors. I settled on 21" but that might be a bit high for some people.
Greg
I must be trying to build a skyscraper at 36-40" high… But then again I’m using the Port Orford elevated railroad method.
I was thinking if you are making a raised planter with an encompassing wall, making it a convenient height to sit on would be a plus. Has worked well for me.
If you are not wanting to add seating, but get a great view, yes I would agree higher will be even more impressive, as the trains will be “larger”.
Greg
Glad to have you, Sam. And I’ll let you know a little secret: we all ask dumb questions here, haha! [edit: or maybe it’s just me?!? (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)] Well, sometimes they’re not even questions… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif)(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-sealed.gif)
!
Sure hope you didn’t get damaged by the tornados hitting your town last night!
Hi Sam,
I did a combination of raised bed and bench work for my small layout. I concur with going higher. I am at a minimum of 18" high on the raised bed and 30" high on the bench work. Only a small section of my layout is not elevated, well it is but can’t be accessed except from at grade. This allows me to stand and not have to kneel or get on the ground to mess with stuff on the vast majority of the layout. As I am looking to do more operations than roundy round running. All of the areas of switching are on a raised section making it easier to switch cars without them being on the ground. I do have the ability to roundy round run though. I did a raised rock wall also on the raised bed. In the raised bed section I recommend still doing a ladder type system. The reason being once you get the ladder in place the ground around it can settle and be refilled without it effecting the track. I have had mine up now for two summers and it has settled in the bed portion about 2" each year in some places. But its a simple task of just adding more fill. Not having to realign stuff. I included a picture of what I am talking about. I sunk the PVC uprights about 18" deep from native ground and concreted them in place. then built the bed up around it. I live in N. Idaho and so far no frost heaving and track has stayed well aligned. And like I said it has settled around it but has not effects the road bed. That’s my two cents worth for doing raised bed construction.
Another option is doing benchwork. I tried to make mine look like trestle bents. This is a great way to get it up off the ground make it accessible and has none of the settling issues.
Anyway thats how I tackled the issue and so far am pleased. All bench would have been better.
Welcome to our corner of insanity.
The only stupid questions are the ones unasked.
Welcome Sam. Ask away, dumb questions usually get dumb answers…(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Sam, I agree with Devon and Greg, my layout is about 14” tall, and I am wishing I would have went one more layer of blocks to bring height up! Unless you are really vertically challenged the higher the better! But inmy case that would be another 20 tons or so of dirt, and I am accepting my lower layout for now. Welcome and good to have a new person here!
Welcome aboard!
Glad to have you here… Now about building stuff for the pike…
We do a little thing called Mik’s Build Challenge every New Years Day…
Hope to see you get involved…
BTW: don’t mind the couple of ol’ grumps, you will get used to them… there harmless.
Welcome aboard the crazy train ……………
Sean McGillicuddy said:
Welcome aboard the crazy train ……………
I’m pretty sure the train isn’t crazy. The passengers, on the other hand… (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif)
But, welcome!
John Caughey said:
Welcome to our corner of insanity.
The only stupid questions are the ones unasked.
I used to subscribe to this philosophy; when I was an Instructor, I used to tell my students “There’s NO such thing as a stupid question.” But, after some of their questions to me, I felt like adding "…but you get an A for effort!
A 12 inch elevation may seem reasonable now, but as time marches on, you will appreciate an elevated railroad of 36 inches, or even more. Getting down is easy, it’s the getting back up that is difficult.
In any case, it’s your railroad, build it to your specs, and have fun. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, there is a wealth of experience here. Join in the banter, too. It’s nice to have another Sailor. This place is overrun with Army. There’s even a token Marine or two.
Thanks for the welcomes! Great inputs, all! Yes, I want it to be higher and Yes it is getting tuffer to bend over, BUT, my LIMFAC is $$$$. As you know, as the wall gets higher the material price goes up. I may compromise and go a bit higher - I truly appreciate your helpful hints to the new guy to this “sport” and I “hear” what you are saying. As I lay out my design (I am using the LGB template on graph paper and trying TRAX Editor -what do u guys think about this or other design s/w - any other suggestions?) it keeps encroaching in size on my smallish back yard, but I want the layout to look visually appealing - with wide sweeping track curves. So, with all things in life, THERE WILL BE TRADE OFFS! I will post my design soon for your suggestions - am sure at the very least it will provide a chuckle for some of you!!
We dodged the tornadoes but many in the area were not so lucky - we feel very fortunate!
BTW, is it taboo or mechanically challenging to reduce the curve radius in mid curve, i.e. mix large radius followed by medium radius curve track within the same curve. I understand that the engines you run are to be considered - my biggest engine is the dual truck 0-6-6-0 Mallet
Don’t spend a lot of time with the design, because usually it goes right out the window once the first section of track goes down.
I used RRTRack v.4 with mine, but it was mainly to see what would fit in a certain area. Not much of what I put on paper ended up with what I had built on the layout.
(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Sam Griffith said:
Thanks for the welcomes! Great inputs, all! Yes, I want it to be higher and Yes it is getting tuffer to bend over, BUT, my LIMFAC is $$$$. As you know, as the wall gets higher the material price goes up. I may compromise and go a bit higher - I truly appreciate your helpful hints to the new guy to this “sport” and I “hear” what you are saying. As I lay out my design (I am using the LGB template on graph paper and trying TRAX Editor -what do u guys think about this or other design s/w - any other suggestions?) it keeps encroaching in size on my smallish back yard, but I want the layout to look visually appealing - with wide sweeping track curves. So, with all things in life, THERE WILL BE TRADE OFFS! I will post my design soon for your suggestions - am sure at the very least it will provide a chuckle for some of you!!
We dodged the tornadoes but many in the area were not so lucky - we feel very fortunate!
BTW, is it taboo or mechanically challenging to reduce the curve radius in mid curve, i.e. mix large radius followed by medium radius curve track within the same curve. I understand that the engines you run are to be considered - my biggest engine is the dual truck 0-6-6-0 Mallet
Would say to keep the radius as large as possible, but there is nothing wrong with inserting a piece or two of a smaller radius to compensate for a space, it is called decreasing radius. All of the US LGB engines will go around 2’ radius but don’t like it especially the 6 driver ones but you can through in a piece of 1100 or 1500 without much problem and let it be known that the curve will look to the eye much more interesting. Here is a chart to help you along. By using larger to smaller radius track in a transition curve it allows the engine to setup for a curve before it is surprised with a sharp curve, hope this helps, Bill
