Large Scale Central

New Shelf Layout is Underway

Indoor and Micro
#1

My new shelf layout is underway, it is 22ft. long and from 2-3ft. wide as the pics will show. I will be a switching scene of the old Ft. Worth Stock Yards back in the late 1940’s to the early 1950’s. I will be running mainly diesel engines, but I do have two LGB Moguls that have been redone to my railroad theme, the Fort Worth & South-Western, which I may use at times. All power will have RailPro installed and will be battery powered, this way I have left myself an opening for outside running if I want to do that at another time, or run on other outdoor layouts, etc. I plan to highly detail the layout as many of you know I’m a modeler first and a runner second. I have plenty of room outside for a layout (2 acres), but have decided at this point in my life to stay inside and work in the A/C and Heated shop, I have plenty of work that I can do outside, having to keep up 2 acres will take most of your idol time around here. I don’t plan for this to be a work around clock project, but it won’t be put on the back burner either.

trainman

#2

I’ll be following this…keep us updated, fine start.

Only 22 foot long? Is that big enough for a Texan? I predict you’ll be breaking through the walls on either end some day!

#3

Following. Looking forward to the details!

#4

Looks like this will be an interesting layout. Looking forward to see the detailing. Thanks for sharing this journey, John.

#5

Great start John. I’ll be watching too!

#6

time to start building some facades and flats along the wall.

also looks like you got room to expand with sufficient creativity.

#7

Thanks for the encoring comments, like most some of you have said, I probably need to start with the backdrops first and work toward the front. I did put the engines (2) and rolling stock (18) on the layout and see how many pieces will fit, I will be switching them around to see if I need to make any track changes and how all will fit together. I have no time period for all this to happen, but I do plan to work at a pace that will keep things moving along.

trainman

#8

No sound-deadening material like Homasote/foam/rubber/cork under the track to quiet things down?

#9

Michael Kirrene said:

No sound-deadening material like Homasote/foam/rubber/cork under the track to quiet things down?

Ok, I just finished the shelf on Friday, yesterday I put the track in place to see if I liked the switching operations on the layout and it is in it’s testing stages right now and now your asking about roadbed on the third day.

trainman

#10

My indoor track is laid directly on the plywood, most of which is on heavy framing built to support my weight. If it is noisy, I don’t notice it as objectionable.

#11

Jon Radder said:

My indoor track is laid directly on the plywood, most of which is on heavy framing built to support my weight. If it is noisy, I don’t notice it as objectionable.

Jon, I found out by running my trains the last couple of days that what you say is true, I used 3/4" plywood and the structure is all 2x4 braced. Since my layout is a switching layout my engines are running slow and with the LGB solid brass track I hear no noise a all. As the mainline runs thru the yard I may raise it up slightly just for looks, but not for any other reason. Thanks, trainman

#12

I’ve used HO roadbed double wide to raise the trackage of the mainline. Worked great! Used N gauge roadbed and foam in the yards and sheet cork in some areas. It all works and I also don’t notice the noise that much. Where the roadbed is to where it is not does offer a different sound factor that adds a little notification or interest. Kind of like a train gong over a bridge.

#13

I’m sure if it was a roundy-round layout, long trains at higher speeds would create a lot of noise, and the wood roadbed would amplify that. At one point, many moons ago, I did have an indoor loop, but I kind of enjoyed the noise!

I experimented very briefly cutting pink foam on a 45 and using if for roadbed. It would have looked good, but curves needed to be cut by hand, so I abandoned that idea.

#14

i tend to use styropor. easy to cut and a soundbreaker.