Future Layout from the ground up

[mrpig]

After much deliberation and agonizing over just where to put the layout in the house i decided there wasn't a suitable room/rooms. So now I'm building a shed for it.
I was originally going to make it 16 x 20 but thought that would not leave much backyard, so to hell with it, I may as well have no backyard.
I settled on 16 x 30 (4.87m x 9.14m). Less grass to mow this way. Not that there is much grass here with the drought.

It will be fully insulated, lined with gyprock (drywall) and airconditioned. I will lose about a foot each way on the internals. Maybe I should move in and use the house for storage.

At this stage I am envisioning  2 decks mostly around the walls with a workbench at one end. I am planning on running Japanese/Euro high speed on the top deck and North American on the lower.
It will be all freelanced and will allow for time travel from late steam to modern diesel and electric.

I am trying to decide between short peninsulas extending in from the long sides or a long run down the centre. I'll sketch my ideas and post them and get some photos up on my progress.

[Darren Jeffries]

This sounds pretty exciting, cant wait to see what plans you come up with.

[to2leo]

Wow who knows model railroad also leads to home expansion.  Please keep us updated with pictures!  Cannot Wait  ;)

[Bernard]

Gordon - You have everybody here looking forward to the development of this massive project. Best of luck!

[SubwayHypes]

Haha i love your idea, move into the shed and use your house for storage!

Must be pretty awesome once its set up, please ppost pics when you do.

[Sushi Train]

After much deliberation and agonizing over just where to put the layout in the house i decided there wasn't a suitable room/rooms. So now I'm building a shed for it.
I was originally going to make it 16 x 20 but thought that would not leave much backyard, so to hell with it, I may as well have no backyard.
I settled on 16 x 30 (4.87m x 9.14m). Less grass to mow this way. Not that there is much grass here with the drought.

It will be fully insulated, lined with gyprock (drywall) and airconditioned. I will lose about a foot each way on the internals. Maybe I should move in and use the house for storage.

At this stage I am envisioning  2 decks mostly around the walls with a workbench at one end. I am planning on running Japanese/Euro high speed on the top deck and North American on the lower.
It will be all freelanced and will allow for time travel from late steam to modern diesel and electric.

I am trying to decide between short peninsulas extending in from the long sides or a long run down the centre. I'll sketch my ideas and post them and get some photos up on my progress.

A friend of mine built a free standing extension to his house for an HO layout. Good luck with yours.

[mrpig]

Well guys, here is the first round of photos. As you can see, I am going for for an open plan setup with lots of natural lighting  :)
There used to be a gazebo where the slate is. Never used it in 8 years, pity I didn't think to take pics of the de-construction.
This is where things were at around the end of January. I wish I had taken some shots a lot earlier when we first started string lining.
In the last photo you will notice an upturned plastic pot. Imagine going out into the yard about 2 hours after coming home from work to hear a strange noise like a dog pushing its bowl around. I tracked the noise into the shed only to see the pot move a couple of cm every few seconds. What The! 

I very bravely went and got a stick to turn the pot over with and a pigeon stumbled around for a few minutes before flying off. I don't know how long the poor thing had been trapped and it was quite a warm day, over 30. I reckon it must have landed on the rim when the pot was right way up but since the pot was empty it immediately flipped over. At least it recovered.

[Martijn Meerts]

 :o

[mrpig]

These pics are from mid March.
Yes progress has been slow and I would love to complain to the builder. Only problem is the builder is my mate who is a concreter and his wife owns the shed business. I'm only paying for materials and therefore graciously accept the delays.

The roof was a real PITA as it was 1 roll of insulation, 1 row of sheets, 1 roll of insulation, 2 rows of sheets, 1 roll of insulation, 1 row of sheets. Repeat for 8 rolls. You'd think they would make the stuff 2 sheets wide. Well worth the effort and expense though. Today it was 34 degrees. The bare sheets were very hot but the foil on the insulation was just a little over warm.

Put in a few temporary fluoros last weekend, but still haven't gotten around to taping the joins in the insulation. Anybody got a spare round tuit I can borrow?
I don't think we will get the fill and concrete done now until after Easter.  :'(

[Bernard]

Wow!! A whole shed for a layout! Question, they pour the concrete later?

A pigeon? I've been to Australia and some of the wildlife is amazing and it's usually big. I remember being in Cains where the houses were on stilts so snakes, spiders (you have some big ones), crocs, etc. wouldn't get in.

How big is the layout you have planned going to be?

[scott]

In my neighborhood, that "shed" would be called a "student rental." Well, but your shed is nicer than most of those.  :P

[Sushi Train]

In my neighborhood, that "shed" would be called a "student rental." Well, but your shed is nicer than most of those.  :P

LOL!

[SubwayHypes]

Wow i love that shed, about how much is it costing you to build??

[mrpig]

Bernard - My mate prefers to pour the concrete last so it seals against the tin better. Layout will end up approx 28' x 14' by the time the shed is lined.

In my neighborhood, that "shed" would be called a "student rental." Well, but your shed is nicer than most of those.  :P

lol.  I have lived in much smaller when I was in the military. On base accommodation was about 12' x 9' with communal bathrooms.


Costs so far. In Ozzie dollars (more like roubles at the moment)

Shed                                          $4060
Roof insulation                               $450
Cable & conduit for power feed only   $374
Concrete will be approx                  $1300
8kW Panasonic inverter a/c             $1950

Total                                           $8134

Don't forget I'm not paying for labor. Will keep a running tab.

These are the basic layouts I am trying to decide between. Leaning toward the top one because I think it will be better for industries on the NA lower deck.

[Bernard]

You have the whole shed to yourself! All you need is a toilet and you'd be living in there.
Are you also going to be moving your big press in there?
Just looking at the plan, so the layout is going to be in the middle and it will be a walk around?

[mrpig]

Yep shed all to myself. There is no minister of finance which is good because I can buy and do whatever I like. It's also bad because I DO buy and do whatever I like.

I did think about connecting cold water, but getting rid of it is too hard and the house is only 20' away. It would be nice to move the drill press but it can stay in the garage, all the swarf makes too much mess.

Layout will be the shaded areas around the the walls and will be walk around with a gate and duck under near the doors. I am planning on a large storage yard above the bench so the passenger fleet can stay assembled. There are 28 of them so far. This is where I need that finance minister.  Damn Kato..... and Tomix.......and Microace....... and Minitrix. Oh well. No point in being the richest resident in the cemetery.

I'm open to any and all ideas. I have been reading everything I can get my hands on. Benchwork is still a long way off so there is plenty of time for planning.

[Sushi Train]

Are we talking N-gauge? if so then HOLY SHIATSU!!!!! :o

[Bernard]

Alright the shaded area is the layout and you what to have a staging yard above the bench work. Have you thought about the idea off a Helix going from the yard above down to the layout?

Next question, is this going to be a "continuous or point to point" operational layout?
When I was planning my layout, I made a list of the things that were important to me. I knew I wanted to run passenger trains and have continuous running.
I then had to decide on how many main lines I wanted, type of track I wanted to use, type of scenery, etc.
Fun decisions to have. ;)
 

[CaptOblivious]

These are the basic layouts I am trying to decide between. Leaning toward the top one because I think it will be better for industries on the NA lower deck.

Form follows function. Don't worry too much yet about the blobs (as it were). First thing is to decide on the major components of your layout. You want a little of everything, right? How many major terminii? One? Two? (Two sounds best to me). Rural stations? Branch lines? Think about what you want to include, then lets as a group work up a track schematic. That schematic will, in turn, determine how you use your space…

[Bernard]

Gordon - Any more progress on the layout shed?

[SubwayHypes]

yea more updates!  you have so much room to work with.

I would like to see at least 2 suburban lines, maybe 2 or 3 lines that circle the entire layout, maybe have one cut off and go another way but eventually rejoin.  You could have Kato Double track for the commuter lines and run viaduct for a shinkansen line.

[mrpig]

Hi guys, been a while. Was away with work for a while.

Subway & Capt - I too would like to see 2 major terminals and some suburban. I have a definite leaning to the shinkansens and express.
Here is what has happened in the last week before I left and then yesterday we got the fill in and levelled. Things are finally starting to move forward. Concrete is booked for this Tuesday.


Photo 1 - trench for 2 x data, phone, alarm and a pull through in case I think of anything else later.

Photo 2 - trench for power. The ground was so hard I had to use my mate's jackhammer to break it up.

Photo 3 - this is my mate who has been doing most of the work, I have been the lacky pushing the barrow, dumping the fill, getting tools, holding stuff, etc. Couldn't get him to face the camera. He has saved me a lot of money to put into my fleet. Eventually he will be doing a G scale layout and I can repay his help by doing his electrical stuff.

Photo 4 - getting some more fill done. On the right is the power feed and on the left you can see the 3 blue cat6 cables for data and phone.

photo 5 - the fill is finished and watered to help it settle. Also got the insulation joins taped and now have all the lights installed temporarilly to see if it will be bright enough. There are 3 rows of 3, double tubes and the tubes are 6500K cool daylight. It looks plenty bright, but I'll wait and see when the walls are done.

[CaptOblivious]

Looking good!

Is that your CBR in the background of photo 2? Always nice to have fellow riders around :D

[Bernard]

This has got to be exciting for you even though it is a lot of work. Wow, had to us a jackhammer to break the ground up, just digging a post hole for our mailbox was enough for me.
When does your friend plan to start his garden layout? This si something I'm been toying with but I've been looking at the pros & cons. One of the big negatives is maintaining the garden and mowing around it.

[mrpig]

Hi all,

      First my apologies for just disappearing, got a little side tracked.

Capt - the bike is a 99 R1 that I've had from new. It used to have high KMs for its age, now it has low KMs for its age. The old girl has been neglected of late. Ridden it 3 times in 5 years, just doesn't do it for me any more. Should convert it to trains.

Bernard - A lot of work alright but I can finally see a faint glimmer in the tunnel. Yeah the ground here is clay and we have been on water restrictions for so long that it is like concrete.

Pics to come once I re-size them.

[Mudkip Orange]

w00t!

[Bernard]

Gordon - It's great hearing from you! No apologies needed it's a hobby and we put in the time when we can sometimes other things like work (don't they understand the importance of trains!) gets in the way. I look forward to the new pics. Any new decoder installs?
Bernard

Hi all,

      First my apologies for just disappearing, got a little side tracked.

Capt - the bike is a 99 R1 that I've had from new. It used to have high KMs for its age, now it has low KMs for its age. The old girl has been neglected of late. Ridden it 3 times in 5 years, just doesn't do it for me any more. Should convert it to trains.

Bernard - A lot of work alright but I can finally see a faint glimmer in the tunnel. Yeah the ground here is clay and we have been on water restrictions for so long that it is like concrete.

Pics to come once I re-size them.

[scott]

Pics to come once I re-size them.

Looking forward to it!

[mrpig]

Yes there are some more decoder installs to write up.

Concrete day finally arrived. We had been in a drought forever and it starts to rain for a few days when we book the concrete.

There was meant to be 2 guys turn up to do the barrowing but they were a no show, so another mate came to save the day and the truck driver helped out as well.

[mrpig]

Close but just not quite enough. Standard trucks here limited to 5 metres of concrete unless you get a semi.
Had to wait for an extra 0.6 of a metre.

4 passes of the trowel machine and half a bottle of Johnny later, and it was so smooth that it was slippery when I etched it for painting.

[Bernard]

Gordon - This was worth the wait! It looks like a nice smooth and level floor. My father-in-law had the same process done in his storage building and had no problems with the floor. Is the shed still going to be entirely for your layout? Is there any more work that needs to be done with the shed before you start your layout?

[CaptOblivious]

That is a lot of concrete!

[mrpig]

Still a long way to go before any benchwork. Almost all layout, there will be a workbench in the corner next to the doors with overhead storage yard.

Photo 1 – Floor has been sealed with 2 pack epoxy, colour is French grey. Not having any cross ventilation made for a very smelly operation.
Photo 2 – Materials for the wall frames.
Photo 3 – A frame begins. Bottom channel in place.
Photo 4 – These are the 2 temporary braces to ensure all the studs are flush.
Photo 5 – First stud screwed to one of the main uprights.
Photo 6 – Wider view of first stud in this frame. The frame in the background is the one around the doors and was the first one.

[Bernard]

Gordon - The finished job on the floor came out great. It even reflects the light and looks smooth and even.

[mrpig]

Bernard – yeah I’m quite happy with how the floor turned out. I would highly recommend using 2 pack sealer. A couple of lessons learned though.

 1 – I would leave it to dry (cure?) longer between coats, instructions said overnight and the second coat seems to have sort of reacted leaving some very light orange peel in places.

 2 – Don’t skimp on the rollers. I bought a cheap twin pack figuring  on not bothering to do any cleanup. Just throw them out once the sealer had cured. The cheapy rollers started malting leaving fibres in a few spots in the sealer. Not badly noticeable, and I’ll probably put down some carpet or soft matting in the aisles anyway to make it easier on the feet.

[mrpig]

Photo 1 – All the studs are in place now on this frame.

Photo 2 – Noggins have been installed 1200mm off the floor.

Photo 3 – Frame laid down to screw the back side of studs and noggins.

Photo 4 – Just another completed frame. 10 in total. Got one done every second day doing just a couple hours a day after work. Slowest part was cutting the noggins as each one had to be notched for the studs. Definitely a lot more work than working in timber, but there has been some termite activity in my area and I don’t fancy the layout falling off the walls some time later.

Photo 5 – This was the most tedious and painful part of building the stud frames. I ran wire along the back of each frame to end up with 2 vertical and 2 horizontal wires in each open space. This is to stop the insulation falling out the back. All had to be done on the floor on my knees, couldn’t put the frames on horses as then you wouldn’t be able to get in between each stud as the wire went in. Each frame only took about 1.5hrs, but that was more than enough time spent crouched over on the floor.

Photo 6 – It is a bit hard to see the 4 wires in each panel, just couldn’t get the right angle with the camera.

[cteno4]

mrpig,

great work on this, i expect this is the dream of most of us on the list to erect our own train room/fort like this! great story to watch and drool over!

cheers

jeff

[Bernard]

Gordon - Very solid frame work. It might seem tedious but in the long run you are going to be glad you did it. You mentioned termites, what material will you be using to make your bench work with?