Hi guys: I am back, I notice new members in this forum, so very briefly I am going to mention that I am the guy who had a 31'x21' train room in Hollywood Fl., well, I took my entire layout apart, sold my house (thanks Lord for the sell) and move to Lake City Fl. where I bought 1/2 acre lot with a brand new house and hire a builder to build a new 52'x24' train room, hopefully, it will be complete before Xmas. Here is where I need your sugestions or ideas about building this scale layout, may be Jim Barrett or Richard Melvin (by the way, we meet at the LCCA convention in St Louis Missouri if my memory works OK) or some body came with some ideas, basically, I want tunnels, mountains, bridges, at least three levels, minimun curve 072 (perhabs 087 or 096) I prefer scale size locomotives, cars and related equipment using TMCC and DCS no conventional neither oversized accesories, also, I would like to include a smmall city, a round house with its turn table, maintenance facility, a passenger terminal with capacity to park four passenger trains (such as the Pocahontas/ N.& W., the Congressional/Pennslyvania-GG1, N Y, Century Limited, Day Light/Southern Pacific and so on) an amusement park, an intermodal facility to load and unlaod trailers, wel guys I need your inputs and please do not tell me to hire a custom model builder because my budget does not allow me cover this cost: for your information let me mention that I can handle any kind of electrical work (I just to work with 440 AC) carpentry and metal, I never made a mount neither paint it, but I am willig to learn also, I have to learn how to make trees bacause I am going to need a lot. I will appreciate any kind of idea or help. Thanks in advance. Trains are meant to run. Churu.

Churu: Since you are in FLA I suppose your train room is not in a basement? The reason I say that is that one thing I do not like on my layout is the duck under parts. Parts are against the wall but I have a rectangle part(24' X 12'). My stair case is not inthe middle of the basement so I have to duck under to get into the inside part. I knew it would frustrate me but I did it anyway. Fortunately I don't have to get in the middle portion, but it limits my point of view of parts of my layout. IMHO I would design a wall layout with sections that curve out and back (I can't remember the technical term). With your plan for large radius curves, the wall layout might conserve space. I am not an expert by any stretch. I will be interested in what others think. Good luck. That is going to be an awesome layout I am sure. Can't wait to see photos.

Churu,

I would head for the local hobby shop and pick up some reading material. There are excellent references on track planning, building benchwork, wiring your layout, building scenery, etc. The more you learn about layout building, the easier it will be to plan your own.

Also, I would get a hold of as many back issues of magazines such as OGR as you can. These feature layouts similar to what you want.

After lots of reading, you should have an idea of what is feasible in your available space.

If you think you need help in the actual construction, I would inquire at the local hobby shop. Most areas have some excellent modelers who enjoy helping other modelers build layouts. Many will do this for a small fraction of what a custom layout builder would charge.

Happy railroading (and planning!)
Jim

While you are at the LHS you might inquire if there are any 3-rail modelers in the area willing to give you a tour of their layout. Seeing this layouts first hand provides a lot of information especially when you can ask questions of the owner.
Sounds exiting -- good luck

Thanks for the info guys; My new train room is not in the basement, it is a separate room next to my house without windowns and no pilars or beans or any kind of obstruction in the middle of the room, only two doors, small bathroom and central heating and cooling and today the builder pour the concrete slab so, on monday the construction crew will start erecting the walls, if they work the way they are doing, I believe my train room wiil be ready by Thanksgiving. Regards: Churu.

Churu,
Being an electrican for 40 years, I would be sure to put a min. of a 60 amp elect. panel on a wall with easy access to it. Depending on your lighting load and the HVAC load, I,m sure that 60 amps will be a minimum. If the slab is already poured its to late to put in elect. floor boxes, but you might want to drop a piece or two of 3/4 inch PVC elect conduit out of the bottom of the Panel and elbow them flush on the slab for your 110v feeds. That is if you are going to sheet rock the walls, and you are going to recess the panel.

The other option would be to run a few dedicated ckts.around the walls and install outlets in a few different places. But not knowing what kind of layout you are going to build I would go with the first option.Its very flexable, in that you can install boxes on the end of the elbows and run smaller conduits out of them around the room any where you like. You can install boxes any where on the conduit, add outlets where ever you neen them, and have the flexablity to add more circuts at any time.

If you need more info let me know. Good Luck Jerry

Hey Churu!!!! WELCOME BACK! IT's nice to hear from a familiar poster like you again! I hope that you will have pics to show!

Thank you guys, I appreciate your electrical advice Jerry and let me mention that my new train room will have its own circuit breaker with 100 Amps main breaker, AHU 50 Amps braker, condensing unit 50 Amps breaker, 15 Amps breaker for lights only, 20 Amps breaker for trains transformers only, 15 Amps just for accesories and another 15 Amps for miscellanius, three duplex receptacles in the floor and about 20 duplex receptacles scatter the for walls. I have to learn how to put pictures in the computer so you guya can be able to see the progres of my train room, by the way, today the builder began erecting the walls. Regards: Churu.

It,s great finding someone who thinks the way you do. The right way.
Why is there always enough time to do it TWICE, but never enough time to do it
RIGHT? Looks like you took the time.Great planing CHURU.

Jerry

Churu,

I see we now have another O gauger in N. Florida.
Would like to see your new train room. I'm thinking of doing a similar project.
I could maybe offer you a hand on a weekend.
Send me an email if you like.

Dave

Thank you for your help Dave, if I need your help of course I will get in touch with you. Forgive my ignorance but Where is Grenn Cove Springs? I would like to know how far or how close apart we live. My builder is working at "full steam", he finish with the shingles, looks to me that the roof is done, I think my train room will be ready just before Thanksgiving. If you need more information about my train room or my builder, I'll be happy to help you. Regards: Churu.

Hi Churu,

Good to see another N Florida O gauger. Hope to hear about the progress on your layout. I am building a layout in my garage and hope to have the basic track setup complete by Thanksgiving. You and Flash are welcome to come over and see it. Where are you going for an LHS? Is there one in Lake City or down in Gainesville? We have Hobby World on the West side of Jacksonville and in Orange Park it would be worth coming over to Jacksonville to visit their stores. God speed with your new layout, sounds like you have a big project to get started by Christmas.

To: Flash and Patharm: How about if we get together and have a train meet so we can know each other and talk about trains and related topics. Regards: Churo.

quote:

Originally posted by Churu:
To: Flash and Patharm: How about if we get together and have a train meet so we can know each other and talk about trains and related topics. Regards: Churo.

I am all for that I will send you a reply directly to your mail box.

quote:

Originally posted by patharm:

quote:

Originally posted by Churu:
To: Flash and Patharm: How about if we get together and have a train meet so we can know each other and talk about trains and related topics. Regards: Churo.

I am all for that send me a reply to my email.

You should consider putting scale S in that sucker!!

(Ducks head and runs for cover!!!)



Andre Ming
Eastern OK
S scaler but also a closet 3 Railer

Churu

What are your plans for lighting? 15 amps seems like it will limit your options for lighting that much square footage. How are you finishing the ceiling and walls. Will you be painting a back drop? You mention Pennsy, N&W and SP above. Do you want to model any specific railroad or locations? Do you want to model those little eastern hills they call mountains or do you want to model the real mountains we have out west?

While a custom built layout may be out of your budget you must have a few dollars set aside to fill 1248 square feet with trains. You might want to get a custom layout designer to advise you on a track plan and other design considerations including construction methods, materials, operations, equipment, signals and wiring for DCS and TMCC. Starting with a good design that is more detailed than just a neat track plan will save you a lot of time and effort and might even save a few bucks in the long run.

Kanasket: Thank you for your inquire and here are the answer: to be specific there will be two 15 Apms. for ligting only, the walls and ceiling will be finish with sheet rock (dry wall) painted, I already have a 3x12 back drop and I might order two or three more, I am not going to model any specific city or geografic area but I want a mountain (not the Rokies or another one) any mountain is better that none in other words I am a free lance railroad guy. My round house and turntable takes about 40sq/ft, amusement park about 5sq/ft, passenger terminal 12sq/ft, I am planing to design and build my own transfer table which will take about 15sq/ft, railroad yard another 36sq/ft: these are wild estimates that could be more or less and I have to add the intermodal facility, a city a lot of accesories from Lionel and MTH and so on. Regards:Churu.

Churu

30 amps total is getting there for lighting. What kind of fixtures are you planning on using? Will you have dimmers? Dave Hikel has posted some great pics on weekend photo fun in recent months with fantastic sunset effects produced with dimming overhead lighting, painted backdrops and independently dimmable red/blue/green LED lights in front of the backdrop. The effects are WAY cool and my next layout will definitely have those features.

36 sq. ft. of yard space is only 3x12. I would encourage you to think bigger here. We all seem to have crammed yards without enough space to sort cars or handle incoming or departing trains. Also, you may want to consider a separate coach yard if you have a lot of passenger equipment.

I am interested in your intermodal facility. Is it road to rail or will you model a dockside operation? I am near major container ports, let me know if you want some pictures to help your project.

Even with all the major facilities you have mentioned there should still be plenty of space for scenic areas in your 52x24 space. I am imagining an around the walls layout with one or two peninsulas into the center of the room. That should give you plenty of space to model not just a mountain but a major mountain crossing with long grades and the potential for helper districts. A lengthy wall or peninsula section could give you an opportunity to model a railway paralleling a river up a canyon to a pass. All three Washington Cascade crossings were originally completes over the surface, two with switchbacks, before the completion of summit tunnels. Something like that could be fun to model.

You have the space most of us would live to have someday. The potential is tremendous. Please keep us posted on your layout as it develops. And remember the five Ps, Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance!

Kanasket: I believe you read my mind because my layout is going to be around the wall with three peninsulas and one of my biggest projets and challange is to design or develop some sort of lighting system to reproduce the day and night fully automatic in other words the regular lights are fluorescent tubes (about 1300 W.) and at the flip of the switch the fluorescnet will go off and the special effects of day and night will came on, I believe this project is possible and I have to do a lot of investigation to find out how to do it using different colors of lights; by the way, if some body knows how to do it I will appreciate any help in this matter. In reference to the intermodal facility is going to be road to rail. (thank you for your help) Building this layout is going to take me easy at least a year or more working at full time, I have way too many projets in my little head and Xmas is just around the corner and I have to star working in my house Xmas decoration and of course I would like to have at least one train running even in a lousy temporary table 4'x12' something is better that none. Regards: Churu.

Hi Churu,

Kanasket told me to check out this thread. Is this what you're looking for...?

quote:

please do not tell me to hire a custom model builder because my budget does not allow me cover this cost

Most of us who build layouts for a living are more than willing to simply advise people like yourself who want to build their own. The people who both want and can afford a "turn key" layout are few and far between. Don't be afraid to ask for a little professional input.

You have several options for how to pull off daylight effects like those above. What you see above is a system for a 3200 sq. ft. layout that's about as high tech as you can get, but it's not cheap. You can get about 75% of the system's functions for a lot less money. For one thing, you don't have to have dimming florescent lights ($175/fixture installed). E-mail me at the address in my profile if you want to talk about what would be possible in your case.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: dave hikel,

Dave: Thank you for the pics. they are AWESOME, that is what I would like for my layout, I will e-mail you in a few minutes. Regards: Churu.

Churu,

Glad to hear that you are finally getting your train room built. I really enjoyed visiting with you when you lived in Hollywood and seeing your great layout there. I am planning another trip to see my mother next summer. I will have to plan a detour to visit you and see how the new layout will be coming along.

All,

Here are links to the pictures I took of Churu's previous layout:
June 2004
July 2005