Floor Layouts?

Kevin, Ours is temporary too, and just like you, whim and need dictate how the track goes down each time.

...multiple trains...not so much unless we're doubleheading RMTs or Geeps. Single track. 

I do floor layout with lionel fastrack. I don't have much accessories but got several signals and couple of bridges and a tunnel. I have two fastrack O36 switches but no room to put them in yet and i have fastrack signal crossing. I have some buildings but to much hassle to get out takes me an hour and half to set up then 2 hrs take down. I can't really change my track around any no room to do anything different hope some day i can. I get my enjoyment out of circle of track. I can watch train for hrs but most people get bored but not me.       

OF course:  cause there is no more room on layout, the mix and match consist.

O31 curves on layout, so the Williams' SD's wont fit: Ceiling has MTH.

  so:  1) that is Frank53 - caboose, 2)Alaskan hopper from O gauge Jim, ( I also learned some history on this buy, 3) RMT- 2 for 1 , 4) Texas Sp, ( I need something

for the LCCA- helicopter, when it gets here), &cars from a '91 Greensburg show.  YEP it is on the floor, !!!!! POCONO style!! 

I enjoy running a floor layout.  I guess I would call mine semi-permanent.  Being that it has bus wiring, operating accessories, passenger stations with platforms, etc...  I take it done in part of a day, if I had too.

 

 

So far my layout is 8x16 with a 2x5 extension for a yard.  It has a 2-track main with one industrial siding and a large passing siding.  On the passing siding, I can park one freight train or two short passenger trains.  I have a large bridge in the middle that is part of my elevated trolley line.  Lionel operating accessories are a must for me.  I have a coal loader and a culvert loader and unloader.

 

Soon I will be adding a home-made graduated trestle that will lead to a Lionel rotary tipple and a home-made operating coal trestle.  I use Lionel FasTrack on my layout and also some Lionel tubular O.  The tubular is used on the elevated trolley line and will also be used on the line for the coaling industry.

 

I built an oak display shelve to show off some of my locomotives.  Not wanting to take away any track space, I put tunnel portals so the train passes through the shelf.

 

My trans and power bricks are raised off the floor and part of a rock wall and tunnel area.

 

This is my layout plan as it is now...

 

 

Here is a video...

 

I'm enjoying the replies so far.  Good to see that there are some carpet/tile railroads (CTRR) out there. 

Kevin

I have carpet layout!  Every year I put up a Christmas floor layout with 3 to 5 loops.  After I took down my Christmas layout this past January I left 2 loops of tublar track running around my outside walls of my living room.  One of the loops has a couple of switches.  I run 4 trains on the loops with 2 on each loop.   It is a semi-permanent layout.  I will have to take it down eventually to clean the carpet in the early Fall, but I will set-it up again for my Christmas layout in Novemeber.    I have no accessories hooked up.  The accesories I have I use with my Christmas layout.  Occassionly, I trip over the tracks because they cross the walk ways which I dislike.  However, I like the ability to watch TV and sit back and run my trains at the same time! 

Ken

I have at times built very large floor layouts across multiple rooms, with lots of switches and accessories.  Tubular track.  I built some floor modules and generic control panels to facilitate.  I did it in the winter and started right after thanksgiving, usually finishing in mid December ( while working full time).  I am into wiring and did fairly elaborate control systems (conventional) with lots of signals and accessories.  Ran multiple trains on one mainline with auto block control.   Lot of fun.

 

Bill

Here is one of the later videos of mine.  There have been some changes to it but this still represents what I have running.  Hope to have something permanent one of these days.

http://youtu.be/8piHR4mFSRA

Question on running the tubular track on the carpet. Do you experience oil or dirt lines under the track on the carpet (or maybe that gets cleaned as part of your Fall clean up)? What about carpet fibers coming up through the track into the workings of the locomotive and trucks?

 

 

Awesome video with a dizzying effect

 

My dad's O gauge layout has been on a floor in a spare bedroom for over a decade now.He prefers this over a train layout on a raised platform,mostly because there is more usable space for the trains and the easy access to everything.

Dan

 

My train layout has 31"radius curves,so I set up a 72"radius oval track on my carpet for running the engines that will only run on wide radius track.

 

This video is of my dad's temporary carpet tinplate layout he set up a year or two ago.

Dan

When my Grandson was between 1 and 4, I would set up a loop on the floor so he could run trains himself. FasTrack is perfect for this. I would dismantle the loop into 2 sections length-wise, and store them, one on top of the other, under the sofa. Set-up time was less than 5 minutes. Some scenic items, as well as the train and transformer, went under the sofa as well.

don't forget the outside floor layouts. this one took about 30 minutes to set up.

Thank you, Frank and Kevin.

Love it, glad I'm not the only one.  I have two mainloop loops that go through the three rooms of my office suite with some sidings to park trains.  I cycle accessories out to entertain my grandson and when he gets bored with them, I get new ones out.  I use Fastrack and O72 curves and switches.

Nice topic...I've often wondered about this myself.  Hey, for those of you who have posted shots of your floor layouts, and to those who will, what do you do about bus lines? Do you simply run them underneath the integrated track roadbed?  And if you use tubular track, what then?  

 

- Mike

I did lots of them up to 2005. Have photos and video of some too--except that the photos are film prints and the video is VHS, so it'll take a bit of time to post them.

 

---PCJ

I run one set under the track to the other side of the main loops, each of the loops has about 50 feet of track.  I get minimal voltage drop around the loop, about 1 volt according to my voltage measuring car.  It's all command as a rule, unless I'm testing someone's conventional locomotive.  It's not optimum bus wiring, but it is a temporary carpet layout...

My FasTrack layout's been on the basement floor for two or three years, now, mainly because there isn't any room for a big permanent layout.  My only real complaint is that space limitations keep me from running curves wider than 036.

Here is a video of  my track set up on floor train running on it. 

I think this is the question, from Mike // John, I have been wanting, the floor run,

looses zilch.  Its the layout , O31, where I need to put another track , lock on,

on opposite side, for power continuity !!

HOW,  do I just hook up, another line on the same post of the ZW-275, or do

I use a power brick ( which I dont have )

thanks

Terry:

You can indeed hook another set of wires to the posts and run them to another lockon / power drop.

No need for another brick unless you are popping the circuit breaker just from pulling too much power.

 

I ran into this on my layout; Puling a monster consist and running smoke I popped the breaker when the engine reached the far end. Adding another wire pair to power that end fixed it. I had Too much voltage drop in the track, wires carry with lower losses.

 

Bottom line, and lots of examples in this thread:

Run your Trains, Have Fun !!!

Hey Russ,  thanks!!

 OK !,   The Beefs had been doing fine

I changed 1 thing on the 14 car layout consist, and that was a Alco w/ smoke,!!

It had been stopping exactly 1/2 , way,  cut off and then repower.

The Williams SD-90's do great -- crawling or almost derail break neck speed ( that was another thread), on the floor!

I 've had the wire, cut and ran , just wasnt sure how to connect !!

Thanks

I had track on the floor of my train room while the benchwork was under construction. As the benchwork progressed, part of the layout was under the benchwork. The layout was really just a double oval -  0-72 on the outside and STD-42 on the inside - for testing locomotives that I would run at our museum. When I got ready to put in the last couple of modules, I removed the floor layout. Here's a photo showing the track and control stand. 

 

Unless you use mth track or Fastrack, your trains will leave oil and grease tracks all around the route. I ruined a carpet that way.

Rob

I have two PH180 bricks feeding the MTH TIU variable channels, and the Legacy connected directly to the outside rails.  To run conventional, I just need to select the track on the DCS remote and I switch to variable voltage on a track.  I initially had one PH180 for all, but occasionally it would trip, so I split the load.

 

I agree with Rob, track with a base is probably REALLY desirable for this use if you don't want a streak in the carpet.

Keith is without a doubt one of the most clever guys on the OGR Forum. His Carpet Central Layout is a great one.

This is why I love the OGRR forum.  Information and advice is readily available from members.  I would never have thought that there was a good number of carpet/floor operators out there.  For some reason, I thought that it mostly table top and huge room layouts. I guess I was mistaken.  The photos and videos that I've seen posted so far are amazing.

 

Glad to see the oil on carpet question that I asked earlier was answered.  Second part to that question is that for those who run tubular on carpet, do you experience fibers getting into the locomotive, etc. through the gaps?  I got rid of my Fastrack and RealTrax (many to members on this forum) in my switch to tubular for the now extinct table top.  If I have to restock on Fastrack/Realtrax for the floor operations, I wouldn't mind, but just need to know of all the pitfalls. 

 

Regards... 

 

 

Kevin:

 

Great thread here.  And I bought some of your former Real Trax. 

 

I would recommend, if you go back,  using the Lionel product (Fast Track) if you determine the carpet and the tubular track are not good mates.  I think it is easier to connect and disconnect.  Real Trax runs the problem of bending all those copper connections underneath - especially if there are frequent construct and deconstruct processes with your layout (which sound like the case).

 

I would think the question about whether carpet fibers are an issue really depends on the carpet type.  I might also consider that the trains are not perfectly clean underneath and it raises the question as to whether there is an opportunity for some grease or oil to drop through the tracks onto the carpet.

 

Hope those opinions are useful.  Hope all is well with you too!

You can be fairly sure that many locomotives and even cars will put out enough crud to stain the carpet if you do any significant amount of running on a carpet layout.

 

If you stick with tubular track, you can use something as a roadbed, say cut some 1/4" rubberized underlayment to shape to keep the carpet clean.  1/4" plywood cut to shape would work well too.  Even cardboard will protect the carpet.

 

Kevin
I have not had any problems with staining of my carpet over the years using tublar track. Maybe I have been lucky.  Although I have thought about switching to fasttrack many times.  I think my trains would probably run better on fasttrack; however, the cost of switching has kept me from switching.  My carpet has small fibers so I have had no problems with fibers getting into my steam engins.
Ken

Kevin, Thanks for posting this topic and to all of you who have posted videos!  I now, because of age and my wife's illness, live in a continuing care retirement community.  It was necessary to sell my large garage layout but still (at age 79) wanted to run trains.  I now have a three loop Fastrack carpet layout each Christmas - 36",48" and 60" curves - and invite other residents to drop by and enjoy it.  Most, many of them older than I, like the post-war 773 and 1666 pulling vintage cars the best.  I appreciated all of the videos you have shared and have picked up some good ideas for accessories, bridges, etc. Again, many thanks, everyone. Dick

I used to look down on floor layouts (that is a joke) but now after I move I am headed that way myself....!

I run tubular on the rug for Christmas. to avoid staining the carpet and picking up fuzz I cut plywood into modular sections and screwed the track to it. this makes set up much quicker and stores easily when broken down.  the modular sections are held together with pocket screws.

Mike,

Most of my layout is FasTrack, but I have a tubular area and will be adding more.

Where the FasTrack is, the bus wire tucks up underneath.  For my tubular trolley line wiring, I remove one outside rail and the middle rail, add a wire underneath and re-feed the rail and wire through the ties.  In the areas where the wire would touch a tie, I add some electrical tape, to help prevent the metal from cutting through.  Though tedious, the end result is the wires are hidden.  I planned on doing the same for my coaling line, but I may mount the track to plywood like JohnS.

 

If you mount the track to plywood, like JohnS, you could easily make a groove in the wood for your wiring.

hello guys and gals........

 

I use MTH realtrax for this reason, it does a very good job keeping the carpet from getting oil stains and keeping tiny fuzz balls from getting into the trains. Too bad MTH does not make curves wider than 082 as my scale Texas type engine does need it.  The 072 curves are too sharp.

 

the woman who loves the S.F.5011,623

Tiffany

As a note to those who are or will be considering a carpet empire using tubular track, look at your local home repair depot{menards/home depot/lowes} for "fan fold insulation" which somes in folded sheets. Light blue is the common color but I have seen some in pink. Pull out your long straight edge and cut all or any pieces you need to put under your track, use house acrylic type paint and paint them as you like, ballast if you wish, and attach in spots with a glue gun, twist ties, or just set the track over them.

Just my 2 cents...

Very cool, I like that approach.  Makes it really neat and as you say, easy to put up and take down.

That's what my uncle did for his tree layout- a divided square of 2 halves of dual circles, dowel pinned together with a cam lock between each halves, undernieth...think table leaf...two twists and it slides apart and stores easily.

I doubt you folks would add the upsidedown crown molding for trim, but it does gussy it up!