Hello every one. I am new to this forum and I enjoy it a lot. I have been away from the train hobby for a couple of years due to separation and loss of home hence loss of my basic HO and O scale layout. Now I am back into the hobby and I am committing to 3R O scale. I will be building this layout starting in a few weeks. I have no room for an inside layout but I do have an outside semi enclosed area. It has a roof and two full walls and a cement floor and it is attached to the side of the house (sorry no picture, I am overseas now). So rain and sun are not a problem but all other weather elements do exist.
I have a enough MTH Scaletrax and Realtrax to do the job. I like Scaletrax because when I used it it ran great and it looked great but it did not have a roadbed, so I tried Realtrax and I had a major problems with disconnects between the welded tabs/tracks but after much frustrations and fixing brand new tracks, I got it running and I liked the convenience of the roadbed, I also prefer the solid rail Realtrax.. I have not decided which to use yet. you can help make this decision.
The layout size will be Four feet by Sixteen feet. I will build a frame to support TWO 4'x8' sheets of 1/2'" or 3/4" plywood and will use 2" foam on top fastened with screws. Each 4x8 section will have casters to be able to move around if I have to and will be locked together to form an 4'x16' platform. If you have any suggestion about how to build the frame, please let me know.
I will need a 0-72" loop in the future to accommodate some of my MTH and future VL BB steam engines. This can be in the form of added sections at the 4 ft sides, I am thinking they will be TWO 4'x7' sections with casters to make a U shape layout. This will make a 24' long layout which is all I have for length.
For the 4'x16' layout, I am looking at Two main loops with a reversing loop or two. I like to make the two main loops run separately or with a switch or two run as one continuous loop and then be able to reverse direction and run the loops in the opposite way. I will of course use 0-42 and 0-36 curves. I do have 0-72 and 0-80 if needed.
I am very bad with scenery so I want a very basic scenery, I am not sure but may be an industrial one will be OK, again let me know what you think. BTW, I love LOCOS and I like all road names. If I like the look of a loco I buy it if I can. I prefer Freight but I also like passenger such as the Hiawatha set...
I have many MTH steam and Diesel right now and I plan to add Lionel steam and diesel in the next few months. I will be using DCS, Legacy and if I have to, conventional but that is very low priority. I am familiar with DCS and I think Legacy will be very similar. I am an Electrical/Mechanical Engineer so I am OK with electronics and mechanics. I like to work on my trains if I have to instead of sending them back for repairs.
No elevation is planned because I had not done it in O scale, but I did a very basic up and down in HO. I do have MTH plastic set for an up/down, so I can use it if you give me some ideas.
As you can see, I just want to have some fun and I am open to all ideas from you guys.
The layout will be in the San Jose area and will be covered when not in use. I plan to keep the locos inside my room but the cars can be left outside. At least I will leave the cheap ones out, not the premier ones. IF the power system has to be inside a box to protect it from the elements, I can do that and I can add a fan to keep it cool.
i may have missed some stuff, so please go ahead and ask.
I think this forum is very informative and I look forward to contributing to it as much as I can....Cheers folks!
Sam E.
