Hidden balloon track staging yards (with photos this time)

Ed, your layout is awesome!!!! The hidden staging at the ceiling is brilliant

Lookin' good, Ed!

That is very impressive, Ed. Suspended/camo'd staging is a great idea.

No shortcuts with this amazing project. I bet it's a dream to operate Ed...notice I said operate since this certainly was not built to merely run some trains.

Ed I know you had this house custom built, and likely configured the utilities to benefit the basement environment you'd be spending so much time in. Beyond the obvious heat and A/C, is there dust control?

Bob

My thanks to OGR's Alan Miller for clearing out the glitch characters that blocked the photos in my earlier post.  What was weird was that I could see the photos on my PC, but not on my IPAD. 

Great stuff as usual Ed!!!

I think I've been over 3 times and each time has been a learning experience as well as getting to see an awesome 2-rail O-scale layout, even got to run the trains!!!

Ed, turn that seam into a ditch

Ed, looks fantastic!  I think the suspended staging is a great idea!   

Finally!  Well worth the wait for great pictures to go along with explanation.  Thanks Ed and Alan.

Chuck

Love this layout. I thought he was going to keep teasing us with no pics!

Thank you for sharing Ed!

Very nicely executed Ed !!

Ed your layout is outstanding! Has your layout ever been featured in OGR or a 2 rail magazine or videos? YouTube etc? Again Impressive work !

Thanks for sharing these really awesome photos of the layout!    Keep'em coming!

One of the guys emailed a question about the setup I used to cut the plywood .  I replied by email and am sharing it with the group. 

The router radius  arm was made with low cost EMT tubing from Home Depot.   A simple plywood bracket was made to attach the router to the EMT.  The pivot end of the EMT was drilled at multiple locations for whatever radii required.  A  fixture with a ¼” bolt was screwed to the Homasote and served as the pivot point.  The plywood was temporarily drywall screwed to sheets of Homasote laying tightly on the floor,  holding everything in position for the cut.  As I recall it took 3-4 passes with a 1/4" router bit to neatly cut through the ¾” plywood.  On the last pass the router bit was set at 7/8”, slightly scarring the “sacrificial “ Homasote cutting base.  As the router was swung a friend followed along with a shop vac to minimize dust in the train room.  I used this approach for cutting plywood whenever a free hand saber saw cut wouldn’t be true enough.  To facilitate operators and visitors movement in the aisles curved bench work was used throughout the railroad.  The last two photos show the approach I used to frame the curved part of the bench work using router cut plywood as a horizontal "control" member.  The Homasote cutting base didn’t go to waste - it was later cut (outdoors) for use as roadbed - scarred face down. 

Clever carpentry is always a joy to see.  Great job, Ed.

Cheers,

Ed K

Really enjoying your tips and tricks!

Very impressive.Your layout is awesome!! I am working on my own layout and your photos are full of knowledge. Do you have any more  benchwork construction photos? Your track looks very realistic.What brand and colors did you use ,and brand and color ballast did you use.I am just looking for ideas and what some guys use.Any input would greatly be appreciated.

Reading Lines  - I have lots of photos of benchwork construction but they're a little too boring for most to look.  I use a open box style el construction largely built with 1x4 pine or 3/4" plywood ripped to equivalent height.  Cross members are set generally 18-20" apart and as needed the 3/4" plywood sub roadbed is supported on risers attached to the box frame cross members.  Legs are 2x4 bolted slightly inset to the outer frame to avoid people kicking them.  Where the layout is against a wall I lag bolt the frame to the studs behind the dry wall - eliminating some legs and adding rigidly.  I designed the track plan in 3rd PlanIt, and also used the tool to design the benchwork.  The software gave me the length and angle cuts of the ends of the cross members to build the layout with smoothly curving aisles.  The sub roadbed was cut from 4 x 8 sheets of Homosote to a width slightly wider than the ties and curfed so that it could be bent to a radius line drawn on the sub roadbed.  All mainline curves were eased and super-elevated by inserting strips of N scale cork roadbed under the outer edge of the Homasote roadbed.  Increasing stacks of shirt cardboard under the Homosote was used to transition from flat to full super-elevation.  Generally this was done in the easement area of the curve (see John Armstrong's Track Planning for Realistic Operation for more on easements).  On the main line I used AtlasO code 148 flex track, and on the branches a mix of Old Pullman (no longer made) and Micro Engineering code 125 flex track.  The track was over sprayed with Krylon camouflage brown paint before ballasting.    Ballast was purchased from Smith and Sons in bulk quantity in several colors.  Turnouts were largely hand laid using Right-O-Way castings (great products initially sold by Lou Cross and now offered by Jay Criswell.  

Keystoned Ed posted:

Reading Lines  - I have lots of photos of benchwork construction but they're a little too boring for most to look.  I use a open box style el construction largely built with 1x4 pine or 3/4" plywood ripped to equivalent height.  Cross members are set generally 18-20" apart and as needed the 3/4" plywood sub roadbed is supported on risers attached to the box frame cross members.  Legs are 2x4 bolted slightly inset to the outer frame to avoid people kicking them.  Where the layout is against a wall I lag bolt the frame to the studs behind the dry wall - eliminating some legs and adding rigidly.  I designed the track plan in 3rd PlanIt, and also used the tool to design the benchwork.  The software gave me the length and angle cuts of the ends of the cross members to build the layout with smoothly curving aisles.  The sub roadbed was cut from 4 x 8 sheets of Homosote to a width slightly wider than the ties and curfed so that it could be bent to a radius line drawn on the sub roadbed.  All mainline curves were eased and super-elevated by inserting strips of N scale cork roadbed under the outer edge of the Homasote roadbed.  Increasing stacks of shirt cardboard under the Homosote was used to transition from flat to full super-elevation.  Generally this was done in the easement area of the curve (see John Armstrong's Track Planning for Realistic Operation for more on easements).  On the main line I used AtlasO code 148 flex track, and on the branches a mix of Old Pullman (no longer made) and Micro Engineering code 125 flex track.  The track was over sprayed with Krylon camouflage brown paint before ballasting.    Ballast was purchased from Smith and Sons in bulk quantity in several colors.  Turnouts were largely hand laid using Right-O-Way castings (great products initially sold by Lou Cross and now offered by Jay Criswell.  

Ed, 

You might have mentioned it earlier, but what are the radii of the four tracks of the return loop? 

Thanks, 

MF

The two staging loops each have 5 tracks on 4" centers.  The innermost loop is on a 56" radius.  PRR locomotives ranging up to 4-4-4-4 T1's, 4-4-6-4 Q2's and J1 2-10-4's navigate the hidden curves as well as close coupled full length passenger cars.  Where space is available visible curves are laid to larger radii for reason of better appearance.

Thankyou very much for the imformation Ed.I will continue to watch for more on your awesome layout.