Layout build for Family Train Day on Sat 1/6/18

My allotted space is 4x8.  My general plan is to pack as much operating activity as I can into the space by using the items I have on hand.  My "artist's rendering" via SCARM is below.  The red blocks represent button operated accessories.  The blue blocks represent bridges.  The brown represents mountains and green represents buildings.  This is a draft and not the final design.

I'm recycling some modular benchwork I created before Christmas 2016.  My idea was to create a 4x8 layout base that would fit in our living room.  It would need to: rest on a folding table, have cutouts for the curtains, and be easy to setup/take down/store.

I set up the benchwork and started laying track.  Issue #1: I discovered that O31 Fastrack does not natively fit inside O36.  I had to add 1.75" spacers in the middle of the outer O36 end curves.  I used two spacers for about 1" of clearance on all sides of the O31 loops.

Issue #2: because I widened the end curves, I had to shorten the overall length so that the track would not traverse the curtain cutouts on the left side.  This resulted in the layout being shorter than I planned and I changed one of the circles into a bump-n-go trolley line.  It is a good change because it introduces additional variety into the assortment of items on the table.

Looks great so far.  Looking forward to seeing the finished layout with operating accessories, bridges, and buildings.  

Good Luck with the show on Saturday

Bruce

Lookin good, should be fun day for all.

Good luck and post lots of pictures!

some accessories:

more access accessories

even more accessories

and more

Let there be light!  I thought arcade style buttons with LED lights would be cool.  Standard electrical connectors from Lowe's fit perfect

test complete!  first accessory wired.  the button lights are constant on and the accessory is activated by depressing the button

The airplane pylon looks awesome. 

How did you wire the lighted button?

JD2035RR posted:

The airplane pylon looks awesome. 

How did you wire the lighted button?

It's pretty easy.  I'll share some pics after the event.  Wiring everything is taking much longer than I anticipated

Fascia boards installed.  I did intend to paint green but don't have much time left so that will be an improvement for next time

Let there be light!  Holes drilled, buttons installed, and power connected.  6 on this side, 3 on the short end, and 4 on the far long side for a total of 13

Way to go!  That is a nice clean job in a short period of time with a lot of interactive accessories.  It really looks like fun, especially for kids getting to push those lighted buttons to see what happens.  I hope to create the same element with my layout.

  Wiring is where my layout is currently stalled out.  Good job pushing through to get it to the family train day on time.

Be sure to take a lot of pictures and videos if you can!

Congratulations, you have packed a lot of chilren’s fun into a small space.

Kudos to you for making a masterful solo effort.

Our modular group (RC3R) does a fair amount of displays, geared to children, and I think we get much more than we give.

Good luck

Garrett,

   Very impressive and for a great cause also!

PCRR/Dave

Great cause, fast work and the creation of something neat that shows how model trains operate. Reminds me of the pre-built dealer display layouts of the Lionel P/W era.

I don't mean this next comment in anyway to diminish your work, it's actually a compliment to it:

The uncomplicated (on the surface) nature of the layout, will likely lead people to think, "hey, I can do that!" and perhaps encourage more people, families, kids to take up the hobby. I know there is a lot of time spent planning, building, wiring, and executing a layout like this, especially with all of the button activated accessories. Great job again!

JD

Great looking work there Garrett! The kids will love it. Please make sure to take pictures so we can see all the happy faces! I know its going to be a joy for everyone, Young and Old!

Great Idea & job on the layout .

JD2035RR posted:

Way to go!  That is a nice clean job in a short period of time with a lot of interactive accessories.  It really looks like fun, especially for kids getting to push those lighted buttons to see what happens.  I hope to create the same element with my layout.

 

  Wiring is where my layout is currently stalled out.  Good job pushing through to get it to the family train day on time.

the wiring took about 20 times longer than anticipated

I am very sorry to report that I did not complete this layout on time.  Murphy's Law kicked into high gear and I was not properly prepared.  Too late, I discovered I did not have the proper amount of wiring devices and the local hardware store was out of stock on common items.  The wiring took about 20 times longer than anticipated.  I only got half of the accessories wired by the construction deadline and decided to stop working there.  Thought incomplete, I did attempt to dismantle it and take it to the show.  Tear down took about an hour and I realized carrying it all in from the van and reassembling it at the event site would take 2+ hours.  The spectre of doing all that work for an incomplete project was enough for me to call it quits.   I spent a lot of time working on this on Wed-Fri and it amounted to a big FAIL.  Very disappointed.  I do not have the room to leave this up and now other priorities demand use of that space.

Hope some of you got some good ideas to use at your shows.

Thanks 

Oh man, what a shame. Hope the next one works out for you.