John, everything is looking great ! as for overhang of the BB, you'll be fine. If i remember correctly 3 inches of clearance is good.

Alex

Thanks Alex, I actually took the VL-BB out and checked all the clearances for the supports, just to make sure I wasn't screwing up in my calculations.  No sweat, I had well over 1/4" of clearance from the closest one pulling the boiler out as far as possible on the curve.  I tried a couple other things like 21" passenger cars, auto carriers, and even the MTH M-1 Turbine, none of them came close to the supports.

It's by no means certain that I didn't miss anything, but before any ballast or significant scenery is done, it'll get some run time and I'll make sure I don't have any clearance issues in other places.

John this  your layout is looking great and you're moving at a good pace. Your whole thread has been an inspiration for me for my next layoutwhich I should be starting very soon. I have a 24 by 13 room and I cant wait to get started

Thanks, I have tried to pick up the pace lately, the table sat for a long time before I started adding track, but now that I'm on a roll...   It's getting close enough that I can imagine having trains running in the near future, that will be an exciting day!

Nice progress so far, John. I don't have any experience with a big boy but I know that on some of my bigger engines it's not the front that sticks out the most but the cab. Have you tried testing the big boy to see if the cab roof clears everything, especially in reverse?

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Thanks, I have tried to pick up the pace lately, the table sat for a long time before I started adding track, but now that I'm on a roll...   It's getting close enough that I can imagine having trains running in the near future, that will be an exciting day!

Trust me I know what u mean. I bought the house 3 years ago and life gets in the way for lack of a better term.  Like you I had to take a break for a while but I'm coming down the home stretch right behind ya. I'm gonna go with an around the walls layout. Just got to close of door that's there and make an archway with a lift up section in the middle of the room.  But you'll have trains running soon there . Lots of pics and videos I hope!!!

@Pat Kn posted:

Nice progress so far, John. I don't have any experience with a big boy but I know that on some of my bigger engines it's not the front that sticks out the most but the cab. Have you tried testing the big boy to see if the cab roof clears everything, especially in reverse?

Yep, no sweat.  I was trying to be fairly generous with the clearance as I've run into them in the past.  Besides, I doubt I'll be doing much reverse on the mainline, it's a one-way rail!

@E-UNIT-79 posted:

Trust me I know what u mean. I bought the house 3 years ago and life gets in the way for lack of a better term.  Like you I had to take a break for a while but I'm coming down the home stretch right behind ya. I'm gonna go with an around the walls layout. Just got to close of door that's there and make an archway with a lift up section in the middle of the room.  But you'll have trains running soon there . Lots of pics and videos I hope!!!

I'm certainly going to have pictures of the grand opening, ribbons, cake, the whole shebang!

Gunrunner John your trackwork is very neatly done, your table work nicely prepared, congratulations, now, Question, what are your plans for a border around the layout to keep your Locomotives from derailing and taking a plunge to the floor? Also, are you planning to have electronic blocks with Cab 2 control or DCS control, and also will you be able to operate your turnouts via command control? Just wondering because it’s fun to walk around the layout and have the ability to turn off or on track, switches, engines, trains wherever your standing. We used the legacy system on our layout simply for fun. Good luck with your electrical  wiring and controls of your fantastic layout. It’s fun to watch how your progress and we look forward to seeing trains running. Happy Railroading Everyone

Larry, I'll have to see about any border, my locomotives are well mannered and usually don't try to find the floor.   Also, close to the edge, they find carpeted floors to easy any impacts.   For most of the track, there isn't far to fall, just along the front edge they get pretty close, but I'm not anticipating huge issues there.

All of the power districts, switches, yard tracks, and the turntable will be command controlled.  As long as I remember all the numbers, I should be able to run everything from the remote.  I will have a control panel with visual status lights as well.  I will be wired and setup for TMCC/Legacy and MTH DCS operation.  Since I have a bunch of MTH AIU's squirreled away as well as the SC2 boxes, I will likely parallel wire for both TMCC/Legacy or MTH remote operation of the switches and turntable at least.  I'll be using my perpetual barking watchdog on all the yard tracks and turntable whisker tracks to allow MTH locomotives to come up dark as they should with a power on.

I understand about the border, your trackwork looks really nice, I was just remembering the days on building my layout which was built on the L-girder system with track in the air so to speak and the new Lionel Allegheny, 1999 version, (Year 2000) ran into a new Atlas O turnout that didn’t throw all the way, Ka-Boom, it fell to the floor, non-carpeted tile floor. Lionel re-built the steamer but I learned a great lesson. I actually decided to go to Ross turnouts then, and made sure no more trains could fall off the layout. From the nice pictures of your train layout and beautiful room, you should be fine. I look forward to your progress. Happy Railroading.

I'll be running cheap stuff around quite a bit before the $2,000 steam hits the rails!

I love the look of the open girder track-work, but a man's got to recognize his limitations, I knew I would screw that up!

The final switch came in and ALL the track for the main table and elevation is in place and secure!  Obviously, I still have a ton of wiring under the table to do, but it feels good to reach a milestone anyway!

Lookin' really good, John. Now's the time to have a battery powered engine to send on a maiden voyage.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

The final switch came in and ALL the track for the main table and elevation is in place and secure!  Obviously, I still have a ton of wiring under the table to do, but it feels good to reach a milestone anyway!

Slacker!

LOL!  Looks great John!  It must be nice to be at a point where it all starts coming together.

I have my battery powered Camelback queued up for a trial run of the main two-level folded dogbone loop.  I'm just waiting for my Mobius camera to charge up so I can document the run in real-time by sticking it to the cab.  It'll go behind the track cleaner.

I'll also drag my magnetic debris pickup car around on the run to collect any bits that have fallen between the rails, there's a lot of little rail pieces from trimming the flex track.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

I have my battery powered Camelback queued up for a trial run of the main two-level folded dogbone loop.  I'm just waiting for my Mobius camera to charge up so I can document the run in real-time by sticking it to the cab.  It'll go behind the track cleaner.

I'll also drag my magnetic debris pickup car around on the run to collect any bits that have fallen between the rails, there's a lot of little rail pieces from trimming the flex track.

Keep converting other engines to battery and you won't need to wire track or need that track cleaning car.

Looking Good!

Ron

That ain't ever happening Ron, there's no way I'd give up all the cool features just so I could avoid wiring power.

At long last, a train is running around the main loop from start to finish!  I had to use my battery powered Camelback as I don't have the power wired under the table yet.  I'm also dragging the magnetic pickup car to gather up any stuff that fell between the tracks, it picked up a few pieces.  The run, at least according to my track layout program, is around 140 feet of track in the main loop.

NICE!  Looks like You enjoyed it a lot more than Bobbi did.

Congratulations!!!  And, Great Work!  Scratch another mile into the Milestone...

You are definitely moving along at breakneck speed compared to me.

Awesome, just Awesome!

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

It's by no means certain that I didn't miss anything, but before any ballast or significant scenery is done, it'll get some run time and I'll make sure I don't have any clearance issues in other places.

Amen to that!

Looking good. Thanks for the ride. I waved back to you.😁

Thanks guys, it was pretty great to actually see something make the whole main loop, a milestone that seemed I would never cross!

I'm working on getting all the switch wires under the main table level, I'm using the CSM2 DZ-2500 Breakout Boards to interface to all the switches, it'll make all those little wires a little easier to deal with.  Just waiting on the last few breakout boards to arrive, but I have enough to move ahead.  I think the next step is mounting the transformers and TIU and getting power over to the board.

Looks great John. Did you have a golden spike ceremony yet?

4 minutes + for a full loop is a nice run!

Bob

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

That ain't ever happening Ron, there's no way I'd give up all the cool features just so I could avoid wiring power.

I can't speak to Lionel Legacy.  But I can tell you I have not lost one "cool feature" running MTH DCC and Lionel Lionchief.

But I understand your situation.  It's really coming along nicely.

Ron

@RSJB18 posted:

Looks great John. Did you have a golden spike ceremony yet?

4 minutes + for a full loop is a nice run!

Bob, the key factor in my design was a reasonably long mainline so I could run decent sized trains and not have them chase their tail.  If I want 40-50 cars, I want it to still see some track between the locomotive and caboose!

@Ron045 posted:

I can't speak to Lionel Legacy.  But I can tell you I have not lost one "cool feature" running MTH DCC and Lionel Lionchief.

But I understand your situation.  It's really coming along nicely.

Legacy doesn't like DC, and I have around 25 Legacy locomotives, and I'm going to get more I suspect.  Dead rail ain't an option at my RR.   I have zero interest in investing in DCC, I suspect I can muddle along just fine for the rest of my railroading days using DCS, TMCC, and Legacy.  I'll mix in a few LC+, Bluetooth, etc. engines as they come along.

Congrats John! very nice trip around your new layout . One thing, i noticed the smoke unit wasn't working. I can repair that for you, just let me know! LOL LOL

Enjoy, Alex

GRJ, very very nice. You’ll have so much fun running all the trains you have it will take forever to get started on scenery. That’s what has happened to me.

Nice video John hope to see the bigboy soon. If your wife likes trains maybe she will crawl under the layout to do the wiring. They seem to be more flexible than we are.

@Alex M posted:

Congrats John! very nice trip around your new layout . One thing, i noticed the smoke unit wasn't working. I can repair that for you, just let me know! LOL LOL

I'll send it right up.   Actually, I turned off the smoke so the video would be clearer, I figured I was trying to shoot the layout, not the haze of smoke!

@romiller49 posted:

GRJ, very very nice. You’ll have so much fun running all the trains you have it will take forever to get started on scenery. That’s what has happened to me.

I'm sure scenery will take some time, first things first, get the sucker wired!

@trainbob posted:

Nice video John hope to see the bigboy soon. If your wife likes trains maybe she will crawl under the layout to do the wiring. They seem to be more flexible than we are.

She's happy to see the progress, but I don't think she'll be under it wiring, that's a bridge too far!

I actually ran the VL-BB under the second level to check clearance of all the supports, I just sky-wired the track power.  It had room to spare, so I'm happy.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

I'll send it right up.   Actually, I turned off the smoke so the video would be clearer, I figured I was trying to shoot the layout, not the haze of smoke!

I'm sure scenery will take some time, first things first, get the sucker wired!

I know LOL , PLEASE !! i have to much work already. I'll leave it to you !

Alex

John,

Nice video, layout, workbench & basement. I've spent most of my live in basements and that is a nice basement.

Tom

Tom, the basement was one of the key selling points, I wanted a daylight basement, and this house came along and the basement was a key selling feature.  I don't know if you remember what I started with, this is what I saw when I walked down the stairs for the first time.

How could you not fall in love!

Congats on your first run!!

Another 2 weeks and the whole layout will be completed!

John, I know you going to be running 'modern' controllers (radio/computer etc.) switch/block system... but, are you going to build an old school control panel as well?

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Tom, the basement was one of the key selling points, I wanted a daylight basement, and this house came along and the basement was a key selling feature.  I don't know if you remember what I started with, this is what I saw when I walked down the stairs for the first time.

How could you not fall in love!

Agreed, and indeed, John, I have fallen in love with your basement! LOL, Arnold

Cool video. Your layout looks awesome and so well put together. Track and bench work are beautiful.  

thanks for posting a video was looking forward to videos of your layout.

Congrats, John......really spectacular.....and, well-done!

Peter

Congratulation to John. Getting the mainline laid down is an important milestone.