Planning a book shelf layout near the ceiling

I'd go with something about 12" wide for the straights.  As far as the corners, it depends what curves you are going to use.  You could lay the tracks out on the floor around the curves and measure them.  What are you going to use to support the tracks?   Are you going to hang tracks from the ceiling or mount on the wall?

Rick

Rick C & Dewey,

   Thanks for the input, I appreciate it, I believe a 10" shelf for the straights will

accommodate 2 tracks of FasTrack with 2" between each FasTrack base, not quite sure what radius curved track I will use at this point, I want to be able to run my original Williams UP, City of San Fan around the room on the outside track, so this maybe the deciding factor.  I will have to get out the double UP engines and see if

the 048 or 072 will be adaquate for the big old Williams passenger train.  If so then I can use the 036 on the inside run. 

PCRR/Dave

Dave, that sounds like a plan.  Keep us posted with plenty of pics.

Rick

Hi Dave,  All great points and input.  Here are a few more talking points we may want to address.  By looking at the pictures you get a idea of what your up against with just 12 inches using double track on a straight main line.  On one side of the track it's very close to the edge and the same on the other towards the wall.  Very little room and that with 12 inches on the straight. I would increase it by 2 or more, just to be on the safe side with overhangs of larger equipment used.  Have a great day,Bruce

Bruce,

   Great pictures, they are just what I was looking to see.  Maybe I will consider a 12" shelf, I like your station and buildings which I was not planning on doing.  Now that I see yours I kind of like how you constructed that layout.  Very nice in deed.  What white shelf bracing did you use and where did you purchase it, it would look great against my white walls and white ceiling in the Game Room. 

PCRR/Dave 

OK, let me play the devils advocate here.

Unless you are Kareem Abdul Jabar or own a restaurant, can someone explain to me why you would want a train around the ceiling where you can't get up close and personal with it unless you are on stilts? I mean, all you can see is the top half to a third of the buildings and you are always looking up at the bottom of the train.

Back to you Dave,  I wish it was as simple as heading out to the local big box and picking up the support system, but it was custom made and painted some 10 years ago.  One more thing to keep in mine is your ceiling height, recomend 12 or more inches below the ceiling.  Bruce

Lack of room inside this house Big Jim, but it works for me.  (Played b-ball too)Bruce

Big Jim,

   You make a good point, however my ceiling is not all that high in this part of the

Game room, a little over 10' and I am 5' 11" tall with long arms.  Everything will be quite visable and although I will need to work on a ladder for some things, after it is built, the layout will actually be mostly at arms reach for me, to play with my trains.

Bruce,

   Not what I wanted to hear buddy, was hoping for some already white painted

shelf supports that look that good.  Trying to keep the labor intensity down to a roar.  Looks like I will continue looking for the supports.

PCRR/Dave

Run trains Big Jim, run and display trains. Lot of enjoyment. No problem with seeing the equipment--hard to see where you are coming from there, I ran them for 15 years on shelves.?.

As far as the rest, semi-annual maintenance,etc, I had a simple step ladder. The alternative for many o-gaugers is run on the carpet or no trains at all.

I would use Gargraves Track.

Doc,

   We used Gargraves on the Iron Horse Club layout, it was not all that friendly to

Tin Plate Trains,  especially the switches.  Tin Plate runs like glass on FasTrack with

old Lionel Tin Plate switches.  Even the RealTrax had less problems than the Gargraves.

PCRR/Dave

quote:

No problem with seeing the equipment--hard to see where you are coming from there

Dewey,

I guess I would find it hard on the neck to always be looking up.

Good morning Big Jim, Going to get my 2 cents in on this from real experience.   Come home after a hard day's work, and just want to relax, head to the train room, sit down in the oversized lazy-boy and enjoy running the trains with the cab1.  No neck pain, just plain old fun.  Enjoy the day my friend, Bruce

Big Jim,

   There is also an ulterior motive for constructing the books shelf layout around the game room.  It will cut down on the use of the game room TV, which I look at as a real big plus.  

Bruce,

   I can't wait to sit down in my big chair and run my book shelf train layout, via

my DCS hand held remote control, thru out most of the game room.   It will be way cool to see two trains running in oppsite directions around the ceiling of the game room, in my own home. 

PCRR/Dave

Dave,

I well understand the around the wall layout. 

I wasn't degrading it, I was just asking about the thought process in having a layout up so high where one can't really get up close and personal with it. Obviously, this is not a priority with Bruce and yourself and that's OK. However, what about friends and especially children that would like to see more and much closer?

Big Jim,

   I did not take it as degrading, I do agree with you that these book shelf layouts

are not as up close and personal as the floor layouts, especially for the kids.  However with the constant use of our home for my wifes symphony practices and my gun dog training business, the book shelf train layout, around the ceiling, is the space I have available right now, and I do believe it will look real nice in our game room.

PCRR/Dave

Big Jim

As Dave noted it is not ideal but the alternative is nothing if space for benchwork or a carpet operation is just not available. Most of the airborne shelves I helped other O-gaugers build were in seldom used bedrooms and occasionally Condos---most with 8' or 9' ceiling height.

My own operation was in the 14x32 A-frame ceiling kitchen-breakfast room of our mountain cottage and had round-the-wall shelves at 7'-6" and 9' high,with 5 tracks. It was not uncomfortable to sit on a bar stool or dining chair and watch trains run. If the grand kids wanted to get up close to see the action they stood on the 4' wide bar that divided the room, but mostly they just wanted to run the trains wide open.

However, as much as i enjoyed it, the railroad was a noisy sucker and I often got even and PO-ed the Domestic CEO by competing with Oprah's TV show in the adjoining Den. Payback came when I dismantled it in '08 and she hired a fancy decorator to rework the space.

This is what I did in my old house. There are a few things I would do over, but overall I was pretty happy with it.

Nice Tim.

Have you tried Ikea? they can be ridiculously cheap, and they're highly adaptable

Dave:

Check out the shelving boards at Home depot.

1/2" thick, nicely coated white, looks more like plasticoat than paint.

They come in width up to 12" and length up to 8' if I recall right.

I have them up in several places at home.

I suspect they are engineered wood, not linear lumber so keep the supports closer together. Say every 2 feet to avoid sagging when a heavy engine runs across them..

I used 3/4" MDF and cut my own using 072 Fastrak as the templates for the curves. Single track shelves are 6" and the double track/siding section is 12". Standard shelf brackets from Lowes for the sections on the wall, and made my own brackets where the track is suspended from the celing. It's about 75' total running around my game room, through the wall into the bar, through the wall again into the hallway, and back into the gameroom. I painted all the shelving black to blend in with the ceiling and crown moulding. I used Gargraves flex and Ross #8 turnouts for the siding track. The only mistake I made which I plan of fixing soon, is I didn't use any cork or foam roadbed. The trains running around directly on the MDF is very loud, especially with hardwood floors in there, the sound carries big time. I think I'm just going to unscrew it, slide some black Woodland Scenics foambed under the track and screw it back down.

That is really sweet Tim.  A very nice job on the tunnel port, and it brings to mind a story about a military officer living across the street from me while stationed in Germany. He too had a passion for trains, so much so, he cut away tunnels everywhere in his quarters and the end result was a courtmarshal of this officer. Thanks, for the great pictures, Bruce

Check out the Cartoon in the new OGR.

Russell,

   Thanks for the great advise buddy, I really appreciate it, will check out the shelving at Home Depot for sure.

PCRR/Dave