Terminus and Magma Railroad

You're going to have great potential for scenery with that over under section!

The hill top area is where I see a copper mine, along with a couple of miner's shacks. Plan on embedding a web cam at the crossover, should make for some dramatic videos! This will be a pretty rural type layout, no big cities or industries!

That camera is an interesting idea. I never thought to do such a thing but I will have some areas you can't see on my layout. Will this just be like a USB camera?

A standard USB logitech web cam since there will already be a connected computer on the layout for JMRI, so I thought why not?

darrel, I like whats going on here, but what is the blue thing in the first image and where is the door in your layout room?

Lol, that's my bed! Since I need to get up for work at 4 am, I sleep in the train room so I don't disturb the cfo!

There are 2 doors,  one in the very top left corner, the other 1 just under the desk at the top right corner.

It seems like those would be tight aisles to get around the layout. It might be a good idea to tape out on the floor the dimensions of your benchwork to confirm that you have enough room to move around and are happy with it. Other than that, I'll throw out the idea of an around-the-walls layout that could be just a single track around the bed/desk area and deeper on the other wall for more scenery. Just an idea.

I know, the top wall has the mini-split head that needs service access, a window, the 3D printer table and the corner computer desk. The right wall has the door to the outside, window and dresser. The bottom wall is two large closets with 2 sliding doors each with a single door linen closet between them. The right wall has the door to the bathroom, my bed, then turns into the kitchenette area and up to the entry door from the garage.  I think this was added to the house as a mother in law suite. I thought of around the walls but the need for so many access points meant lots of lift outs, not what I feel like doing! And I really want to use all this K line shadow rail 072 and 054 track I've been collecting the last few years . Once I retire in a few years the bed can go which will open up some more room.

Darrell, congratulations on the new layout planning.  The whole concept for the layout sounds great.  I downloaded the SCARM version and would have to agree with bigboy25 on a couple of tight spots.  My guess is you have that covered, but we can't see it.  What engines are you going to run.  For a mining oriented layout, I am guessing small engines.

Thanks Mark! I have RS's, a shay, some S4's, F3's, my big steam are a Hudson, a J, and a GS4. All traditional/railking size.

Those will all work great!!

Ok, I went back and improved my floorplan to hopefully clear up the aisle size around the layout.

Here is the near term, and yes it looks tight.

And the future after I remove the lower cabinets and create a workspace out of the kitchenette.

It will open up quite a bit, may even allow for expansion!

That looks better!  Very nice plan, Darrell!

Now that the kitchen is done for the CFO, I can get started on the next big project--- The train room!

Removed cabinets from kitchenette and moved the computer, workbench, and 3D printer into that corner space.

Then started to clear out the main room, it's amazing how much stuff can hide under a 4x8 table!

The bed and dresser has to stay for now, so all that's left is to reduce/organize everything that is stacked against the walls. and then construction of the new bench work can start!

Even though the room is not ready, I just had to test the new track plan! Some of this track has been in storage for years and the caboose tells me it needs cleaning lol! No matter how I look at it, it's a tight fit but loving the wider curves!

Looks great!

So today I was testing the future track plan some more, wanted to see if a single engine could pull a 30 car train up the grade. For this test I chose my Weaver GP38-2 since it has a big old pitman motor in it and is equipped with ERR cruise and sounds. The consist was made up of 1 weaver box car that has been modified so the locomotive will work without derailing the first car on the 054 curves, and 28 lionel ore cars from the GPD TTOM. Couldn't find the 2001 ore car so it's actually only 29 cars. Went as expected, made it a quarter of the way on the upgrade and then sat and spun the wheels! So I then started looking to add weight to the loco, what could I have laying around that would work? Then I remembered a post from @gunrunnerjohn, and took a page out of his playbook! It  took 30 .45 cal. slugs to make up the hill, LOL!

The locomotive did great after that, but here's the thing: it pulled less than an amp on flat ground but increased to 2 amps on the incline! So probably not something I would do for any amount of time, but was neat anyway. Should not be as bad when the layout is actually built since the grade will be longer and therefor less steep.

Nice test, Darrell.  Yes I have engines that will draw over 2 amps pulling a train up a hill.  I don’t make that a habit by any means.

I was able to score some more 072 Super Snap track, so I reworked the plan to have all 072 curves. It makes a tight fit even tighter but I think its doable.

The plan looks like a nice run!

Thanks Mark! Anderson just installed the new windows and I'm currently removing the old tile so I can install level flooring LOL. Some sky blue paint on the walls and construction can start! Starting to get a little antsy, want to run trains!

It sounds like it will be soon!

Maybe not too soon! This is taking longer than I thought and I now have a nice blister in the web of my right thumb!

The main problem is the thinset is twice as thick as the tile and seems to have quite the affinity for the concrete floor!

No "Likes" for that message!  Ouch!! 

Darrell, That is a good looking track plan!

@Darrell posted:

Maybe not too soon! This is taking longer than I thought and I now have a nice blister in the web of my right thumb!

The main problem is the thinset is twice as thick as the tile and seems to have quite the affinity for the concrete floor!

OUCH!

Are you doing this by hand or using a chipping hammer with a scaling chisel blade?
Once you get it all off do you need to level the slab? Lot's of self-leveling pour products out there.

The track plan looks good too.

Bob

@EMD posted:

Darrell, That is a good looking track plan!

Thanks!

Bob, I have a hammer drill (set to hammer only) and a 2" tile chisel bit. The tile pops right off, no problems there. I will be installing a 'floating' type vinyl plank floor, doesn't have to be perfect level, just mostly flat, LOL.

Darrell, your flooring will make for a nice room when you are done.

My wife wanted me to install tile flooring in my 11x11 train room.  Fortunately the tiles ma-in-law’s builder left behind were of 4 different sizes, and I couldn’t make them work without cutting, of which I have no experience.  I left the floor bare concrete and built the layout on it.  It really doesn’t look very nice, but I am only looking at the trains and scenery anyway.

@Darrell posted:

Bob, I have a hammer drill (set to hammer only) and a 2" tile chisel bit. The tile pops right off, no problems there. I will be installing a 'floating' type vinyl plank floor, doesn't have to be perfect level, just mostly flat, LOL.

The foam under-layment will absorb minor bumps. Hang in there, slow and steady wins the race.

Might I suggest renting a bigger tool for a couple days? I've used a Hilti TE-75 with a 4" chisel and made quick(er) work of a similar job.

Not in too much of a hurry, still have to patch and paint the walls, move lights, patch, and paint ceiling, then lay new flooring. Want to make the room nice in case we ever have to rent it out as a studio apartment ( something I don't ever want to do myself, don't want the headache of being a landlord, but the CFO insists ). I probably should have rented a bigger tool for the job, but on a budget and now I'm two-thirds done anyway. It will get there and it will be a very nice train room! Just hope the layout turns out at least as nice as the room, LOL!

Darrell

I have enjoyed reading about your coming model railroad and your ways of making a layout fit your unusual layout area features.  I am a big fan of reversing with my layout have two reversing loops on an oval and figure 8, two more on a double dog bone and recently found a way to add a Y.

Just to get you thinking about reversing your trains:  The nearness of the left loops bottom and the bottom right loops left side, both near the upper right corner of your bed look.  This looks like an easy place to add two switches and short track to make a way to reverse your trains.

Just a thought.

Charlie

Reversing will be by "Hand of God" method, the layout actually is designed with one direction running since the downgrade will be steeper than the upgrade. This was intentional so I could run the occasional stupid long train,LOL. The area between the curves is the command station and as such I want to avoid any type of duck under or lift out to access it.

Progress on the floor has been made!

Darrell, the floor looks great!

Thanks! Now I can start the electrical and walls.

I think you have really gotten the hard part done.  The thought of stripping everything off that floor still makes me cringe! 

I think you are correct,  it took 9 days total to get that much done. Still have the closet floors to do, but want to get the electrical done while the cooler weather is here in az, gets really hot in that attic most of the year!

My attic gets really hot in Northwestern Pennsylvania, I can’t imagine yours!