UPDATED 1-10-21!!!!!!! THE NEW JADA RAILROAD IS FINALLY GETTING UNDERWAY, TRAINS ARE RUNNING !!!!!!!!!!

Sweet!

Very cool Alex, good luck building your layout. It should look great.

Dave

Looks awesome Alex!!  That’s going up FAST!

Thanks for the video tour of your progress, Alex and the description of what's to come.

Very impressive bones and components.

Nice to see your progress, Boy you do work fast! Now to get Gunrunner going again! 

One thing though, looks like tight quarter's for when you have your open houses. Looking forward to that time though.

Nice Alex, looks real good. I like how you have the space between the table tops, I think I would still be able to fit in between 24" or so depending on height, lol. Hope to see more progress soon.

Looks very nice Alex. Glad you’re finally building your layout. I’m sure it will be awesome!

Smart move bracing off of the walls.  Fewer table legs means fewer knee bangs, easier access underneath.

Alex, your layout is off to a great start, looking really good and I'm looking forward to following your progress.  Thanks for sharing with us.

Alex, You made tremendous progress this weekend!  I am building a similar construction braced off the wall with no legs on those sides, but you have really moved fast compared to me!!  Congratulations on getting started!!

Wow Alex you weren’t kidding when you told me you were down there working. Looks great!

HELLO EVERYONE, i thank you all for the very kind comments, I'm actually having a blast building this. Carpentry comes quite easy for me , from when i was around 9 years old my father and uncle started teaching me. They were two master carpenter's, they taught me well. 

 I actually owned and operated a carpentry business for 10 years, plus i do all of my own work at home. The building, electrical, and track laying will be quite fast. I would say two or three more weekends and it will be done, what will slow me down is the scenery work . 

I'm doing things quite different this time around. As you've seen in my video's everything is very easily reachable, also the track plan is quite simple. I'm just looking to enjoy trains running at a slow pace, also most all of the buildings will be flats and WILL NOT  have lights. Only complicated thing will be the turntable, which will have tracks separately powered. 

As for space around the layout, there's two long walkways, one is 16'x  2' wide, the other is 17' x 6'  wide. There's also a 14 x 4 foot spot behind the layout to view it . I kept the 16 x 2 foot space small because I wanted the 17x 6 foot space as large as possible., this is the main hangout area. Unfortunately this layout room is much smaller then my previous layout, my old home i used pretty much the entire basement, which was 25' x 38' . This house the basement is HUGE 80' X 40  but most of this my mom's apt. My layout room is 26 x 14 , which to me is a perfect space to enjoy running trains. Unfortunately It's going to be pretty much impossible to have the huge get together's we had in previous years.

I will keep everyone updated as i make progress. 

Thanks for looking, Alex

Alex, your father and uncle taught you well! 

My dad started me out at that age or earlier, but I couldn't make a straight cut to save my life.  He had no power tools, we did EVERYTHING with muscle power, sawing, drilling, even cutting up trees with a two-man crosscut saw.  I have two cordless drills and a good hand power saw.  I still can't make a straight cut!  

Electrical is a different story, I worked 43 years in electrical/electronics.

Your photographs confirmed my idea for the around the wall benchwork is sound!  Thank you!!!

If it ends up looking anything like your test track it should be awesome!

Except for the upside down NYC tender shell of course

Enjoy your well deserved time with your OWN trains Alex!

RickO posted:

If it ends up looking anything like your test track it should be awesome!

Except for the upside down NYC tender shell of course

Enjoy your well deserved time with your OWN trains Alex!

Rick 

That tender shell is from a ready to run set , it’s actually junk LOL. It’s funny many people ask me about it , because they see a shell just thrown there. I have to get it off my test track and toss it in the garbage. Lol 😂 

Alex 

Alex,

Jack and Diane Touhey will be proud of what you've done with the basement. Never met his wife yet but know Jack quite well from the Sunday night football club and seeing him at the clubhouse pool (if that ever reopens this year).

Looking good as I see you have plenty of indoor time on your hands.

Ted Bertiger posted:

Alex,

Jack and Diane Touhey will be proud of what you've done with the basement. Never met his wife yet but know Jack quite well from the Sunday night football club and seeing him at the clubhouse pool (if that ever reopens this year).

Looking good as I see you have plenty of indoor time on your hands.

Thanks Ted, 

 Jack and Diane would never recognize this entire home LOL we did everything over. Say hello to them for us 

Thanks, Alex 

Hi Alex,  I really like the concept of the layout!  Round the room is what I want to do for my next layout.  So nice that you and Dena are taking care of your mom.  Hope she likes Dean Martin as much as my mom did.  

All the best, Dave

Brewman1973 posted:

Hi Alex,  I really like the concept of the layout!  Round the room is what I want to do for my next layout.  So nice that you and Dena are taking care of your mom.  Hope she likes Dean Martin as much as my mom did.  

All the best, Dave

Yes, I am all for around the walls layouts!! 

PS:  Perry Como was my mum's favorite.

I considered the around the walls idea, but there are so many openings in my space that it wasn't practical.

John, That is a very good point.  Some rooms just aren't designed for around the wall layouts.  What were these builders thinking????? 

Mark Boyce posted:

Alex, your father and uncle taught you well! 

My dad started me out at that age or earlier, but I couldn't make a straight cut to save my life.  He had no power tools, we did EVERYTHING with muscle power, sawing, drilling, even cutting up trees with a two-man crosscut saw.  I have two cordless drills and a good hand power saw.  I still can't make a straight cut!  

Electrical is a different story, I worked 43 years in electrical/electronics.

Your photographs confirmed my idea for the around the wall benchwork is sound!  Thank you!!!

Hi Mark, 

I decided to go with around the wall layout to make things easier, only draw back is i have to have a swing up bridge of some sort. After thinking about either climbing on the layout or crawling under the layout and popping up through cut outs, i would much rather lift a bridge up and walk in. I'm hoping this coming weekend to start on some kind of pass through. 

Thanks, Alex

gunrunnerjohn posted:

I considered the around the walls idea, but there are so many openings in my space that it wasn't practical.

Yes i agree if it's not practical , there's no sense in doing it . There's only one way in and one way out of my layout room, so it was a perfect idea for me 

Alex

I have to ask, are you taking up your work area building the layout, or is that somewhere else?

Alex, Yes I too am going to use a swing up bridge to enter the layout.  Actually two bridges at one location because the tracks will be at different levels.

Well you know what they say Alex, running trains in any way is better than not running trains at all. Space is space. I still have only my tiny Christmas tree set up as there is no space or time currently. See what the future brings as always. As my late mother used to say, "have room for that in the next house."

It looks great!  There's a lot to like about keeping things simple.   Will you be wiring your switches or operating them manually?

Thanks for sharing progress.

-Greg

gunrunnerjohn posted:

I have to ask, are you taking up your work area building the layout, or is that somewhere else?

My work area is located in my 2 car garage. One side is my repair shop the side is for a car or storage. 

Layout room is in the basement , next to my mom's apt.

Alex

Mark Boyce posted:

Alex, Yes I too am going to use a swing up bridge to enter the layout.  Actually two bridges at one location because the tracks will be at different levels.

Hi Mark,

Do you happen to have any photo's of your swing up bridge , if yes can you post them here 

Thanks, Alex

Greg Houser posted:

It looks great!  There's a lot to like about keeping things simple.   Will you be wiring your switches or operating them manually?

Thanks for sharing progress.

-Greg

 

Hi Greg,

A very good question , Most will be manual throws , one or two will be remote. I actually enjoy  throwing my only switches.

Thanks, Alex

ALex

Looks good if not for the home i'd volunteer for a few days to help out. Keep posting pictures and videos.

Stay well

Alex M posted:

Mark Boyce posted:

Alex, Yes I too am going to use a swing up bridge to enter the layout.  Actually two bridges at one location because the tracks will be at different levels.

Hi Mark,

Do you happen to have any photo's of your swing up bridge , if yes can you post them here 

Thanks, Alex

Alex,

I have not built the swing up as only one side of the benchwork has been built.  I have one of the bridges, The Menards 24" single track bridge, that I planned to use before deciding to use it for the swing up.  I still have to figure how I will recess the hinge so it is below track level, and also how to make sure the track won't bind.  I don't want to make them swing down because I will probably bump into the bridge while walking through.  

Mark

Mark,

" I still have to figure how I will recess the hinge so it is below track level, and also how to make sure the track won't bind. "

The trick to making sure your track doesn't bind is to ensure that the hinge pin is above the top of the rail. That way when you lift the bridge, the first motion separates the rail. Mounting low, and the first motion closes the gap between the rails. 

The hinge we used on Geezer Gorge is like: 

My best suggestion is to use scenery or a structure to hide it.

Gilly@N&W posted:

Mark,

The trick to making sure your track doesn't bind is to ensure that the hinge pin is above the top of the rail. That way when you lift the bridge, the first motion separates the rail. Mounting low, and the first motion closes the gap between the rails. The hinge we used on Geezer Gorge is like: 

eBay item number:

253001448111

 

 

 

 

 

My best suggestion is to use scenery or a structure to hide it.

 

 

 

Tom,

I found it, copied the information, and printed.  Thank you very much for the suggestions!!!

Mark

I used gate hinges mounted above the rails on 3/4” plywood, then hid them with some shrubs.

Andy

Hello everyone, 

First i would like to say thank you for all of your input and comments. Hope everyone is safe and healthy. 

I made great progress this weekend, as you will see in the pictures and video. 

Will post photos and pictures shortly.

Thanks for looking, Alex

Looking Good Alex, you're really cruising along!   You'll be running trains in a couple of days!

Alex, Good work.  Nice tips on the lift up section!  I'll be doing one also.  Thank you!!

Alex,

You're getting it done man! Things are moving along very nicely. I'm still new to terminology with certain aspects of the hobby, but what style of bench work would you consider this?

Dave

I see a visitation somewhere in the future, when its safe to travel again  Nice work