What do you think.

[uncbob]

Les, Do what you want! It's your railroad. Have fun. If I could afford one, I'd buy a big turntable and make a complex service center.

He did ask 'What do you think so I assume he wanted inputs

[lescar]

uncbob:

YOU ARE CORRECT, I do want everybody's input, ether good or bad and then from there reply's I take the parts I think would work for me or parts I like.  I've been on enough forums to know that most reply's are taken with a grain assault and are the ideas of the one writing it.  So keep the comments coming. 

Pacific Northern:

Thanks for your input, this is just an over all plan of what I want to achieve and it's going to take a long while to build and will most likely change as it progresses and I come up with new ideas.

Pdlethbridge:

Thanks, I will have fun.  I've been watching the train just go around and around on the oval I have and it gets boring for me, that's why I want a set-up that going to keep me interested and busy anytime I run it.

Thanks all 
Les

[Joe Satnik]

Dear lescar,

Will you have access all around the layout?  It'll be a pretty long reach (over 6 feet to upper right outside curve) if you don't. 

You might want to leave your roundhouse roofs removable.  (Don't glue them down.)

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik   

[lescar]

Joe:

Thanks for the tip, and yes, I'm designing the bench work with caster's so it can be moved around the garage so access should not be to much of a problem (I hope).  Can you expound a little more on the roof part, I'm assuming it's for accessibility but I'm a little unclear why I would need it, a few examples would be real nice.

Thanks 
Les

[Joe Satnik]

Dear Les,

Yes, it is for accessibility. 

It would allow you to retrieve derailed or incapacitated roundhouse engines from the back side of the layout.   

Otherwise, you would have to crawl onto your layout, reach over your turntable and into the front of your roundhouse to get at them.

To keep beer bellies from crushing rolling stock on nearby track, John Armstrong recommends no more than 24" to the furthest track from an edge. 

I think that most people are a bit taller than when John wrote the first edition of his book "Track Planning for Realistic Operation (3rd edition is the latest), and I have a 6' wingspan and a heavy duty belt, so I think I can get away with 30" reach.   

(This allows me to break John's rules in my recommendation of 5' (=60") wide ping-pong tables (= 30" reach) when accessible from both long sides.)

Your furthest reach is 33-1/2" to the edge of the turntable pit leading in to the most clock-wise roundhouse stall. 

Find a table top at the height you are going to build, throw down a yardstick and see what your comfortable reach length is...

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

[lescar]

Joe:

Understanding the why really helps,    The layout is going to be about 40" high with the casters and me being 5'7" and Farley skinny, so the beer belly is not to much of a problem. 

With the layout being movable will help with the reaching and having a good step stool will also allow a little more reach, I think I should be able to reach the center (I hope).   Will soon find out, in the next week or so I'll start the new framework.

Thanks again 
Les

[Doneldon]

You can make some small removable plexiglass "walls" to guard the straightaways.  There is information in the April MR, or maybe it's the March RMC.  Also, a 12" turntable is nominally 90' in HO, plus there's a fudge factor since the wheelbase is considerably less than the total length of a locomotive, so you should be just fine with the smaller turntable.  That will free up a surprising amount of space (and money, too).

[Joe Satnik]

Dear Les,

A step stool ... AND an overhead monkey bar....(Cue chimpanzee scream sound effect).

Prone gantry idea (to extend reach):

Feet         head
----------------
l/                                               
l   layout---------------(side view)
l\
O----------O
wheels

Hmm. Reminds me a little bit of a grocery shopping cart..

Skinny?  ....Just wait (weight) a few years...

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

[Jhanecker2]

Actually Somebody does make a  moveable device for extending over layouts whereby one can leanover in a prone position to reach distant objects.  It is like a cross between a moveable staircase & an engine removal crane . It is painted bright red and I can't remember where I saw the article , it was in a catalog. It might have been in the Walter's reference catalog.   John II.

[pipefitter]

Actually Somebody does make a  moveable device for extending over layouts whereby one can leanover in a prone position to reach distant objects ...

Yes I've seen a picture of it in a model rr magazine.

Robert

[the Bach-man]

Dear John,
It's the "Topside Creeper" and it's available from Micro-Mark:
http://www.micromark.com/TOPSIDE-CREEPER-STEP-LADDER-SUPPORT-SYSTEM,8854.html
Remember, Dave not included!
Have fun!
the Bach-man

[ryeguyisme]

keep in mind you shouldn't really have the roof of the roundhouse glued, you should keep it free so you go in there from the top to 'rescue' a loco

[lescar]

Doneldon:

Yes, I've been looking at using acrylic for when it's all done, but for now 1/8" flex board around the edges raised 2" above the layout just enough to protect the trains from falling  and stuff from being knocked off.

As for the turntable, the Walters I'm planning on using (130', 933-2829) is actually a little cheaper then the 90' on the few site's I've researched, as was suggested earlier in this post by hotrainlover, plan for later expansion so I wont need to re-buy.  If things go as planned and as time progresses it will become bigger.  The turntable is down the road a ways anyway.

A step stool ... AND an overhead monkey bar....(Cue chimpanzee scream sound effect).

Joe:

Vary funny but not to bad of an idea especially with my lack of good balance,    and hopefully I won't need anything like the topside creeper for a while, I would buy it, if Dave was included.  Once I get the framework built, I can figure out what I can use safely and go from there.

Skinny?  ....Just wait (weight) a few years...

As for the few years, I'll let you in on a little secret, I'll be the BIG 50 in August. (god I'm getting old).    But not as old as some here, which equals out in experience. 

Ryeguyisme:

Yes Joe explained to me about the roof should not be secured and will probably not secure any of the roof's that have track going inside.   

Thanks all
Les