Plexiglas

[Joe323]

I am thinking of putting Plexiglas around the edges of my layout (like they do at train shows but only 6" or so high.  My layout would require 4 pieces 2 four foot pieces 1 two foot piece and 1 three foot piece.  Anyone have any idea how much it would cost and would the glass cutting place drill the mounting holes?

[rich1998]

You might try Home Depot tor Lowe's.

Lex

[Jim Banner]

In part, the price will depend on the thickness of the acrylic.  Why not phone the glass shops in your area and ask them about drilling holes and pricing?  Then you will know about the holes and which shop has the cheapest prices.  You may even find a shop that will give you a great deal on some lightly used sheet they have taken of out somewhere.

While you are at it, ask about chamfering the corners or rounding the edges.  Square cut acrylic can scrape and cut human skin, particularly if you are reaching over it.

If people are going to be leaning on or bumping into the acrylic, you might prefer polycarbonate (Lexan) which will not crack at the screw holes.  If you decide to stick with acrylic, be sure to use round head or pan head screws with smooth, flat washers under their heads, and avoid over tightening the screws.  If you use flat head or oval head screws without washers or over tighten the screws, you are very likely to crack the acrylic or have it crack at the screw holes in the future.

Personally, I don't like barriers between me and the trains.  I like to see the trains up close and personal from a nose length away.  I think there must be a lot of people feel that way.  I have noticed at train shows that people spend more time looking at layouts without barriers than ones with barriers.  And my experience with showing trains (about 50 shows over the last 20 years) has been that operator error has caused far more damage to trains than the public ever do.

If you are worried about your trains hitting the floor and being damaged, there are other solutions.  One is to make your table a little lower.  Another is to use some carpet around the layout (just make sure people cannot trip on the carpet and fall on your layout!)  A third way is to run your best trains toward the center of the layout and your less expensive ones toward the outside edge.  The latter is not always possible, but is a feature incorporated into my newest layout, shown as a "work in progress" at a show this past weekend.  If has a inner track, loop to loop in a folded dog bone configuration, that is a minimum of 6" from the table's edge.  It also has a distorted outer oval which is only 2" from the table's edge.  The outer track works as a bit of a psychological barrier protecting the inner track but more importantly, is a simple track where I can set up a train and let young show visitors run it.  That is also the track and train that I can leave running while I wander around the rest of the show, seeing what others are doing.

I don't mean to discourage you from setting up a Plexiglas barrier, only to offer alternatives.

Jim

[ABC]

And my experience with showing trains (about 50 shows over the last 20 years) has been that operator error has caused far more damage to trains than the public ever do.

At a local open house there was an Erie Triplex running on the outside track (w/ DCC & sound), guess what never ran again, and guess what was installed before the next open house, and guess who caused the problem (hint it wasn't the guy running the train). I guess a little girl was being carried by her parent so she could see the layout when an outstretched hand must have got the loco. And the same open house we lost a lot of signal bridges and other building and scenery near the edges to attrition, so near the edges wherever there could be fragile things there is removable Plexiglas (or something similar). There was only one incident the whole open house caused by operator error, and it was upstairs on the 2-rail O scale layout. They were running a southern pacific cab forward and it went by a siding with some cabooses sitting on it, only problem was that there was not enough clearance and the loco took out the caboose due to the overhang.

On my layout at home I did however run my ATSF 4-8-4 into the back of my SP Daylight passenger set and it damaged the front coupler and some of the little detail parts, evidently I was not aware that my one turnout was set for the divergent route and it caught up to my 4-8-4 in the tunnel where it ran into the observation and derailed with the observation, which pulled off most of the other passenger cars except the RPO and baggage.

[NarrowMinded]

I agree with Mr. Banner on the use of lexan, it is slightly more expensive, but well worth the difference. Plexiglas is very brittle, simply over tightening a mounting screw or leaning against it may produce a crack. Lexan is also more scratch resistant.

NM

[buzz]

Hi
I assume (dangerous I know) that plexi glass is what I know as perspex.
If this is the case great for very still water in place of the old fashioned glass idea or making background High rise buildings.
Lousy as a barrier if you hold your tongue wrong while drilling on fastening
it a crack in it will be the result.
There is a more flexible alternative that is less prone to cracking.
I just don't know what the US product name for it would be.
regards John

[Joe323]

Thanks Everyone for the replies.  I will consider Lexan.  I agree with the prior posts that most of the damage I have seen is due to operator error or my finance (or myself) who can be a bit butter fingered in handing trains dropping them. But what I am most worried about is my 11 year old nephew who has expensive Lionel trains and runs them into ground (because his Dad can afford to replace them) running my trains off the track.  What I may do is buy a couple of cheap Life Like locos from the next train show and let him run it into the ground.  I saw a couple of suitable Geeps at the last show for about $ 10 each.  They probably have pancake motors So I don't care if they fly off.

I also bought some rubber kids play mats to put around the outside on the floor.  Maybe that will help.   

[ebtbob]

Joe,

      I have 1/8th inch thick Plexiglas guards around my HO railroad.   I have a couple of pieces on my On30 railroad and need more.    Even with the larger scale,  my pieces are only 2.5 inches high.   The half inch area is where I have drilled the holes so I have a 2 inch high barrier.   I use drywall screws with finishing washers(sometime misnamed grommets).   By using the finishing washers,  #8 by the way,   the head of the screw never makes contact with the Plexiglas,  thus greatly reducing the possibility of cracking the pglass.   By the way,  I elongate the screw holes so that as expansion and contraction happens the glass can stay flat as I do not completely tighten down on the screws.
        You can buy Plexiglas,  not sure about lexan,  at Lowes.   They do cut the Plexiglas for free,  but I am not sure how many cuts can be had for free.  I just bought a piece of p-glass for a display case cover and only needed one cut.

[NarrowMinded]

Home Depot carries various sizes and thickness' of lexan and plexiglas, not sure about Lowes.

NM

[Jim Banner]

ABC,
Sorry to hear about the Triplex.  After learning that it never ran again, I am assuming that it was brass.  Plastic locomotives survive falls much better than brass ones.  When plastic hits concrete, the pieces fly apart, absorbing energy.  When brass hits concrete, the energy goes into bending the brass, usually permanently.  Fixing the plastic is usually a glue job.  Fixing the brass often involves replacing major components like boilers and frames, or to put it another way, you end up building a new locomotive and finishing it up with detail parts from the old one.

So if the Triplex was brass, or even if it was not, why would anyone run it on an outside track with youngsters around?  And if was really valuable, why would anyone run it at all with strangers around?

Interesting the difference in attitude toward youngsters at train shows.  Some exhibitors would like to ban them completely.  Most accept them.  A few of us like to encourage them.  I was showing my new 0n30 layout, still very much under construction, this past Saturday and Sunday.  While I was running a freight train pulled by a Shay on the inside track to show off the helix, I was letting youngsters run a passenger train pulled by a 2-6-0 rod engine on the outside loop.  The youngest was a 4 year old girl who listened intently while I showed her how to make the train go faster, slower, forward, reverse, and lights on and off.  She spent the next 20 minutes running that train like an old pro.  Her parents assured me that she had never run a model train before, and were just as amazed as I was at how well she did.  Best of all, I am sure that when she remembers that show, the thing she remembers best is that SHE got to run a train, all by herself.  Another new modeller in the making? 

buzz,

Plexiglas,  Perspex, Acrilite, Lucite and others are brand names for Poly-methyl methacrylate, usually know generically as Acrylic.  Lexan, generic name Polycarbonate, is a somewhat similar product but it stronger, more flexible, tougher and more expensive than Acrylic.  In thicknesses of 1/2 inch or more Lexan is considered bullet proof.  The only down side of Lexan is that it is softer than Acrylic, making it impossible to polish scratches out of it.  I don't know what it is called in the UK.   

[buzz]

Hi Jim
Polite cough! I am in Kalgoorlie the heart of the Golden Mile West Australia.
How did your spy's find out I was born in the UK
regards John

[Jim Banner]

My apologies.  I realize that is a hanging offence in some parts.  To make it worse, it even says in your profile that you are in Australia.  I guess I made one of those "dangerous assumptions."

Jim

[ABC]

ABC,
Sorry to hear about the Triplex.  After learning that it never ran again, I am assuming that it was brass.  Plastic locomotives survive falls much better than brass ones.  When plastic hits concrete, the pieces fly apart, absorbing energy.  When brass hits concrete, the energy goes into bending the brass, usually permanently.  Fixing the plastic is usually a glue job.  Fixing the brass often involves replacing major components like boilers and frames, or to put it another way, you end up building a new locomotive and finishing it up with detail parts from the old one.
So if the Triplex was brass, or even if it was not, why would anyone run it on an outside track with youngsters around?  And if was really valuable, why would anyone run it at all with strangers around?
Interesting the difference in attitude toward youngsters at train shows.  Some exhibitors would like to ban them completely.  Most accept them.  A few of us like to encourage them.  I was showing my new 0n30 layout, still very much under construction, this past Saturday and Sunday.  While I was running a freight train pulled by a Shay on the inside track to show off the helix, I was letting youngsters run a passenger train pulled by a 2-6-0 rod engine on the outside loop.  The youngest was a 4 year old girl who listened intently while I showed her how to make the train go faster, slower, forward, reverse, and lights on and off.  She spent the next 20 minutes running that train like an old pro.  Her parents assured me that she had never run a model train before, and were just as amazed as I was at how well she did.  Best of all, I am sure that when she remembers that show, the thing she remembers best is that SHE got to run a train, all by herself.  Another new modeller in the making? 

That's nice to hear, some people think all kids are good for is running trains into the ground, but evidently this is not true at all based on your experiences. Yeah, she was brass, luckily she wasn't mine, she belonged to someone else, it was very painful to look at it, it made me wince. At least we were able to repair most of the signal bridges and other structures. They were running it at the open house and earlier that day I remember seeing it on the third mainline in, then I remember seeing it on the outside mainline (and thinking to myself I wonder why he is risking running his triplex on the outside with all these kids around). As the story goes, somebody crossed it over to the outside mainline, so they could run their brand new NYC Dreyfus Empire State Express (made by MTH) on the third track in and the second track was occupied by a Southern Pacific cab forward (Inter-Mountain). It is important to note that only trains running on the outermost mainline were in danger of falling off, but only if somebody blatantly knocked them off, all the other inner tracks were safe. I still feel bad for the O gauge Erie caboose that got taken out while sitting on a siding.

[Joe323]

Just for the record:

I do not believe Kids run trains into the ground intentionally.  Its just that they can be hard on trains especially detailed Model Railroad  trains, as they are not designed for children.

My 11 year old cousin is not a brat.  Its just that sometimes he leaps before he looks so to speak.  My layout is not open to the general public so the lexan/Plexiglas is just an extra precaution.

[steamchugger]

your local building supplier may be able to supply the plexiglass, and you can drill the holes yourself with a bullet bit from black and Decker,just remember to put a back up board behind where your drilling, also LOOK in the phone book under glass to locate a glass comp-  locally in your neighborhood..