Small Sodor Display

[Len]

The budget doesn't allow for ordering everything at once, so I ordered the track for the two basic ovals to get Thomas and Percy running at the same time. I'll be hitting the 'Borg' for some 2" pink insulation foam later this week. Once I have that, I'll start clearing out the old HO stuff.

Len

[Len]

Discovered the narrow gauge hill would create some interference problems with the S-Scale track, so I made some changes to the layout. Brendam Docks has being relocated, and the narrow gauge line will run around the perimeter. An interchange between the narrow gauge and standard gauge lines will go where Brendam Docks was on the old design. The spur on the inner loop was eliminated to make more room for buildings and such. Dealing with some issues on the main display delayed the start of construction, but I should be able to start pulling up the old HO stuff in a week or so. What do you think?



Len

[Len]

Score! There was a local train show yesterday, and I was able to get enough Kato track for the 'narrow gauge' loop, and then some, for just $45! I had planned to use R315 curves, but all they had was R348, so I snagged them instead. Should make things easier for the 'little guys'. About the only thing I'll have to order for that are the power feeders.

I start the 'tear down' of the old HO area tomorrow. I'll take some pics and post them when I get some time later in the week.

Len

[Len]

Tear down of the old HO area is under way. The corner area:


And the area closer to the S-scale track. The diagram is my 'cut sheet' for the new plywood deck:


About all that's left is the Thomas and the old track. That can't go away until I get a temporary track for Thomas set up in the center area of the main table, here:


I'm having to move a bunch of buildings around to do that, so I'm "rezoning" and creating a 'business district' in one area. Residential will move towards the 'Sodor' end. While I'm at it, I've started hooking up some of the building lights:


It's a little hard to see, but the station lights are finally on:


Once I get the temporary track for Thomas, which may become an On30 loop later, set up, I've got the track and paint for 'Sodor' waiting for the expanded table top:


Len

[Chaz]

Thanks for the pictures Len, looking forward to seeing progress!

The new trackplan looks great too.  Nice basic setup and it would work great for the display you are aiming for. 

Sorry for the lack of response but please continue to post pictures and keep us posted!

[Len]

Next step is getting the area for the temporary Thomas loop primed and painted, and while the paint is drying running the wiring for the temporary loop. They only pay me to come in one or two days a week, so there won't be much new to see for a week or so. Once the temporary loop is in, I can start pulling the old extruded foam, etc., and cutting up the new plywood.

The original used 1/2" blue foam. I plan to use a layer of 1/4" pink foam, with two 1" layers on top of it. That will give me the height I need for the Brendam dock side, while letting me put channels between the 1" layers for the wiring. I also find the pink extruded foam isn't as "squishy" as the blue foam. 2-1/4" of foam will also raise the height to the bottom of the surrounding plexiglass, making it easier for the little ones to see what's going on.

Len

[Griffin (TheBlueSnowplow)]

Len, that looks awesome! Keep up the photos, this looks like an amazingly fun project!

[Len]

Got the tempory track for Thomas set up on the main platform:


Which let me pull the old HO track so next week I can start removing the foam from the old HO area, and clean every thing up for installing the new deck and foam for 'Sodor'.

My biggest problem so far is the main layout deck was supposed to be 42" above the floor. But I was out sick the week the support structure, seen through the access hatch, was built, and someone changed the height to 36". That might have save a little material, but it makes running wires, etc., underneath a royal pain.

Len

[Len]

Well, I managed to get the old HO track and wiring removed. Once I had the old track out of the way, I did some measuring and discovered for the larger 'Sodor' table, the relays the buttons activate would have to be relocated. Here they are in their new location:



The buttons connect to the terminal block, with jumpers to the relay connections. The green wire is the 'common' for all the buttons. Track power connects to the relays through the blue terminal blocks in the upper left and right of the relay board. One track power lead connects directly to of the power pack DC connections. The other goes to one side of a blue terminal block, the other side of the blue terminal block connects to the other power pack DC connection. Push a button and the relay makes the connection allowing power to flow to the track. The trimmers labeled 1, 2, 3 & 4 at the bottom adjust the timer for how long power will be applied.

For comparison, this is the relay panel for the main layout. Because of the higher currents involved with 'O' and 'S' locos, a two relay setup was used:



Again, the buttons connect to the terminal strip to the left of the relays. They are jumpered to the small relays just to the right of the terminal strip. The small relays trigger the high current capable relays to their right. The high current relays connect to the track in a manner similar to the HO relays, and also have the timer for controlling how long each train will run.

The brown wire coming out the front of the case is for the temporary 'Thomas' track on the main table. Once I have the new 'Sodor' area up and running, I need to come back and remount the main layout relays. You can see they're a bit worse for wear after almost 15 years of use.

Len

[Len]

Just a quick update. After pulling the foam from the old HO area, I made an unexpected discovery. Iit had been laid directly over old "liquid water' lakes, old plaster cloth, and other odds & ends from the original layout construction, creating all kinds of 'humps & bumps'. So I'll be spending the next week or so cleaning that mess off so the new deck will lay flat, instead of starting on the new deck.

More pics when I can actually start laying the new deck and foam.

Len

[Len]

A bit of progress! I finally got the old scenic "gunk" off the old deck, and was able to start on the new one.

First I had to install supports along the walls for the new plywood edges. I should have hired a contortionist to get at some of the locations I needed to put drywall anchors in:


Once that was done, I was able to get the new primary deck plywood in place and screwed down. I still need to do a couple of 'filler' pieces for scenery support, but they're not critical to laying track.

Looking from 'Brendam Docks' side towards the 'button wall':


The narrow gauge/standard gauge interchange will be just the other side of the blue line:


This is where the hill with the narrow gauge line was originally supposed to go, but the clearances with the S-gauge track just didn't work:


The next step will be to lay out the track, mark the locations where feeder wires will go, and drill the holes in the deck. Then I can start laying foam on top of the plywood. Things should go pretty fast from that point.

[Chaz]

Len, I really do like seeing the progress on your layout.  Keep up the good work!

[Len]

A bit more progress, although it took a lot longer than I figured on to get all the track out of it's packaging. At any rate, I laid out the basic loops, marked them on the plywood, and marked the feeder locations. One bit of aggravation, the track pieces with the removable roadbed edge to connect to the switches got backordered. So I had to approximate the spur locations for now. Next, I take the track up, drill the feeder holes, put some primer on plywood areas that will be exposed later, eg., Brendam "sea". Then I can start laying the foam base. Some more pics...

The track finally unpacked:


Rough layout of the narrow gauge line:


I'll probably put a 'flat' of building fronts between the narrow gauge line and the S-Scale loop here:


The interchange between the narrow gauge and standard gauge operations will go here:


And of course, Brendam Docks. Cranky will sit between the narrow gauge and standard gauge tracks. The Scale Scenes T030 cargo ship will sit in the wide plywood area in front of the narrow gauge track:


Keep in mind that once this is done, the track will be raised up level with the bottom of the windows by 3" of pink foam on top of the plywood.

Len

[Len]

I lost the room the shopping center was letting me use as a work shop, so progress has slowed some. I did make a bit of progress today, so a few more pics of what's going on.

First thing was to prime and seal the few areas of plywood that will be coming in direct contract with plaster cloth, and/or other water based scenery material.

The Brendam side:


Near the Narrow/Standard Gauge interchange area:


You can see the two layers of foam used to build up the track height to make it easier to see by the little people clearly here. I'm still trying to decide whether to fill the grey triangle area for a narrow gauge extension, or just taper it down into the rest of the layout:


Raising the base for the 'Sodor' area is creating a valley for the S-Gauge track to run through. Which is actually a good thing, since the kids like to see trains "disappear", then show up again somewhere else:


This gives a good idea of what the Brendam Docks area will look like.  The white primed area will become the 'sea', where the cargo ship will sit. The vertical face of the foam will will get the Scale Scenes "concrete" dock/sea wall edge treatment that can be seen here: https://scalescenes.com/product/t016-dock-edge/


Next time I take all the foam off, vacumn all the bits and pieces up, and start glueing things down. Once the primary pieces are in place, I can do the 'bit and pieces, fill in the gaps' stuff.

Len

[Len]

Still looks the same, so no new pics, but I managed to get the main foam pieces glued down today. So next week I can do some 'bits & pieces' fussy work, then start on some scenery base.

Len