Loco Bill's new indoor layout construction.

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Image 1


My combined Colorado & Kansas and Missouri Western Engine facility is stub ended at my workbench. it is also now my main charging station for locomotives which have internal non removable batteries. It is also track powered to test DC locomotives being worked on.  In spite of being almost 100% battery powered I do have some switchers which are DC. The mainline for now will not have track power, if ever.

Image 2


One of my major additions has been the new railyard.  I really wanted a run through yard, but had to settle for a stub end yard ending at the right side of my workbench.  These two tracks coming off the main are my yard leads. They cross over the aisle on a hinged bridge to the yard. In the distance you can see the crossovers that allow trains from the yard to use either main.

Image 3


Here is a long view of the new yard.  The yard had proven great for switching and making up trains. The long double leads serve as a runaround track and the track on the right allows for a lot of room to make up really long trains. The stub tracks on the right with the plow will be covered by a car repair shed. The plow was kitbashed from a Bachmann eight wheel caboose. 

Image 4


here is a close up of what will be a car repair shop. I haven't decided yet but the car repair shop will probably be open sided to show detail. The box car shed and the tank are from parted out junk cars I found left in the crawl space when we moved in. The box car shed will probable be moved elsewhere once the shed gets built. You get a little better view of the plow kit bash as well. The yard will also be track powered and the wires are just temporarily in place in this picture and will be completely hidden.

Image 5


MW 202, an NW 2, sits on the caboose track. The piggy back flats with the green Missouri Western Trailers are Bachmann Flat cars modernized by removing the tie rods adding deck rails, Brettendorf trucks and a modern brake wheel, they are then weighted enough to be used anywhere in a long train. The cabooses on the shelf are from left to right a kit bashed drovers caboose, a shorty one window caboose and the stock eight wheel caboose. The yard stubs on the right side of the the workbench which is convenient for moving cars to and from the shelves.  I would have liked one additional yard track, but so far the existing tracks have provided a lot of great switching fun.

Image 6


Even with one less track the distance between tracks is still tight.  The aluminum uncoupler rod is a made from a thin piece of aluminum I bought at Lowe's and bent with pliers to an L shape. Works very well in the tight spaces of the yard. I use both Bachmann and USA Trains couplers since they are very compatible together without modification. I do put USA TRAINS couplers on many of my modernized Bachmann cars like the the piggyback flats in the background.  Because of the height of the yard, I have to use a stool to reach over all the tracks.  I will build a step up shelf on the floor the entire length of the yard to eliminate the need for moving a stool around. 

Image 7


At this point I will go around the main line showing the newer construction, industry ideas, and operations possibilities as we go.  Looking back at Photo 2 of this update we see the yard track leading out to the double track mainline and a crossover that allows trains to move to either main line from the yard. The track then parallels the aisle, curves over the lower main and over to the wall on the other side of the room heading down grade back toward the the yard and engine facility end of the layout.

Image 8


As we continue on the main along the outside wall past the temporary mural we see the crossover here which allows trains or locomotives going to the engine facility to enter from either main line. It also allows switching at the oil refinery seen in the very far right.

Image 9


Image 10


The oil refinery will be one of my major industries. The track in front of the pickup trucks is the lead track to the engine facility.  My plan is to apply a photo mural of the Commerce City, Colorado oil refinery to the wall with only the real loading platform and a few actual storage tanks in the foreground to add depth.  I staged these photos to illustrate my scale problem.  The tank cars on the left are 1:22.5 Bachmann standard line cars.  The pickup on the left is 1:24th scale and it along with 1:24 scale buildings are what I used to go along with the 1:22.5 scale trains on my old indoor layout.  On the right are the 1:29th scale tanks cars and the red pickup is 1:32nd scale is what I used on the outdoor layout.  In my train world, I use my Bachmann standard line narrow gauge trains to represent standard gauge rather than the narrow gauge.  So now I only have one layout for both sizes.  I can decide what scale to use for people, buildings and vehicles.  So far I am leaning to using 1:24 scale for the buildings, 1:32 scale for vehicles, since there are many available. As for people I will go with whatever looks decent with whatever scene I am doing.

I am going to stop for now, but as always I am open to comments, questions, criticism, and ideas you may have about what I am doing.  Everything I learned about model railroading I learned from others, and even at 75 years old I am still willing to learn.

More coming soon.

[A Trainman]

Looks great Bill!
Your fortunate to have room inside to build.

Almost all of my rolling stock and locomotives are Big Haulers and I have been building Colorado Model Structures ( which holdup very nicely outdoors, year round, for a couple years now). I have been using 1/24 scale metal die cast vehicles, but they look a little to small close to the locomotives. I wish Bachmann would come out with a line of 1:22.5 or 1:20.3, early 20th century vehicles, that would go with their large scale trains.
I think that's a niche that needs to filled and many molders would love to have them. 

Once again, looking Good!

Adam

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Adam,

The vehicle situation for 1:22.5 and 1:20.3 is truly a problem.  You are absolutely right that 1:24 Scale vehicles are just too small for the above scales.  Many years ago I thought 1:18 might work and I bought a few, but they were just way too large and didn't fit well even with the buildings available and meant to be used with 1:22.5 or 1:20.3.   I also have several Colorado Model Structures buildings and I like them a lot, but them seem undersized for 1:22.5 and 1:20.3.  They seem a much better fit for 1:29th.   Maybe when 3D printing gets cheap, we can make our own cars!! 

Bill

[Ray Dunakin]

Thanks for taking the time and effort to post your progress, Bill! Looks good so far. I agree with you on the advantages of modeling indoors! If I had room for it, I'd have an indoor layout. On the other hand there are some things that are easier done outdoors, and you can't beat natural sunlight for photographing the layout.

[charon]

All,
Regarding the vehicle situation, I just use the old Hubley kits, which I think were repackaged later under the Revell brand. These often show up at train shows and on auction sites.
They were 1/20 scale, easy to assemble, metal kits of cars from the 1920's and 30's.
Chuck

[nymark]

Thanks for sharing this great indoor Large scale. I just started in my backyard with my new 3 truck shay and really like running my train outside. I also have a pretty extensive n scale in my workshop out back. When I bought my house the shop had a bad roof and lots of leaks. I patched them but they always came back. Last week I decided to do it right and tore off the roof and replaced it with new roofing. I used to do a bit of construction work in my 20's but at age 50 my recovery time is about a week. I lift weights and keep in shape but my time doing that kind of work is coming to an end. Planning ahead for getting older is a good idea with this hobby. Your indoor is fantastic and I love the mountain mural with the Annie!

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Thanks to all or the comments and suggestions.

I will now continue with the mainline tour.

Image 11



After passing the oil refinery the mainline crosses the aisle back onto the center island over this hinged bridge. The bridge swings down on a piano hinge when the layout is not in operation. I had no choice but to do a curved bridge given the size of the basement. I will probably use a curved deck girder attachment to make it at least look like a bridge.  In the far background you can see another bridge leading from the yard to the main where we started. It too will get the girder bridge treatment.

Image 12


After crossing the bridge the track will plunge into a tunnel under the upper mainline. I plan to make the scenery here go up the ceiling with the upper mainline carved out of the cliff edge. Try to picture a double tunnel portal surrounded by the scenery. In my mind I originally planned for a single track main and tunnel portal going under the upper main.  In the end I went for a double track mainline so I could run trains in both directions and do switching at the same time even without a friend present assisting with the operation.  As it stands the layout can be run by four operators when friends do come over.  Two for mainline and two for switching. 

Image 13


The tunnel will end just past the switch and the main will curve left into another tunnel under the upper mainline and on to the bridge to the crawlspace. The right hand switch completes the reverse loop back up to the main.  I will show another view at the other end when we reach that point.

Image 14


This is an alternate view of the main showing how it will again go under the upper main cross the aisle and proceed into the crawl space.  In this view the bridge is in the down position.

Image 15


Here we see a closeup of the aisle bridge in the down position.  It too will get the girder bridge treatment.

Image 16


We are right at th point where the track enters the crawl space The mainline proceeds to the far wall of the crawl space turning right along the far wall. The switch is for a holding siding which will run all along the mainline. I will use it as a staging track for one long train or two short trains. This will allow me to surprise visitors when they see one train go into the space, but a different one out the other end. The siding is the last track to be laid and after that I will go all around getting kinks out and otherwise make sure all track is reliable and true. 

Image 17


Interior view of the crawl space trackage along the far wall and the turn along the back wall as it heads to the exit of the crawl space. 

Image 18


The switch to the left will connect back to the entrance switch completing the holding track. I had thought about putting a run through yard in the crawl space, but at my age I stay out of there as much as possible.

Image 19


There will be another tunnel portal at the exit. There will also be a charging station for battery packs and for locomotives with onboard batteries here. On the wall to the right I will have a backdrop photo of a grain elevator complex. This crossover allows trains from either main track to service the sidings shown in the next photo. In most cases I put crossovers in many places to allow not only for switching needs, but to also function as a passing siding is some cases.

Image 20


After exiting the crawl space the main curves to the right back onto the center island. On the left of the main MW 4-6-0 #97 sits on a stub siding that has two tracks. To the left of the locomotive I will have a grain elevator mural and diorama. It will have some detail placed in front of the mural to give depth. The very far ends of the tracks(past the window) will be hidden by the scenery and also serve as storage or staging tracks. 


In a few days I will post  the final pictures of this January Update.

Bill

[smcgill]

WOW Bill   
You have been very busy for sure!
The layout looks great!
How are you enjoying the new track plan ?
Keep these great pics and updates coming.

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Thank you, coming from you that is a great complement.   The track plan has worked out great.  The big change from my original plan was to go double track all the way around on the mainline.  Once I went double track, I had to rethink what to do about crossovers.  On some of the original trackwork I had to go back and put in crossovers so I could switch industries and the yard from either mainline track.  The operational aspect have been above expectations and lots of fun. So I now need to get into the crawl space and get that staging track done.   

I wish I could have done the layout without the hinged bridges over the aisles in three places.  That has been a bit of a pain, but in reality I had no other choice because of the space constraints and the need to maintain the 10 foot diameter minimum I established from day one.

I do feel pretty good about getting this far in only a year, especially at Age 75.  In many ways it has been good exercise.

As soon as the doctor approves, I will get back in the crawl space!!

[fhenn]

Bill I want to thank you for last edition. I have been out with a bad back since last June, of last year. Shots have made quite of bit of improvement, finally was able to go up and down stairs right in December. But could not bend over .So the out side layout had become weed garden galore. Went  out a sprayed the weeds today git some more edging material. Hopefully I will be back on track in March. Thanks for the renewed ambition. I fiqured out that growing old is not for sissies 

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Hi fhenn, 

Glad you are doing better, hang in there and don't give up on the railroad.  Let us know how it goes by March!!  I think being on this board has helped me a lot.  Seeing what everyone is doing keeps me going!!

[doug c]

Thanks Bill for taking the time to show the world what can be accomplished indoors in 'G'  !! 

Your world (trackside) is shaping up to be a very busy one 

doug c