A new layout for the new house!

[wiley209]

Well, this weekend I got to see the new house my family and I will be moving into! The basement is pretty big and roomy, and I found in the area I'll be working in, there will be enough space for the 12x8' U-shape layout I am planning to build...



The entire layout will reuse my two existing plywood pieces and a new 4x8', with a few inches of extruded insulation foam on top of it, and will mostly be using nickel-silver Bachmann E-Z Track.
I'm already planning on where several action accessories will go, as indicated by some of the "regular" sectional track pieces. The "spaghetti bowl" yard on the top left will include stuff like the TYCO Operating Boxcar and Log Dump Car sets and the Life-Like Coal Tipple, and the TYCO manual piggyback loader/unloader will go on the spur on the bottom of the top inner loop. Near the center section next to a crossing there will be the TYCO Freight Unloading Depot (this time I'm placing it near a straight track line), and opposite of that the track will go over a ravine using Bachmann's E-Z Track Blinking Bridge (I saw one in action at a train show a couple weekends ago, and it appears to now use an LED instead of the old incandescent version.) On the bottom is where I will be setting up the Life-Like Logging Mill and AHM Thunder Mountain Logging Company (yep, I'm going to combine both of them!) The spur next to that using sectional snap-track will be TYCO's Operating Hopper Car unloading area. As for railroad crossings, I will be using a few operating ones, including Bachmann's E-Z Track Crossing Gate, along with TYCO's Crossing Gate and Lighted Signal Crossing. I will feature many different types of structures, including Bachmann Plasticville (of course), along with some others from Walthers, AHM, TYCO, IHC, Life-Like, etc. I'm also going to set up a drive-in theater on the bottom extension of the layout (the Walthers Skyview drive-in kit, which is named after the drive-in theater my hometown of Brockton MA used to have!)

I'm already moving my train stuff into the area where the new layout will be set up in the new house!

So there will be quite an interesting mix of old and new on this layout. I may not start the actual construction until after Christmas though, but at least I've got the exciting planning stages to go through! And it also helps I found a great little hobby shop in Hanson MA, near the bowling alley my brother's bowling team meets at every other Sunday, for me to buy stuff from for this new layout.

[WoundedBear]

Wow, that picture brings back memories....lol.

I haven't seen an old heating oil tank in a basement in about 45 years. Didn't even know anyone still used oil to heat with. I can recall as a kid, the smell that would invade the house every time we got topped up.

Sid

[West Bound]

I was in the same situation a few years ago. I had a 4X8 layout with 18" radius. I moved to house with abasement and kept expanding the layout in the basement using 18" and 22" radius. I have gotten larger steam engines and passenger cars that either won't negotiate or look terrible going through the curves.
I am finally biting the bullet and am going to tear every thing down and start completely over with larger curves. I wish I had did this before investing a lot of time and money trying to stay with what was existing.
Don't take offence and this is just a suggestion, but you might want to think about completely redoing your track work now rather than latter since you have the space.

[wiley209]

I was in the same situation a few years ago. I had a 4X8 layout with 18" radius. I moved to house with abasement and kept expanding the layout in the basement using 18" and 22" radius. I have gotten larger steam engines and passenger cars that either won't negotiate or look terrible going through the curves.
I am finally biting the bullet and am going to tear every thing down and start completely over with larger curves. I wish I had did this before investing a lot of time and money trying to stay with what was existing.
Don't take offence and this is just a suggestion, but you might want to think about completely redoing your track work now rather than latter since you have the space.

I could, but I mostly have eight-wheel diesel locomotives, along with steamers that run on 18-radius curves just fine, and rolling stock less than 72 scale feet that handle them really well (the longest are my Silver Series Amfleet cars, and they actually run on the curves just fine, even if they look more like Lionel trains when on the curves, but I don't mind that.)

[wiley209]

Bought some more track for the impending layout and dropped it off at the new house, and took a picture of the track I will be using for the layout so far. I'm going to need a lot more though...


To be fair, I have compiled a list that tallies how many track sections I need and what I already have, along with structures and action accessories. (I already have a bunch, only new ones I plan to get are the E-Z Track Blinking Bridge and the Walthers Cornerstone Skyview Drive-In Theater.)

[Trainman203]

The trouble with layouts and houses is that they keep each other from getting done.😱😂

[Len]

Looking at your layout plan, I hope you're leaving space around the back side to get at any derailments or problem areas.

Len

[wiley209]

Looking at your layout plan, I hope you're leaving space around the back side to get at any derailments or problem areas.

Len

I plan to put the layout in the center of the area so we can walk around all sides of it.

[Trainman203]

I really like walk around layouts.  I wish I had space for one.  They are especially great if a scenic backdrop divider can be done so that you don't see the whole layout at once.  That way the trains seem to come and then go.

[wiley209]

Been moving more train stuff to the new house, and I also bought some more E-Z Track as well, including Bachmann's E-Z Track Expander set (nickel-silver version.)



I bought a new-old-stock set from the late 90s or early 2000s (judging by the E-Z Track logo on the top), but it's virtually identical to the version available on the market today, complete with those older-style bumpers (I don't care if they're not that realistic-looking, as long as they do their job.)

The actual move to the new house is going to be later next week, but I probably won't begin construction on the layout until after Christmas. For this layout, I'm going to follow a lot of the steps Robert Schleicher published in "The HO Model Railroading Handbook" (1998 edition) and those Bachmann Model Railroad Club online magazines.

[jonathan]

Ahh, building a new layout is so much fun! 

I like your track plan, as long as your rolling stock is short as you mentioned.  Have fun and keep us posted.  Thanks!

Regards,

Jonathan

[Trainman203]

I know, Jonathon.  My layout is about 10 years old, 85 percent complete, and I am tired of it and the mistakes I made building it.  It may be time for me to start over too.

[wiley209]

I've got a decent pile of boxes and containers in the corner of the basement section of my new house where my model train layout will be going. It does make for a neat sight: the beginnings of a brand-new model railroading experience!


As for benchwork, the existing 4x8 and 4x4 plywood sections will be handled by the movers we are hiring. I am not going to be reusing the ancient ratty dining table I have set the 4x8 on all these years; I am going to build a new, simple but sturdy frame and legs for the plywood sections (including the new 4x8 I plan to get to complete the "U" shape), somewhat following the steps described in stuff like the Bachmann Model Railroad Club magazine or the old TYCO Layout Expander System manual, but adapting it for a 12x8 "U" shape and for DCC and E-Z Track.
The layout will be semi-permanent, as the scenery will still consist of green and brown ground foam landscaping material on the painted platform, like my previous layout (I still find it looking more realistic than a grass mat or green felt), and I may attach the E-Z Track with some sections of double-sided tape instead of nailing or gluing it firmly to the plywood, should I need to make any adjustments. It'll be the best of both worlds!

[wiley209]

Well, today we got most (if not all) of the materials I need for building the benchwork for the new layout! My carpenter cousin who stopped by to install a railing on our basement stairs also helped transport the material for me.

As I said, I'm going to use extruded insulation foam on the plywood. But Lowe's 2-inch-thickness sections are just two 1-inch sections stuck together, and it looks kind of uneven, but it appears that is so it's easier to put two 2x8 sections together. Also, because the old 4x8 I originally started out with didn't match the thickness of the 4x4 and the new 4x8 (which are 3/4-inches thick, the old one is a half-inch thick) we got a 1/4-inch 4x8 to put over the original 4x8 to even out the height.
In building the train table, I will be combining methods from the World's Greatest Hobby video (as uploaded on YouTube), the Bachmann Model Railroad Club Magazine, and a few other sources (such as Robert Schleicher's "The HO Model Railroading Handbook: Third Edition" and the TYCO Layout Expander System manual). The supports for the 4x4 from the old layout will be reused, but the height will be increased on the legs.

I've also now got around 3/4 of the track I need to build the layout. When the benchwork is finished, I will probably assemble track first before doing any landscaping to see how it looks, then decide where my roads will go. (For that, I will be using 1/8-inch thick Foamcore strips, same with several building sites.) I'm even going to carve and cut a ravine into the foam in which my Bachmann E-Z Track blinking bridge will go over!

Testing it out for this photo. I discovered that compared to the old version Bachmann made from the 70s to the 90s, this one uses an LED light and nickel-silver rails, and doesn't draw as much power from the track thanks to the LED, so it doesn't interfere with the operation of the train as it rolls over the bridge!

[Terry Toenges]

I don't know if you have a Menard's around where you are, but they have a big variety of extruded pieces. I was getting  my stuff at Lowe's until they built the Menard's. I found that some of the stuff at Lowe's was off in thickness. too. If I remember, the blue board was kind of off in size. The Lowe's down here didn't carry the 2" pink board but Menard's does and I can get it in half sheets and quarter sheets.