Another little project - start to finish

[TrainNut]

Allright, this particular table, I posted quite a few pictures of the finished project quite a while ago but I never posted any photos of the in between process. So, for those of you who have already seen them, I apologize for the repetition.
Again, any Q's? I would be happy to elaborate.

[TrainNut]

First set of 5...

[TrainNut]

Second set of 5...

[webmaster]

I like this one better...

[Papa Bear]

Hey, a nice layout in a beautiful table. Looks great!

[Matthew Mahling]

Thanks for pointing these out to me TrainNut. Can't seem to get enought. A couple of ?s.
Do you build a box and secure it to the bottom of the table?
How deep are the areas under the glass where the layout is constructed?
Thanks.

[TrainNut]

On this particular table, well... hmmm... I thought this was an easy answer but it is kind of complicated the more I think about it. Okay, the first thing I did was cut a piece of plywood to fit inside the existing wood work flush with the bottom of the sides. I then used brass colored L brackets and screws to attach the plywood to the inside sides of the table. The only part of the bracket visible is the small part of the L that hooks underneath the plywood. Below that, attaching to the bottom of the plywood, I created a type of basement space for the wiring. Pictures would be so much easier to describe this... Okay, see picture 1. It's a little blurry but you get the idea. The brown board is separated from the plywood by spacers allowing room for the wiring and to finish it off, I edged it with 1/2" wood corner moulding, and stained the moulding and plywood with the closest color I had laying around in the garage. Phewww.... Then the depth left between the bottom of the glass and the top of the plywood determined the type of layout I would be able to build; in this case a folded figure 8. I placed the crossover at a halfway point between the two to minimize the grades as much as possible (5% max. in one spot) and that left me with just enough vertical room for a bottom cork roadbed, flex track, and boxcar height. On the top, I again had just enough room for a simple bridge structure underneath the track, the track, and again, boxcar height. The whole thing fits with about 1/4" clearance between the top of the boxcar roof and the bottom of the glass. As far as the exact depths were concerned, I could not remember and how to go back and find some of my files. Picture two, hopefully will give you some kind of idea how i came up with the spacing that I did.

[shaygetz]

Nice clean looking piece of work, what a great way to shoe horn in a layout into a small apartment.

[TrainNut]

Are you saying my house looks like an apartment??
I know. No response required. I'm sick as a dog but feeling feeling feisty today and couldn't resist the heckle.

[sabretooth47]

This is totally awesome! -- and it's something I've been debating on trying myself --

what's the size of the table LxWxH? I may try doing this to get my feet wet (seeing that I've never actually built a layout before) -- any pointers?

[LoudMusic]

My wife and I talked about this sort of thing last night. We may be regaining two moderate bedrooms in the near future (ousting our friendly renter) so those rooms will become train layout potential. But I mentioned the desire to make a coffee table layout.

She says that furnature as a layout, like the one TrainNut has made, bring the hobby into a casual setting where guests can admire it. But a 'train room' is a destination. It makes it very 'geeky', and your audience is drastically reduced. Interesting thoughts. So it depends on your goal. Are you modeling for yourself or for others?

I think my long term is to have an HO layout room, a couple N layout furniture pieces, and a large, perhaps O scale garden layout. But that's all rather expensive and a ways down the time line

[Matthew Mahling]

Hey thanks for the under and interior explination. Definately helps me get an idea.

[TrainNut]

Originally Posted by sabretooth47

what's the size of the table LxWxH? -- any pointers?

The outside dimensions of the table are approximately 3'4x2'5x20". On the photo, you can see exactly what I was working with. The outermost red line was my actual plywood size that fit inside of the existing table. The inner red line was the glass opening above and the dashed line inside that was just a setback I tried to maintain to keep any track from going out of sight. You can keep the radius's pretty tight as long as you only plan on running tight radius locomotives. On this table I kept the minimum at 8".
Advice... learn as you go... have fun & feel free to ask as many questions as you need to along the way.

[Matthew Mahling]

Thanks for the illustrations lots more to take in. Definately experimentaion is the way for me to learn.
How do you distinguish a tight turn radius loco. from an other?

[MasonJar]

Locos that can negotiate tight curves tend to be smaller, with 4 axels instead of six (in the case of diesels) or 6 drivers or less (for steamers). Longer steam may be alright if inner drivers are "blind" (i.e. have no flanges).

The best way to find out is to experiment, or to ask about specific locos you are considering for a tight radius track plan.

Andrew