A new beginning inspired from my old Central Midland Layout


beiland said:
I thought that (the photo you show) might be termed a certain frame base with risers that support a plywood sub roadbed?
montanan said:
Back when I started this layout almost 30 years ago (or possibly more, time does fly by) this is what cookie cutter was. A plywood roadbed on 1x4 risers screwed to the bench work.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Not that it really matters :eek:, but back when I started 45 years ago, the photo shown would have been simply termed open frame construction. Back then, a "cookie cutter" would have started with a flat sheet of plywood on a frame holding the bulk of the track. To create grades that same sheet of plywood would be cut along the edges of the track and blocked up rising above the main surface, but was still connected to it. I had always assumed the name came from the similarity of rolling out cookie dough (the plywood layout) and then cutting the cookies (the elevated portions) from it. As such cookie cutters layouts were usually 4x8 or 5x9 made from a single sheet of wood.

I had a friend who did this but he had so many elevated portions the two major portions of the board were only connected by about 1" around the edge and a 3" block in the middle where he had a bridge over the lower track. Yipes. Very unstable. Had to mount it on a 2x4 frame to keep it structurally sound.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I have seen it called a few things over the years, but what counts is that for me it works and allows me to have changes in elevation and it is easy to work scenery into.
 
montanan said:
I have seen it called a few things over the years, but what counts is that for me it works and allows me to have changes in elevation and it is easy to work scenery into.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah, I don't think anyone would argue that this method isn't the most flexible for both rising and falling elevations. On the other hand it doesn't work well for temporary constructs because that can waste too many materials, nor for children's layouts where they like to have flat spaces to place structures and run their die cast cars about.
 
You are right about there being a waste of materials. If done carefully, you can keep waste down by planning cuts and shapes. This isn't for kids. When my grand kids come over they do have to be reminded that the layout is not a toy for them to play with. It took a while for them to figure that out, but I let them fun the trains and they now actually enjoy switching not that they got the hang of things.

For a child layout a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood is probably they best.
 
Speaking of kids running the trains, particularly your 'valued ones'. I saw a neat solution offered. Give them there own train. You can buy them a cheap engine that is specifically denoted as their very own loco. Then they will want to run that one, and leave yours alone.
 
beiland said:
Speaking of kids running the trains, particularly your 'valued ones'. I saw a neat solution offered. Give them there own train. You can buy them a cheap engine that is specifically denoted as their very own loco. Then they will want to run that one, and leave yours alone.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but today, even 2 year olds expect all the bells and whistles (specially the whistle)
 
I am heading out to California tomorrow as long as we can beat the snow storm coming our way, I think I should be Ok.

We will be in San Diego for the latter part of the trip and that is where we fly out of. Found out they have a Model Railroad Museum there and we are going to check it out. Always open to new ideas and I may pick up a few.

So for now there are no updates until I get back but I will be checking in.
 
santafewillie said:
I have heard that it is one of the best in the USA.
Click to expand...
I've heard that it is huge but mostly a plywood prairie covered in dust and that they are more concerned with expanding rather than finishing/maintaining what has been started.

So I will be waiting with baited breath until Ericsauto gets back with a real current 1st hand report.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Iron Horseman said:
I've heard that it is huge but mostly a plywood prairie covered in dust and that they are more concerned with expanding rather than finishing/maintaining what has been started.

So I will be waiting with baited breath until Ericsauto gets back with a real current 1st hand report.
Click to expand...

I will give you a report when I get back.
 
Ericsauto said:
I will give you a report when I get back.
Click to expand...

Ok I am still in San Diego. Leaving this Sunday. I did not have a chance to go to the Model Railroad Museum in Balboa park and asked around and people said it is large but not well maintained.SO I am not going there.
Tonight I went to Old Town San Diego and I ran upon a Model railroad Museum there called the Old Town Model Railroad Depot at 2415 San Diego Ave #107, San Diego, CA 92110. I walked and the door and I was amazed. First the people were extremely nice and it was FREE. They asked for you to drop a donation in a box to keep it running if you liked it.This was an "O" Scale layout but was very unique. They owner was there showing me around the layout and he was very interesting to talk to. He maintained this layout very well. Lots of lights , animation and some good detail. The layout cover a 3000 square foot room and I just thought he did a great job laying out all the buildings. He had funny scenes and hidden things for you to look for.( Big Foot, Smokey the Bear , etc.) Based on the late 50's and early 60's , he had some newer items on the layout you had to look for. I took a lot of pictures that I can't upload yet because of the crappy internet at the hotel here. I will try to post some.
Here is a link to a Google walk through:

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.751...C8lyA!2e0!3e2!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1?hl=en-US

Enjoy it I know I did.
 
First time I've seen a Google walkaround. I'm sure I saw a model of Scrooge Mc Ducks money bin on top of a hill, but then lost it.
 
Iron Horseman said:
I've heard that it is huge but mostly a plywood prairie covered in dust and that they are more concerned with expanding rather than finishing/maintaining what has been started.

So I will be waiting with baited breath until Ericsauto gets back with a real current 1st hand report.
Click to expand...


Well I did go to the Sand Diego Model railroad Museum in Balboa park today.

Ok yes it was dusty but let me tell you this is a massive layout. Not only do you see this one but you see a large O gauge, N gauge , and G scale train layouts. They each have their own special scenes. I think the Ho scale is a constant work in progress. They operate it like a real railroad. The biggest problem is that they are waaaaay to serious about it. They are not very easy to talk too. This is a club and they really don't want to take the time to talk to you if you have a question. You don't see a lot of trains running on this massive layout. They have a large staging area and dispatch area. I enjoyed looking at the complexity of it and appreciated it.

Cost me $30.00 for 3 people and I only had a little over an hour to look at everything. I enjoyed it and it is worth the $10.00 a person, just don't hope to talk to anyone. They have glass pretty much all the way up and it is a little difficult to take pictures.But I did manage to get some so here are a few.

DSC_1631.jpg DSC_1636.jpg DSC_1642.jpg DSC_1653.jpg
 
How about a quick update

OK I'm back from San diego and I have had some time to work on the benchwork again. I have decided to install 5/8 plywood as a base . So far I have only done the large radius areas. I want to build off that. I got a lot done over the last 2 nights and now I am getting nervous on what to do. I may have to cut down my radius just a bit, I am still doing some layout lines. I really want this to go perfect so I really need to make sure I am 100% sure of my design before I put track down.

Any comments or suggestions are welcomed.


Eric

IMG_1470.jpg IMG_1471.jpg IMG_1472.jpg
 
Guess it's a welcome home. The photos from the San Diego Club are interesting. I had a friend stop by there a number of years back and it was no where near this far along from looking at his photos.

Take your time Eric. I went through a long planning process to get everything what I wanted done correctly. At least yo have a track plan. I had to play it by ear, town by town trying to keep my radius as broad as I could possible have.

I'll be looking forward to updates. You have a fantastic start in that room.
 
How much bigger will this be than the one you dismantled before your move?
Hope you will able to salvage ALL your trackage and structures. That'll certainly save a lot of money!
I'd love to have that kind of real estate to work with.
It looks like you have more room in just your train room than I have in one of my floors of this townhouse with all the interior walls taken out.

Are you going to do something cool like a turntable with roundhouse? I always wanted something like that.

Keep going!! Awesome progress!
Eric.
 
BigE said:
How much bigger will this be than the one you dismantled before your move?
Hope you will able to salvage ALL your trackage and structures. That'll certainly save a lot of money!
I'd love to have that kind of real estate to work with.
It looks like you have more room in just your train room than I have in one of my floors of this townhouse with all the interior walls taken out.

Are you going to do something cool like a turntable with roundhouse? I always wanted something like that.

Keep going!! Awesome progress!
Eric.
Click to expand...

Track , no since most had ballast. I decided to go with all Peco this time. All my trees, structures, etc. I have saved. Yes I am putting a round house in that I had on my old layout. I have not built that benchwork yet but I think I know where I want to put it.

Update- I forgot to answer how much bigger the layout is than my old one. My old layout was 18' by 8' - The new one is 24' X 14'
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.



Back
Top