First Layout - (another) Miami Industrial Switching shelf layout


More Progress (continued)

I also managed to get all ten turnouts laid along with most of the track. I decided to solder all of the rail joiners. I've seen posts extolling the virtues of soldering and of not soldering, so I decided to play it safe and solder. I figure that being in a basement the temperature won't vary that much and the dehumidifier will keep the humidity level relatively stable. Also, since the longest dimension is only 9 feet, I can't imagine that there will be enough expansion or contraction to cause any problems.
 
More Progress (continued)

For track feeders, I am using a heavier gauge doorbell wire (20 gauge solid I believe). I solder these to the bottom of the rail joiners roughly every 3 feet or so. They feed through to the underside of the shelf and then are soldered to the 14 gauge solid bus wires that run under the table. For now I have my cheapie MRC power pack soldered to the bus wires just to be able to run my sole engine back and forth.

One change from the track plan - I decided not to take the track in the northwest corner through the wall at this time. Instead I put the turnout in the proper position, but curved the track the other direction so it runs parallel to the wall for a foot or so. It's just enough room for my switcher and two 50' cars. When I decide I am ready to poke the track to the wall, I will remove that section of track from the turnout (it's NOT soldered) and attach the new track to the turnout since it's already in the right position.
 
M,

Great start. You have made tons of headway since the beginning of this topic. I'm looking forward to additional pictures.

Larry
 
Looks good so far. The only thing I've found is stranded wire is much better than solid in terms of tapping off it. Most connectors don't like solid wire unless you literally are going to solder each and every connection.
 
UP2CSX said:
Looks good so far. The only thing I've found is stranded wire is much better than solid in terms of tapping off it. Most connectors don't like solid wire unless you literally are going to solder each and every connection.
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Stranded bus wire would have been easier to work with, but I couldn't find the 'suitcase' style crimps at my local Home Depot. The soldering is not that big of a deal since I have the iron hot to connect to the rails anyway. If it was a larger layout, it probably would have been worth the effort to find the solderless connectors.

I'm seeing a lot of little construction advantages cropping up when working with a layout this small. The nicest thing is that even with my son's football season starting (along with my committment to shoot highlight videos) I'll still be able to putter around with small (1-2 hour)projects on the layout that will keep things visibly progressing along.

All-in-all I'm very happy I chose to start out with something small and simple.
 
Looks awesome so far, I'm totally inspired to do more work on my layout, just finding the time is the trick. What track are you using if you don't mind me asking?
 
what are ur builgings made of? i wish i had room, i would so buy it from u when ur done!. i need help. im making a 7 1/2 foot by 14 inch shelf layout, its all the room i have and i wanna make it something like urs. i have 7 boxcars that need to be spotted at warehouses, im doing modern era and i just need help. any ideas?
 
Nephthyr: The track is Micro Engineering code 70 flex and ME #6 turnouts. The staging tracks will be Atlas code 83 flex and Atlas #4 turnouts.


updallassub: The buildings mock-ups are 1/4" foam board held together with Elmer's glue and scotch tape. There are also a few cardboard boxes of approximate/appropriate size. Not sure I can offer a lot of advice beyond what is in this thread- it's pretty much the sum total of my model railroading knowledge :) As I said earlier - my plan is to start out by shamelessly copying things I see that I like on other internet posts and magazine articles. To me the best source of inspiration so far has been Lance Mindheim's work at http://www.lancemindheim.com/.
 
Forget suitcase connectors. You want Posi-Lock. This is, by far, the best connector ever made, and you get a connection which is not only electrically and mechanically sound, but you can just take it apart and start over if you screw something up, unlike the suitcase connectors, which means a wasted connector and having to cut the existing wire shorter, which may turn out to be just a little too short. You can get them at most NAPA auto parts dealers and on-line at http://www.posi-lock.com/. They are the best thing since sliced bread as far as I'm concerned but I'm also the king of cold solder joints. :)

Although I always dream of some layouts the size of the monsters in MR or MRC, I've found my small around the wall layout has given me the time to really super detail almost every aspect of the layout. With a big layout, you get a lot more operations but also a lot more plywood (or foam) you're going to be looking at for a few years before even the basic scenery is done. Nothing wrong with either approach but I like detials and making mini-scenes all over the layout and you just can't accomplish that on large layout except over a period of many years.
 
mschreuder said:
Stranded bus wire would have been easier to work with, but I couldn't find the 'suitcase' style crimps at my local Home Depot. The soldering is not that big of a deal since I have the iron hot to connect to the rails anyway. If it was a larger layout, it probably would have been worth the effort to find the solderless connectors.

I'm seeing a lot of little construction advantages cropping up when working with a layout this small. The nicest thing is that even with my son's football season starting (along with my committment to shoot highlight videos) I'll still be able to putter around with small (1-2 hour)projects on the layout that will keep things visibly progressing along.

All-in-all I'm very happy I chose to start out with something small and simple.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more, having built a micro layout that's nearing completion there are definitely numerous construction advantages with a small layout, not to mention the time factor. I ballasted the entire layout in two evenings, this sort of thing really helps you to feel like you've actually achieved something!
 
i would love to see the layout when its done, where are u getting the details such as doors and stuff for the warehouses
 
up dallas sub said:
i would love to see the layout when its done, where are u getting the details such as doors and stuff for the warehouses
Click to expand...

Good question... I am planning to build these warehouse buildings primarily out of styrene plastic. I'm going to have to do some research to see where I can get the detail parts. Again, I'll rely heavily on descriptions by other modelers on internet sites to see how they did this. I imagine things like roll-up doors could be made out of some sort of currugated styrene stock.

Thinking about it, I imagine that my order of proceeding from here would go something like this -
1. Complete laying track and installing feeder wires.
2. Verify flawless operation of the track by running strings of cars at high and low speed through the various combinations of turnouts. Iron out any problems before doing anything else.
3. Complete any additional backdrop painting - probably just another coat of blue, I don't think I'm going to fool around with painting clouds or what-not.
4. Paint the track a uniform color. Thinking some sort of gray-ish wash for the ties and some rusty-ish color for the rails.
5. Establish the exact dimensions for the various buildings and build correctly sized mockups as place holders. The mock-ups I have in place now are very rough and the dimensions were pretty arbitrary.
6. Decide on the exact location of the canal and carve away the appropriate amount of foam.
7. Install ballast on the track
8. Start work on ground scenery, trees, shrubbery, etc.
9. Start building the "real" warehouse buildings to replace the mockups.

Another thing I need to be thinking about is some sort of rudimentary video system so that i can see what is happening on the staging tracks.

Lots of fun little projects :)
 
Simple Video System for Hidden Staging

To be able to monitor the hidden staging tracks I was thinking about a simple video camera like this one. There are scads of them on EBay for $29.95

I already have a small LCD video monitor (a cheapie that normally mounts in a auto seat headrest. Both devices are powered by 12 VDC.

Anybody have any experience with something like this?
 
UP2CSX said:
Forget suitcase connectors. You want Posi-Lock.
Click to expand...

Jim, I'll be using 18 gauge for my power bus and 22 gauge feeders. So am I correct that the red Posi-Taps are the ones I want?

Is the company web site the least expensive place to purchase them?

- Jeff
 
up dallas sub said:
i would love to see the layout when its done, where are u getting the details such as doors and stuff for the warehouses
Click to expand...

local hobby shop here has all sorts of freaight doors, warehouse walls, windows for stuff like that
 
Today's Progress

Had a few hours available this afternoon, so I was able to get the last of the track laid on the shelves. The only track remaining is in the mini staging yard, but that has to wait for a trip to Hobby Lobby for a code 83 #4 RH turnout.

The first photo shows the final track arrangement on the north shelf. On the right side of the photo I decided to put a jog in the track and model it as though a turnout had been removed. Where the aluminum yardsick is lying will be modeled as abandoned track - maybe just old ties to make it look like a siding used to be there. THe track on the far right will be some sort of team track - maybe buried in pavement, or just gravel - time will tell. In the corner closest to the camera will be sone sort of warehouse.

The second photo shows the start of the canal on the south shelf. I plan to put a piece of 1" foam in the bottom to give me something flat to start with. The final depth below grade of the canal should be around 1".

The third photo shows the final track arrangement in the south east corner.
 
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Jeff, the red are to connect two wires together end to end. The blue are to tap from a bus onto a wire going to feeder. If the feeder wires are close enough, you can even connect several to one Posi-Tap. The company web site prices are pretty good but there are others that are selling them now so check some of the shopping sites like NextTag. The best prices I've seen are at NAPA auto parts stores that are starting to carry these now although sales tax in some states may be more than shipping charges from a web site.
 
M,

I also used 2" foam initially for my canal. I ended raising it to 3/4" below grade using wood, followed by thin .020 sheet plastic to make a final smooth canal bottom. While my canal was significantly longer, I never did finish it. For reasons I can't explain, I removed this entire layout and started fresh with metal cantilevered supports recommended by Lance. After cutting back the canal banks I used a pre-mixed joint compound and went over the canal banks and filled and smooth the joints between the plastic sheets lining the canal bottom.

I agree with Jim that the Positaps are a great way to go. I used them with great success and they never backed out.

JDETRAY
The red PTA 1800 would be what you would use to match 14g buss with 22g feeders. I used the black since I was using a 14g buss line and 18g feeders. I did find these at our local Walmart, but I ended up purchasing from the company because the Walmart didn't have the size I needed. I did use solid wire and stranded.


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