Our Layout (Info and pics to share as goes up)

grandpacoyote

grandpacoyote

Member
Aug 8, 2005
107
0
16
56
Denton, Texas
mysite.verizon.net
zedob said:
Wow, that was a pretty intense room before you painted it. The Mianne bW is some nice stuff. I've seen it at a show it it is well made. All nice and straight and not a bad price for what you get.

Nice presentation. Which CAD program did you use?
Click to expand...

Zedob,

Thanks, yeah, it was a mess wasn't it... I'll never be able to figure out what goes through the minds of teenagers *chuckles*.

The Mianne Benchwork is great stuff very well made hardwood... all Poplar I believe.

I use 3rd PlanIt and swear by it. It has a very steep learning curve but well worth sitting down and learning; I had no CAD background at all when I stared this although I had taken a few years of Draftsmanship back when such was taught in High School, but after learning the program it was fairly easy to get just what I wanted and how. I'd never use another program for track planning.

Peace.

Coyote
 
grandpacoyote

grandpacoyote

Member
Aug 8, 2005
107
0
16
56
Denton, Texas
mysite.verizon.net
santafewillie said:
No wonder it's been so long since you last posted, that room has come a long way. The benchwork looks fantastic, I had not heard of Mianne before. Great photo documentation as well, I'm sure many of the newbies here will appreciate it. I will contact you by PM soon.
Click to expand...


Willie,

Yup, was out of touch while we got that all done, boy the room almost broke my back but the benchwork went up in just two nights and then a further night to lay the table top/sub-roadbed.

Mianne is a company out of Attleboro Massachusetts they are a arm of the Foley Woodworking company from what I gather who are professional cabinet and furniture makers... they make a fine product, here is a link to them for you : http://www.miannebenchwork.com/default.htm

I'll look for your PM when I finish up my replies.

Great to hear from you again.

Peace.

Coyote
 
grandpacoyote

grandpacoyote

Member
Aug 8, 2005
107
0
16
56
Denton, Texas
mysite.verizon.net
Triplex said:
Wow. That's the most thoroughly planned layout I've ever seen on any forum.

I like the general look of the track plan. It manages a good quantity of track without looking too crowded to be the West. I can just imagine 50s architecture here, the googie signs and all. I think you're definitely going to satisfy your goals.

Ow. Those red walls were terrible. They look so much better now.
Click to expand...

Triplex,

That is high praise indeed sir. I am very humbled, thank you.

The OL and I have been working on the track plan for about a year plus some now and we have gone through many revisions of this plan (20 something plus all told) plus quite a few earlier plans that never worked out of fit what we needed or wanted.

Those red walls were an eye sore but now we are cooking with gas. :)

Thank you again for your kind words.

Peace.

Coyote
 
grandpacoyote

grandpacoyote

Member
Aug 8, 2005
107
0
16
56
Denton, Texas
mysite.verizon.net
Cannonball said:
Ecellent work!
I have to say the new room looks 100% better than it did before the remodeling. I like the colors you picked even if it weren't for a train room. :)
Click to expand...

Cannonball,

Thanks, I'm with you, it is a vast improvement over what it was and an added bonus was the OL got the guest bathroom remodeled at the same time since it's right next to the Train Room :)

I think the colors will work well also.. the OL's suppose to be doing our cloud work for us I think it's going to make it look even better! :D

Peace.

Coyote
 
grandpacoyote

grandpacoyote

Member
Aug 8, 2005
107
0
16
56
Denton, Texas
mysite.verizon.net
Ralph said:
Looking great! Nice work reclaiming that oddly decorated room. Your color choices will work out well for the layout! I'm really impressed by the 3-D images. They really convey a sense of what the layout will look like. Looking forward to updates!
Ralph
Click to expand...

Ralph,

Thank you sir. The 3D renderings are a function of the program I used to make the track plan with - 3rd PlanIt, it is a great program and has the ability to even let you run trains in scale on your plan in that 3D environment so you can check various clearances and get a good impression of how it will all look. It was well worth the -very- steep learning curve.

Peace.

Coyote
 
grandpacoyote

grandpacoyote

Member
Aug 8, 2005
107
0
16
56
Denton, Texas
mysite.verizon.net
Russ Bellinis said:
It looks great. In looking at the 3d drawings of the proposed track plan/benchwork, I presume the access section is the darker yellow section in front of the closet where you have the 2 track main with a crossover and 2 more tracks coming off to the inside going to an industry?
Click to expand...

Russ,

Yes sir that is correct the more brightly yellow highlighted area is a drop down bride/gate to allow access into the center of the layout.


Russ Bellinis said:
If I have it right, I would suggest that you make that a swing in gate. If it was cut on a diagonal at the 2 track end, and a heavy duty gate hinge or door hinge put in the inside of the layout where the straight bench meets the diagonal. You could just cut your tracks at a diagonal at the joint, and it would swing out of the way for a pass through. If you put a small dead bolt latch on the inside of the layout at the opposite end of the gate from the hinge, you can then lock the gate in place while operating from the inside of the layout. Finally, hook up an isolation block at least 2-3 feet long on all tracks to either side of the gate that go dead whenever the gate is open to keep trains from diving to the floor.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the advice that sounds very interesting I'll look into it... would you happen to have or know of some photos or plans for the sort of swing gate you are talking about? Confucius is quite correct that a picture is worth a thousand words, at least when dealing with this ol' dog. :D

Russ Bellinis said:
The other comment/question I have concerns the staging yard in the closet. Did you leave plenty of space between the benchwork and the closet for you to get in to work that staging yard? Looking at the track plan, those last two sidings to the outside of the staging yard are awfully short. You would only have room for a locomotive and a couple of cars, maybe even less on them. If you need a bit more space to move around in in the closet, eliminating those two tracks and narrowing the benchwork accordingly won't make any difference to the operation of the layout.
Click to expand...

It's a bit hard to see even in the 3D renderings but all the access to the staging yard is from the two closet doors that have had their doors permanently removed now... the doors are wide enough and there is just enough "in" space to allow good reach through out the staging... as far as narrowing the benchwork 'm stuck with its width now since it is all Mianne modular design. But I have tested out the space and measured it with my actual arm to get a feel/see on it and I think it should work.

You have a good point about tracks 6 and 7 in there, the truth be known I am absolutely Yard Design ignorant, just can't seem to get the feel for it, and I put those in there in an amateurish attempt/hope at having a small area to fool around with in terms of switching...

If you have any good advice on it I'd love to hear more. :)
I always welcome any input or advice I can get from my brother and sister modelers who know far more than I do.

Thanks again.

Peace.

Coyote
 
R

Russ Bellinis

Active Member
Feb 13, 2003
4,501
0
36
78
Lakewood, Ca.
Visit site
There was an article in Model Railroader a few years ago about making a swing gate to enter the railroad. I don't remember the issue, but if I put this up here, one of my fellow gauge members will probably chime in with the issue in question. Essentially if you cut the hinge end of the gate square with the rest of the benchwork and then cut the other end at a slight angle with the long side on the same side of the gate as the hinge and the short side toward the front of the layout, then when you open it the gate will swing away from the layout without interferance. If you have both ends of the gate cut at 90 degree angles, the outside front corner will hit the layout and not allow it to open.

On the staging yard, if you leave off the last turnout and allow the inside track to just continue straight on from the previous turnout to come out to the corner at an angle to the benchwork, that last track will be as long as the other tracks in that staging yard.
 
grandpacoyote

grandpacoyote

Member
Aug 8, 2005
107
0
16
56
Denton, Texas
mysite.verizon.net
Russ Bellinis said:
On the staging yard, if you leave off the last turnout and allow the inside track to just continue straight on from the previous turnout to come out to the corner at an angle to the benchwork, that last track will be as long as the other tracks in that staging yard.
Click to expand...

Russ,

Is this what you mean sir?

Staging20.jpg



Peace.

Coyote
 
T

trainwhiz20

Member
Aug 9, 2004
198
0
16
34
Tampa, FL
Coyote, WOW! :thumb:

I envy the way this layout is coming together, not to mention I'm bias since you're modelling my favorite prototype. (Although, your layout is in desert-ed Arizona... I decided to model an ATSF branchline outside Chicago where there's still greenery, although I could have saved a fortune on trees! Haha.)

The benchwork looks great, and a wonderful use of the closet as a staging area.

I just want to say it's looking good, and us teenagers have many things running through our minds. Fortunately, my mind is 98% girls, 2% trains, and nothing else.:rolleyes:

Please do keep us updated, I can't wait to see the modelling come to life.
 
grandpacoyote

grandpacoyote

Member
Aug 8, 2005
107
0
16
56
Denton, Texas
mysite.verizon.net
TruckLover said:
WOW Coyote, That is some GREAT progress. Nice trackplan too, I like it. Can't wait to see some more pictures and progress:thumb: :D :thumb: :D :D :thumb:
Click to expand...


Josh,

Thank you sir. That is high praise indeed... I've been following your work and you do incredible work!

I might put up some pics later of some small modeling work I've done; it's alright but nothing compared to some of the excellent stuff I've seen over on your threads.

Thanks again. :)

Peace.

Coyote
 
grandpacoyote

grandpacoyote

Member
Aug 8, 2005
107
0
16
56
Denton, Texas
mysite.verizon.net
trainwhiz20 said:
Coyote, WOW! :thumb:

I envy the way this layout is coming together, not to mention I'm bias since you're modelling my favorite prototype. (Although, your layout is in desert-ed Arizona... I decided to model an ATSF branchline outside Chicago where there's still greenery, although I could have saved a fortune on trees! Haha.)

The benchwork looks great, and a wonderful use of the closet as a staging area.

I just want to say it's looking good, and us teenagers have many things running through our minds. Fortunately, my mind is 98% girls, 2% trains, and nothing else.:rolleyes:

Please do keep us updated, I can't wait to see the modelling come to life.
Click to expand...

Trainwhiz20,

Thanks for the kind words :) It's always great to meet a fellow ATSF nut... don't worry you might have saved money on trees but you'd have wound up spending the same amount out on correct looking rocks, and sagebrush *chuckles*

I'm very happy with the benchwork.... it cost a pretty penny but it was well worth it... The Closet is working out really nice, I'm using the benchwork in it as a temp work bench right now while I put the layout together and I have a good long, deep shelf there too left over from the closet and a pole I can put back in to hang what few trees I make as they dry.

:D No insult was meant on the teenage mind comment... just the color of that room was not my wife or mines idea. *laughs* My oldest son who's now out of the house had a different set of percentages his was 50% girls, 34% music, 10% art, 5% figuring out how to get out of doing what I asked him to do, 1% listening to his old pop. :D

Peace.

Coyote
 
grandpacoyote

grandpacoyote

Member
Aug 8, 2005
107
0
16
56
Denton, Texas
mysite.verizon.net
Cannonball said:
I'm 37 and married. My mind is still nothing but girls and trains. :D
Click to expand...


Yes but the older we get the more the percentages move from one side to another :D

My OL swears if it tips over to 51% Trains or more over Girls (read her) she's cutting the hobby off at the ankles. *laughs hard*

Peace.

Coyote
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom