[bluedot0]

The "garage" thats where you'll be livin soon......building stuff.....no need to go indoors........maybe for a cuppa n biccie.......Phil

[berth44]

Well, Sunday morning,I thought,"""Hmmmmmm???""",well it's going to be a wee while before I can afford timber for framing........Now, what if I clear all the track that's laid,bung that onto the other board (door) that's got no track (temporarily out of the road),then bring in my 'new' boards and lay them over the doors???,this might work??,if it does,it'll certainly be 'solid' and perhaps I won't need a frame, and as a bonus, I need not worry about 'disposing' the doors.."Hmmmmmmmmmmm??"...good idea methinks!
So I dragged 2 boards in at first,laid them end to end atop of the doors..and "Wow", love it,works out fine,it's an easy 'fix' and it's a wee bit longer than the two doors (end to end)by 2ffot or more !,( about an inch wider as well,not a problemo) but now I need to 'duck under' need watch the 'old back!!'
So I've now got two boards in place,no requirement to fix them 'permanently' in place... 'yet', their weight alone says that they are 'fixed!!' but they will get screwed down later.
Now,underlay,we've just had a 'flooting floor' laid and there was heaps of the 'foamy plastic' stuff left that's used to lay the floor panels on,so I thought I'd use that,it's not too bad thickness wise,perhaps not as much as I'd desire to lay my track on,but beggars can't be choosers , I'm all for using 'stuff' that I have 'lying around'. I used complete sheets of it to cover the two boards 'length and breadth',tacked it down with brass tacks (again, these were.. 'lying around)that did the trick!!
I then moved all my track back onto these boards to set back up again later,if I can remember what went where that is!! I cleaned up the 3rd door (under the window) then I dragged in the 3rd board,bit more difficult now as I've to drag it under the first lot, I 'howfed'(Sco) that atop the door, that's me gained another 2 foot, it's getting bigger all the time!!
More 'underlay stuff' was tacked onto that, I then had a break for dinner and when I had finished that,back into the garage(until I froze) to re-figure my track 'plan' but with a couple of mods here and there.
Once I'm satisfied with it I'll tack the track down then I'll cut out the 'underlay' leaving it under the track only , mind you, I'll leave it in place where a track 'base' is required without ballast,ie,round the coaling tower/engine shed or any 'yard' for that matter...got to think ahead of myself here,but there is no problem if I decide just to do the track only...
So there you have it, a wee bit of 'advancement' but as I sit here at work I'm thinking that I might add another board,drag it in and 'frame it' ,I'm sure that I have enough bits of wood 'lying around' to do this one board, this will let me complete a 'U' shape and give me more to think about!
Lastly,I'm sure there are 'thinkers' out there wondering how I'm going to do things like 'motorising' points with the boards lying atop of doors,I'll cross that bridge when I come to it folks,I sort of have a plan, but I'm thinking that all my points that are close at hand will be hand operated, ie,engine shed/coaling stage/ash pits/ballast sidingsI'll leave the motorising of points to those that are out of 'operators' reach.......Dave

[SkyFire]

Avast the monster be risin' and growin', soon the sound of trains be heard again. Arrrrr

[berth44]

Yar, thar might be correct me 'artie,ye may well be correct,but I be freezin me little nuts off playing with them,I means the trains...harrrrrrrrrrrr................Dave

[bluedot0]

The warmth of the primary heat source.......nothing like it.......I like my nuts where they are, I don't particularly like them going in search of warmth......Phil

[berth44]

I think we should have special furry glove type things to keep our nuts cosy, (a nut warmer) maybe then I could stay longer in the garage? Seriously,nuts is no the problemo,it's the fear of my fingers falling off!!
Anyhoos,I got another board up last night,this completes a 'U' , so it's more or less 'half' done. I put it up without a frame... for the time being.
As a model railway person, and a genious to boot, (well,I am..in my eyes!!) I'm always thinking ahead, the light went on,bells rang (ding ding dong) and I saw a 'quick fix', here was this metal bed frame packed 'flush' between the bottom and middle horizontal wooden garage frame where my board was going to be, so I looked at it,and thought 'great', rather than remove it, I'll use it!!
The bed frame was firmly seated on the bottom wood 'G frame',but there was a 'gap' between the top of the 'B frame' and the middle 'G frame', just enough to squeeze in my board (I'm not confused!!)
I measured it up,heights fine,I now need to cut the end of my last board so that this one fits. I did that and and bolted on two supporting 4X2 legs to that board as weel. Two notches were cut from the new board to fit into the metal uprights of the garage wall so that the board could fit flush onto the garage side.
Now folks the hard bit,these boards are 'heavy man', so I 'howfed' it up,planked it down onto the end of the other board (to support it) then it was just a case of a quick push and it slipped into the gap between the bed frame/wood frame and there it sat with most of it's length just hanging there,perfectly supported by the 'B frame', all that I required was a 4X2 to support the corner and it's as solid as a rock!! I put in a few screw in bolt things,later on I'll add the frame.... I work in reverse!, but now my 'layout' can go round two corners!!!
So there you have it ...Dave's way, perhaps a bit long in the toof ,but I likes to describe things (as you know)with all the boring detail, in this case,I think I've described that with minimum material and a wee bit of 'use wot you got', progress can be made!!
Now, it'll be 'thinking time'.."harr" as I figure where I'm going to put a couple of hundred 1/18th scale model cars, thse are in shelf units attached to the garages end wall, just where I want the rest of my boards to go!!, if I can't shift 'em, they stay and I loose about 3 foot of layout space!, I can't have that!!!..............Dave

[berth44]

Good morning crew,well, the week-end saw me giving the last paragraph above some great thought, I removed them!!, 2 shelves now reside in the front half of the garage,the other 3 are under the boards minding their own business!!!
With these removed I've put in two 'new' boards, only one corner remains for me to run trains round and round and round,I'm really looking forward to that,just hope my 25 yards +3 lengths will suffice for the time being.
I'm sort of stuck in this last corner,I'm thinking of dropping the main level down by about 6 inches so that I can put in a bridge and river,I was looking at a viaduct,the Metcaffe(??) one might just be the fellow for my purpose...........but can it be curved?.....I'll be looking into that today.............Dave

[bluedot0]

Progress.....I have a Metcalfe viaduct......you can have it if you wish....it is of no use to me........Phil

[berth44]

Single or double track Phil??,I need a double,if that's what it is...yes please!!......Dave

[SkyFire]

I'll have to come and see this layout of yours, (with my camera of course).

[berth44]

Once I'm clear Anthony and satisfied with my work, but for the moment, it's up with the boards and then I use them for somewhere to put all the 'stuff' on,ie, all my model cars!, thus making the boards look like a giant car park!!!......
Conclusion,I have to make an 'extreme mess' before I can 'tidy up',now?,where's dem old curtains to go round my boards,these will hide all the stuff that's lies beneath..maybe I should try the loft?..............Dave
I'm carefully leaving room by the way so that I can get access to the undersides of the boards to pull through wires ect ect ect....'cough', "when was I as small as a mouse???", maybe I should say,'trying to leave!!'................so much stuff.............sigh....................Dave

[berth44]

Well folks,all the boards are up, the 'square' is complete! All up I used eight out of the 10...phew,biggest layout I've ever had!!
I put in a 'low' scenic level, I'm thinking either the card kit viaduct or, it'll be a bridge like the one over the 'River Clyde',(well,a river,it'll just be sort of based on that ),at Crawford in Lanarkshire Scotland
It'll also have 'embankments', I like them.....I'll be running these onto and off the bridge,the
rest I'll make up as I go along as material becomes available.
Now. for a very historical event,I laid a single track right round, completed the 'join up' this afternoon(no golden spike unfortunately)my first train ran in 28 years and that honour went to my 'NRM Deltic' with a seven coach train,how exciting was that??!!!

The wife found some 'curtain' to go round the boards and hide the mess that is underneath, boy it looks great, I'm really pleased with myself!! I reckon I'll have enough track to do the 'double', so I reckon I'll go back in tonight and see how far I can go,I've counted that I should have 6 lengths left,not enough unfortunately to put in a loop or two,but I think I've made a 'humungus' start!'

Dave

[SkyFire]

A big very well done.

I'll have to come and play trains now. - LoL

[berth44]

Finished for tonight, double track in place run two trains..yea ha!! I was right on with my track estimate,6 long straights left,enough for one loop,maybe two....Dave

[SkyFire]

Well done.