That's very neat;y done, Dave. I've a similar idea for scenery on my layout, scenic "flats" of hills and cuttings.
Return to the great indoors
- Thread starter idlemarvel
- Start date
I've been using lockdown to spend some time revamping my shed, to have a circuit around the shed, with a removeable section in front of the door. I took the opportunity to redecorate the interior as well, and to replace incandescent buld lighting with LED strip lights. Baseboards are 9mm ply on 20mmx70mm softwood frame.
Part of the loop passes though a storage unit...
...with lift out section removed. My intention is to make it hinged once I have decided on a track layout.
Inevitable collection of red boxes. Supports are stud wall timber 34mmx68mm which is currently selling at Wickes for £3 for 2.4m length.
Part of the loop passes though a storage unit...
...with lift out section removed. My intention is to make it hinged once I have decided on a track layout.
Inevitable collection of red boxes. Supports are stud wall timber 34mmx68mm which is currently selling at Wickes for £3 for 2.4m length.
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Latest indoor layout plan (300mm squares). Vague representation of Grunburg on the Austrian narrow gauge Steytalbahn pre-OGEG days. All curves and points are LGB R1 unless otherwise indicated, and all straights are 600mm, 300mm or 150mm unless otherwise indicated. 320mm, 280mm and 160mm are PIKO track. Track is all laid, next job is wiring in the points and adding the signalling. The points will be DCC controlled but I'm thinking of adding a "ground frame" at the station with switches to trigger the points and signals as well. Such a ground frame does exist but it was installed when OGEG took over running the line as a Museumbahn.
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Two points: 1 - I had to empty the shed to redecorate it and 2 - you haven't see the real garden shed behind the rear wall!I am beginning to come down on the side of conspiracy theory, and that this shed and layout does not exist.
Nobody's shed can be that neat and tidy
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[resurrecting 2 year old thread but it's my thread!]
Time for an update. The shed is still the same, about 3m x 3.5m, with one third walled off as the garden shed, leaving two-thirds (about 3m x 2.3m) available for me. That has constrained the size of my indoor layouts considerably, but there have been several iterations over the years, see earlier postings. Recently I have cleared out a lot of stuff, making enough room for me to extend into the remaining third of the shed. It will be a bit clearer in a plan (300 mm squares):
The garden shed third is shown above on the right hand side behind the dividing wall. I have removed part of the dividing wall - where an internal door was - and have built a return loop which exits the main layout through a tunnel and returns at right angles onto a level crossing. The garden shed third is still required for storage, but one day I will clear enough to have the whole 3m x 3.5m available. In the meantime I now have a longer run (nearly 10m). I like the tunnel as trains can now "leave the scene" albeit for a short time, and the figure of eight means that wheel wear is evened out on left and right hand wheels. Also the crossing adds an element of excitement.
A few more pictures - first, the main layout in it's current form:
Then the return loop extension:
You can see it is still mostly used for storage, tools, etc. The tunnel surround is made of some old Lego bricks. The pipe insulation is to protect my head (and the grandchildren's) when ducking under the track.
Finally, a close-up of the layout power switches. I can run my layout as DCC or analogue DC. There is a separate DCC bus for the accessory decoders so I can still control points and signals with DCC when running analogue DC track power. The track bus and the accessory decoder bus both have emergency off switches (red). The layout includes a programming track (the passing loop) and this can be switched between track power (DCC or DC) or DCC programming (service mode). The bank of switches on the left can switch power to the Lenz command station, a Lenz RS protocol block current detection system (not implemented yet), a basic PIKO DC controller and DC lighting (also not implemented yet.
With the weather as it has been over the last few weeks it's good to be able to play big trains inside!
Time for an update. The shed is still the same, about 3m x 3.5m, with one third walled off as the garden shed, leaving two-thirds (about 3m x 2.3m) available for me. That has constrained the size of my indoor layouts considerably, but there have been several iterations over the years, see earlier postings. Recently I have cleared out a lot of stuff, making enough room for me to extend into the remaining third of the shed. It will be a bit clearer in a plan (300 mm squares):
The garden shed third is shown above on the right hand side behind the dividing wall. I have removed part of the dividing wall - where an internal door was - and have built a return loop which exits the main layout through a tunnel and returns at right angles onto a level crossing. The garden shed third is still required for storage, but one day I will clear enough to have the whole 3m x 3.5m available. In the meantime I now have a longer run (nearly 10m). I like the tunnel as trains can now "leave the scene" albeit for a short time, and the figure of eight means that wheel wear is evened out on left and right hand wheels. Also the crossing adds an element of excitement.
A few more pictures - first, the main layout in it's current form:
Then the return loop extension:
You can see it is still mostly used for storage, tools, etc. The tunnel surround is made of some old Lego bricks. The pipe insulation is to protect my head (and the grandchildren's) when ducking under the track.
Finally, a close-up of the layout power switches. I can run my layout as DCC or analogue DC. There is a separate DCC bus for the accessory decoders so I can still control points and signals with DCC when running analogue DC track power. The track bus and the accessory decoder bus both have emergency off switches (red). The layout includes a programming track (the passing loop) and this can be switched between track power (DCC or DC) or DCC programming (service mode). The bank of switches on the left can switch power to the Lenz command station, a Lenz RS protocol block current detection system (not implemented yet), a basic PIKO DC controller and DC lighting (also not implemented yet.
With the weather as it has been over the last few weeks it's good to be able to play big trains inside!
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