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The Spider Hill Railroad

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ChrisC
Hudson

Status: offline

Posted - February 14 2014 : 01:43:34 AM

So to see how my first layout started and why I ended it, click here!
http://www.tycoforums.com/tyco/forum/topic.asp?whichpage=-1&TOPIC_ID=8318&REPLY_ID=76917

So my main reasons for starting over was I had been visiting a lot of local train clubs. Unfortunately none of these clubs were close enough to make joining them feasible. So this left me with a hankering to be able to run some of my bigger equipment which I was beginning to fear would be shelf queens forever. One thing I took away from the clubs was observing how they design things. One thing that struck me was how much better they were at using any given space. I started looking at my layout area and despite its small size I realized I was totally underusing the space. Putting the layout dead center in such a small space meant any expansions would be difficult at best, and still limited on where I could go. Even worse was the under side of the old layout wasn't built in a uniform fashion (no supporting benchwork either it rested on cabinets) so trying to hook something onto it would take some work.

Then poking around the layout area I realized one day doing some measuring that 22" curves would fit easily across the room. If I went along the walls, the chances of making the bigger curves I was looking for in the same location would be possible. While also gaining more room for the trains to be parked or run as well as a different scenery challenge that was pinned up against walls rather than trapped in a circle. What's more where you enter the layout area there is space behind the door where a tail end yard coming the layout could be located and it would still be out of the way of everything else. So with all that mind I decided to restart.

The general sketch. Two track mainline with curves exceeding 22". Small yard on the left to serve the inside track, maybe 4-5 tracks or so? Lower right you can see the location of the tail end yard for the outer loop. This will hold the bigger stuff and might even go DCC in a few years. Depending on the switch layout I might be able to fit anywhere from 5-7 tracks back there (probably closer to 5). The little part near the bottom will be a duck under. We debated building a lift out or swing door, but none of us are that good lol. Couple extra sidings off to the right for businesses. And there will probably be another one near the top side of the picture if there is room. Might do a coal mine there? I grew up in a heavily coal mined area when I was little so there is a lot of personal appeal there.

A quick before & after look at the room. The walls before were a light green and the lighting was what's usually referred to as "warm". I never liked how the pictures looked they always seemed off since the walls reflected green and the lights were the wrong color. Room is now blue, but only the two entry lights were converted to "daylight" LED's. I have to change the main florescent you see in the picture to daylight specifications yet. Once I do the blue should really come alive in here and give the models excellent lighting. You can see some of the lighting color difference on the floor near the bottom of the photo.

A friend of mine who is not into trains but is very good with basic home remodeling was listening to me talk about how I was going to handle the benchwork for this. He had better ideas in 5 mins than I had in a entire month of thinking lol. Despite how it looks the benchwork is attached to the cabinets, but actually bolted together in sections. The rear is one section, as are the left & right flanks. The duck under in the middle and tail end yard are also bolted. This way if it ever has to move it stands a chance of doing so. I'll be honest the 2x4's are overkill, but compared to what I came from it's nice to know if the house falls on the layout that the benchwork will hold it up lol.

Used my phone's panoramic feature to show off the tail end yard. In this picture the duck under is bolted in. And we had no cabinet for the tail end yard so it got its own set of legs. The whole structure is VERY solid. Plywood is rather think 3/8's stuff just to give me a solid flat surface. Per my last layout I REALLY liked the foam as a sub-base there is so much you can do with the layout once you do that. So that will be posted shortly as it just needs trimmed right now.

My local hobby shop has plenty of cork & track but no switches. I wanted #6's for the bigger engines to be happy. However due to production line issues in China the only place I could get them from was Walthers. Turns out they had their medium size Peco's on sale for cheaper than their small size switches. So that was a good score even if they were a bit expensive. They will be worth it in the long run! Most of the yards will have the smaller #4's I think just to help with space issues.

Oh any where did the name "Spider Hill" come from? My brother is in the halloween prop business and I thought it would be cool to adopt his name onto the railroad. On top of that I have quite a few older locos that are "mutts" with no road names on them. As they get rebuilt they will get 'SHRR' sub-lettering and eventually some color scheme. If your into Halloween props give my brothers site a look

http://spiderhillpropworks.com/

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USA ~ Posts: 531 ~ Member Since: January 29 2009 ~ Last Visit: July 10 2020