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 Posted - November 03 2009 : 10:11:50 AM
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I've read a ton of posts here and it's nice to see so many people that realize TYCO is not junk - TYCO is just plain fun. Got my start with a Rock Island set in 1976, and after all these years I am setting up a whole house layout - actually will travel between two houses!
Long story short we bought a big Victorian fixer-upper AND the house next door, both on massive foreclosure or we'd never afford either one. The small house next door is a modular home that is storage, my workshop, etc, mostly storage so I will be selling off everything or throwing it out because I have wanted a giant layout since I was eight.
The basic plan is to run MOST of the train stuff around the top of the second house - through the walls, etc. - like you might have a train going around the top of a restaurant or something. One room is about 12 x 20 and it can be the main layout room. There will have to be a spiral around that room to raise the trains to running height outside of that room, or climb around a mountain. Going to go DCC, and will figure out how to do that eventually.
Eventually want to have several full trains running on their own circuits at once, plus whatever is in the train room. To top it off - my wife is a full-size train nut - her dad and grandfather both worked on the railroads, and the town we live in permanently - her hometown - is a railroad town. She actually APPROVES of having one of the circuits be a loop that will run between the houses so that it can run around the top of her (small) formal library. (She's a librarian.) AND I get to wire it for sound - so each time it enters it can blow the whistle, have steam sounds, anything I want - as long as there is a switch inside that room to mute any of the sounds. (DCC will come in handy here.)
The railway will have its own name and be a fantasy railroad, not a model railroad - because let's face it, the Midnight Special, Silver Streak and all the rest of the fantasy pieces are FUN. I'll sort of model the town we live in, and have depots that are conglomerates of cool stuff I like plus places I've lived. Much scenery and buildings will be on the wall - half buildings, pictures, etc.
I want some cool stuff I just LIKE. I want a monorail. I want trolleys. I'll paint fake cars to go with fantasy locomotives. But most of all I'll have FUN.
Soooooooooooo.......now that I've set my goals - you'll see me here a LOT - and I'll fill you in on any currently running projects. Suggestions?
Rus
Starting my Tyco and other favorites collection over again after 37 years.
My still in progress list of inventory and wantlist: tyconut.com
Edited by - Tyco Nut on August 31 2012 03:39:40 AM
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Posted - November 03 2009 : 4:11:07 PM
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Hi Tyco Nut,
Wow that sounds like a lot of fun! The only suggestion I have is keep the pics. rolling in. Congrats on the houses too.
Mike
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Posted - November 03 2009 : 7:18:51 PM
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Just one request-KEEP US POSTED WITH PICTURES!! A real model railroad running between two houses?? That's one of the best things I've heard of on this forum!! Have fun with it!
-Jacob
Quote: "I didn't fail, I just found 1200 materials that won't work"
-Thomas Edison
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Posted - November 03 2009 : 8:30:07 PM
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quote:
it's nice to see so many people that realize TYCO is not junk - TYCO is just plain fun............
&
you'll see me here a LOT - and I'll fill you in on any currently running projects............
Rus
Originally posted by Tyco Nut-November 03 2009: 10:11:50 AM
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I'm liking this guy already. Glad to have you here and I look forward to reading LOTS more in the future.
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Posted - November 03 2009 : 10:26:35 PM
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| I second your quote NYC -- Welcome to the forum Tyco Nut I too can't wait to se your pics -- Brian
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Posted - November 04 2009 : 08:45:53 AM
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O.O don't throw it out! I'll take what you don't want!!!
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Posted - November 05 2009 : 08:26:59 AM
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Throw out what?
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Posted - November 05 2009 : 09:05:00 AM
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Okay - more info on the layout, but first a question. Best (CHEAP) layout software? FREE layout software running on Windows? (Okay, two questions)
More info about the houses: The train house is 24 x 60 feet on the outside, part of that is a porch. The main train room (when it's retired from being storage) is 11 x 17 feet. If I can get the back third of the house turned into one big train room it will be 17 x 22 feet (inside dimensions).
The distance between the houses is approximately 18 feet. The library is 14 feet 2 inches long, I can have about 16" to the outside to run the train. The problem comes in how exactly do I a) cover the bridge when not in use, and b) how do I turn the train around, as it will be NEARLY impossible to do a loop around the top of the library? IF I did a loop around the top of the library I'd need DCC for sure as I'd need ONE loop, can't do that on DC. Library is about 8 feet wide IF I do a loop around the top, and my wife does not care one way or the other - I have aesthetic issues, but I'm reworking it in my head.
There is about a foot or so rise between the buildings - will have to take measurements later. Several people including myself have thought to model the New River Gorge bridge, although it would be definitely not to scale. Bridge is 3030 feet, actual feet modeled would be about 1580, making it just over half the actual scale needed. Then again, it's a fantasy railroad. =)
The bridge and all tunnels MUST be fully constructed of rerailers for obvious reasons. So I'm going to need approximately 70 9" rerailers plus some additional curved rerailers.
I am going to need approximately 1000 feet of track on top of this. This is a LOT of track. Guess I need to start looking for some CHEAP track. Donations GLADLY accepted, by the way. =)
Additional feature will be a working "model" of the Disneyland monorail. It will be pretty fantasy-oriented, but I've found a suitable new Disney World monorail that can be modified pretty easily, and is about 1/90 scale. Will not run on HO track but monorail track.
Depots included in the layout: Disneyland main station, Kansas City (likely Union Station there), Royals Stadium circa 1976 next to the Kansas City depot, the old Kenova Union Station, Bellingham, WA Ferry Terminal, Blue Lake, CA train depot, and a few others.
When the walls are complete, I'll have many old buildings that I like including Kenova, WV, our house, etc. Many will be half buildings, facades, etc. Gotta use up that wall space! I figure I can extend the tracks and buildings out about 8-10" from the wall so that should give a lot of depth. Much of that will be double tracks allowing for train travel in both directions.
Will be modeling the Disneyland trains - should be easy enough to repaint and remodel appropriate items as per advice in previous threads. =)
Will have six separate routes, with the ability to run up to eight simultaneous trains. Any DCC equipment donations gladly welcome. ;-) For that matter, I'll take pretty much any donation - this will take me about 2 years to build I'm guessing.
Rock Island Tyco Loco still works - will be repowering with two engines. THAT ought to be a fun project. Tyco ATSF Santa Fe Switcher still also works. Converted to Kadee couplers back in 1994 - need to convert all my rolling stock to Kadee couplers soon. Going to need a lot of new trucks & couplers, too.
Current wishlist for consists:
Rock Island Line
PRR line
Annie & Mary line
Disneyland Line
Olympian Hiawatha
Trolley line (main layout)
Fictional Kenova Railway line - need to design a logo
Chessie System line (my wife even has a cat named Chessie if that gives you any idea how much she likes trains)
Midnight Special
Spirit of 1775
Silver Streak
Golden Eagle
Amtrak line
Okay - that's today's update. I figure it will take two weeks to get the plans together and I'll post photos of that - likely in sections.
Wait until my next update - you should see the mountain storage I plan on...
Rus
Starting my Tyco and other favorites collection over again after 37 years.
My still in progress list of inventory and wantlist: tyconut.com
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Posted - November 05 2009 : 09:28:45 AM
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| oh don't throw out crappy HO scale stuff I'll take it
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Posted - November 05 2009 : 4:43:26 PM
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Rus -- The Spirit of 75 on your above wishlist -- LMAO . Thanks for the laugh. I know what you mean't but that was funny reading -- to me anyway
The New River Gorge Bridge -- I have been to Bridge Day -- It is Awesome and if any of you all ever get a chance to go -- Go. It is the only Legal day you can walk on bridge. IT is a fun day! A model would be cool
Edited by - Brianstyco on November 05 2009 4:45:55 PM
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Posted - November 05 2009 : 8:20:57 PM
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So someone IS reading my posts! LOL - I try to avoid typos.
Okay - so here's the last fun detail that I'm going to post about the train room for a bit. The foundation is a couple feet high so I can put stairs down & up for entry underneath the tracks. I only have about 2 feet to go down, then maybe another 3 feet to the bottom of the layout, so that only gives a 5 foot high doorway, and I REALLY would like to avoid a) ducking - I'm 6'3" - and b) a swing-up board to enter the layout.
What I want to do is make "mountains" for the backdrops - or maybe hills - they seem to call hills mountains in WV. On the mountains I want to have fairly steep (scale) grades going around the room so that I can store trains on the walls. If one side of the room the tracks only come down to say 4 feet high - that's about a 6 foot doorway. Is this being explained well?
Basically I am trying to walk underneath one edge of the layout in order to get into the middle of it - with room for one or two friends to join me, of course. I figure four by four feet - and maybe I can use a remote and put a modular scene in the middle when I'm not there? Likely to have 22" radius corners on the center part....
Around the edges of the room I figure I can have tracks two wide, plus backdrops - and they circle around - with sidings built for each major consist for storage and retrieval.
This gets a LOT easier if I can make a 17' x 23' master train room, but for now I have to start with the 17 x 11 room, which gives 3 1/2 feet on each long edge if I have a 4x4 foot block in the middle for command central.
By the way the train house is mine - my wonderful wife has ZERO problems with me doing anything I want. Basically 1400+ square feet of man-cave, and she's a railfan.
Suggestions? Thoughts?
Starting my Tyco and other favorites collection over again after 37 years.
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 Posted - November 05 2009 : 8:40:53 PM
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Where do you live and do you take boarders?
Unspoken expectations are premeditated failures.
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Posted - November 06 2009 : 08:15:18 AM
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About your problem with turning the train around, you could run double track on the bridge, and connect them in the library with a loop . . . But then I guess you would have to double-track the whole layout, so that wouldn't help too much . . .
-Jacob
Quote: "I didn't fail, I just found 1200 materials that won't work"
-Thomas Edison
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Posted - November 07 2009 : 2:38:39 PM
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I do like the idea of double-tracking the bridge. I've thought about it and it will likely work.
I AM double-tracking MOST of the layout so I can have trains running next to each other and in different directions at the same time because that's cool.
So I'll likely get that going.
Rus
Starting my Tyco and other favorites collection over again after 37 years.
My still in progress list of inventory and wantlist: tyconut.com
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Posted - November 07 2009 : 2:41:24 PM
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Okay - so I came up with fifty pounds of Legos today at a yard sale for $15. Since my wife and I are trying for kids, I'll a) be able to have a bunch to play with when they get older. b) have a LegoLand train depot as one of the stops, maybe even have "LegoLand" as a "theme park" next to it, maybe build an Eiffel Tower or some cool structure from legos.
50 pounds of legos is maybe 2.5 cubic feet of legos. If I didn't have to be somewhere I'd post pics, but will tomorrow, I promise.
Rus
Starting my Tyco and other favorites collection over again after 37 years.
My still in progress list of inventory and wantlist: tyconut.com
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Posted - November 07 2009 : 8:01:59 PM
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If any of you have bought Lego new in the last few years, you know that all that plastic is priced about the same as gold...
Great deal, Tyco Nut...
Mike
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Posted - November 08 2009 : 12:50:26 AM
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Apparently BULK legos run in the $9-10 range per pound, so I saved myself $450-500 or so.
I'm going to try to find some plans for a railroad depot and try to get it down to fairly HO scale. Yes, I'll post pics.
Rus
Starting my Tyco and other favorites collection over again after 37 years.
My still in progress list of inventory and wantlist: tyconut.com
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Posted - November 08 2009 : 11:51:10 AM
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Okay - here's a picture of the box of Legos. According to the books in here, there's probably at least 20 different models, plus the about dozen one foot square blocks - either roadway or just plain.
Starting my Tyco and other favorites collection over again after 37 years.
My still in progress list of inventory and wantlist: tyconut.com
Edited by - Tyco Nut on November 09 2009 01:53:18 AM
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Posted - November 08 2009 : 12:16:49 PM
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Okay - need to figure out how the images work on this site.
Lego people are approximately 12 feet high (1 5/8"), so I'll have to add some HO scale people pointing & such when I make the Legoland depot. Which I'm off to play with....
Rus
Starting my Tyco and other favorites collection over again after 37 years.
My still in progress list of inventory and wantlist: tyconut.com
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Posted - November 08 2009 : 5:14:33 PM
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50 pounds of LEGOs for 15 bucks?? LUCKY. I love playing with LEGOs, and I always get a new set at the LEGO store on our family vacation in Chicago.
-Jacob
Quote: "I didn't fail, I just found 1200 materials that won't work"
-Thomas Edison
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Posted - November 08 2009 : 6:07:28 PM
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quote:Okay - need to figure out how the images work on this site.
Originally posted by Tyco Nut-November 08 2009: 12:16:49 PM
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It's easy. Get the blinking "marker/cursor" where you want the image to be in your post. Hit the attachment button in the format area above the message box. A new window popup appears, hit the browse button. Navigate to the image you want to upload to the forum server. Choose it. Click "Upload File". When it's uploaded the window will change and it will offer to include the image in your post, click on that offer. The file is now resident on the server and the appropriate code to display it appears in your post.
Todd
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Posted - November 08 2009 : 6:07:54 PM
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I am likely to trade off some of the legos (what I don't use, flat rate Priority mail box) for HO stuff so anyone want anything?
Note: WILL contain: Mega blocks, Tyco, some other kind that's not labeled that has TALL connectors but WILL fit with some pushing, actual legos....
AAAAAAAND....
WILL contain a whole bunch of wheels and some people, as I'm going to use the (nearly O scale Lego people) Lego people for "statues" and HO people for admiring and pointing visitors.
Rus
Starting my Tyco and other favorites collection over again after 37 years.
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Posted - November 08 2009 : 8:10:37 PM
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I might be interested in the legos, just PM me whenever you want to trade. I don't have much HO stuff to trade, but I'll see what I can find.
-Jacob
Quote: "I didn't fail, I just found 1200 materials that won't work"
-Thomas Edison
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Posted - November 09 2009 : 01:51:11 AM
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Okay - it apparently takes about half the legos to make one nice sized building. =) Still working, but have the foundation, flooring with the black Tyco logo on white as a "mosaic" floor, blue walls, three doors and all the windows in. Roof will be a LOT trickier.
The second house has officially been named the train house.
Posted a new thread regarding what I'm going to do to the train house - check for it. It deserves its own thread.
Pics tomorrow of the work in progress on the "Tycoland" railway station.
Rus
Starting my Tyco and other favorites collection over again after 37 years.
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Posted - November 09 2009 : 01:54:11 AM
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Got the pictures figured out - better pic of the initial box of Legos inserted above.
Rus
Starting my Tyco and other favorites collection over again after 37 years.
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Posted - November 09 2009 : 02:10:05 AM
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Here's the foundation of the "TycoLand Depot." 6 1/4" x 16 1/4". HO scale converts to 118 feet by 43 feet.
The premise is this is a part of a theme park, and the real train stops here. Will have "giant Lego people" for the HO people to look at. They will also be in the scene, looking inside the building, etc.
Rus
Starting my Tyco and other favorites collection over again after 37 years.
My still in progress list of inventory and wantlist: tyconut.com
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Posted - November 09 2009 : 08:07:30 AM
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Here are the pics with the walls nearly completed. The roof will be the hard part. The foundation takes 201 pieces. With the walls, windows with shutters and transoms for the two font windows, this is up to 553 pieces so far, over half of them Tyco! I'm having a lot of fun with this, and it will be fun to put in as its own depot. I might do the backdrop behind it as its own Tyco/Lego scenery.
Rus
Starting my Tyco and other favorites collection over again after 37 years.
My still in progress list of inventory and wantlist: tyconut.com
Edited by - Tyco Nut on November 09 2009 08:09:33 AM
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Posted - November 09 2009 : 1:47:54 PM
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1238 pieces so far and counting. I'll be finishing up details, but you can see the roof base on top of the walls - it is all grey tiles underneath - these are the 1/3 height tiles - so this is 2/3 of a block thick. It weighs about 6 pounds right now.
The second & third pictures are the depot, figures are 1 5/8" tall, and will be there along with more to greet the HO people as they depart the train to enter the park. I'll be putting this next to track soon - have the "TycoLand Depot" now!
Rus
Starting my Tyco and other favorites collection over again after 37 years.
My still in progress list of inventory and wantlist: tyconut.com
Edited by - Tyco Nut on November 09 2009 1:52:53 PM
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Posted - November 09 2009 : 2:58:00 PM
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| dude! next time you do that TYCO in blocks leave it exposed
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Posted - November 09 2009 : 5:53:11 PM
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| This brings back memories. I remember when all the buidings on my layout were made out of lego Cool stuff!
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Posted - August 31 2012 : 4:52:03 PM
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This is SO cool!
Good luck with everything...and does your wife have a sister???
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