BirchwoodPete

A bit more progress to date. Lines all laid all around the room. I still need to add dropper wires to the last two boards, but they are just plain track, no pointwork to deal with. I have spent a lot of the last few weeks working on resurrecting some of our original late 70s and early 80s locos. Back in the day we didn't really know much about servicing and maintenance, so ive got 20 odd years of catch up to do. I've managed to resurrect my dad's 1979 coronation Scot Hornby tender drive. The motor is a good runner and lovely on dcc. The coronation non streamlined duchess of sutherland was a good runner in dc, but on dcc needs over 7v to get the motor going, so on my nce system it's still a bad runner. I have upgrade the nce power supply from 12v to a 15v 2.4amp supply and the difference is amazing. Everything runs much better and smoother. I have an x04 motored flying scotsman. I was bought this as a birthday present at the age of 11 but it never ran right and now finally, with a replacement neo magnet fitted and new pickups fitted it runs really well. I'll probably got some additional wiper pickups to make thing smoother down the line, but it's nice to run a loco at last after 23 years from being gifted it

A little more progress shown here. I forgot to take too many pics as I did this, I was having so much fun playing with wires and trying not to melt my fingers Not going too mad with the pictures of this, everyone's seen wiring before. Not the neatest of installations, but I can easily see where everything is in case of problems down the line. I made several mix ups with frog polarities on the cobalt, which resulted in some fiddly work underneath the baseboard swapping wires around. I think I had about 50% success rate so a dozen cobalt to swap wires on

A couple more shots of track laying and the start of fitting dropper wires.

So moving forward I acquired some closed cell foam sheeting and stuck this down on the boards and began laying track. And for now I can't upload anymore images so I'll have to continue this another time!

This design has changed a little since I started building it. I simplified it slightly by removing 1 inner loop and the siding / shed area is yet to be finalised. Baseboard construction began, plywood frames with 9mm ply tops and softwood bracing. The first three boards went together quickly, but it took a few weeks for me to get the final bits of framing assembled. Mostly because 1 board became the work bench, so while all track was modified and had droppers soldered on I didnt have space to continue the track all the way round the room! I started to lay down some track and start working how things would fit. This was my first time using flexi track, so that was fun to get my head around. I mark and cut using a dremmel and the tidy the cut ends with a file. This started off being a slow process but I have got a lot more confident and now I am much quicker at getting things cut and fitted Just a quick look at the underside of the baseboard. Each board has a different style of bracing but they all seem to work well

So the start of my layout thread. I posted up about this project a while ago in the track design area, but I never got round to moving it over here once I started to actually make some progress. So an overview. I had severa Hornby trainsets as a kid, but never actually got as far as having a layout built up. My dad had put together enough track in the late 70s early 80s to build the 1980 Hornby catalogue layout, which we would build up every Xmas and break down in the new year. We had a reasonable bit of stock, but over the years we didnt really appreciated the maintenance and servicing required, so slowly everything started failing and running poorly. Once I hit teenage years and discovered rc models the trains got left behind and the years have rolled by. Now I have my own home and have started my own family the urge had returned to make up for the lost years. I decided to convert the spare room/office, a small space approx 8' x 9'. Around February this year I downloaded scarm and started trying to cram as much track in a small space! After several failed attempts I 'borrowed' a few ideas from another layout design and I had a plan.

I have the up line running through the station area and the RH throat pretty much complete. The turnouts are in place for the two terminus lines. Next little job is the last bit of baseboard and the swing bridge to connect the two sides together and fill this gap.

More progress this weekend. I got the next two boards finished off and fitted in place after removing the computer desk out of the room. Little helper checking progress. Started placing track down for the LH station throat. I have cut a few of the infills from flexi. It's my first time working with it, so I'm taking my time, using a dremmel for the initial cut then tidying with a file.

They are a bit over engineered, as I had planned on using some leftover ply I had in the garage. I assumed it was half inch, but when it came to cutting I realised it's 18mm. Top is 9mm hardwood ply. This was quite warped when I bought it, but it has flattened out nicely. I couldn't wait till next week, so order placed for the remaining track. This will be with me for the weekend so I can start cutting flexi and putting the station area together

The first two baseboard are complete and in place, the two side boards are still waiting for the glue to dry. Underlay 5mm closed cell foam is ordered and awaiting delivery. I decided I'd start having a play with a few sections of track. I've still got to place another order with Hattons for the rest of the points and set track items, but that will have to wait till next week

I have planned this as if it is for me rather than for my son. He has a couple of trainsets, including a wooden set, but he is more interested in his hot wheels and lightning McQueen! Hence why I am building this in the hope that he shows an interest, but not solely for him. I will be building it as the two round the room lines initially to get things running so he and i, can see the trains. I will build it with the paintwork installed to keep expanding to the plan above in time. If he really likes it and wants to play, I will build him his own island of sodor on a 4x6 foldout layout in his room. (Mummy doesn't know this plan yet)

I started construction of the baseboard this weekend. I've managed the large 3'x9' section across the back, I'll need some more materials for the rest. What do people reccommend for an underlay? I see a lot of people still use the classic cork option, although more are leaning towards the closed cell foam. I figure with the amount of track I have covering the board that it will be easier to completely cover the boards and trim back once the track is laid In the areas I want scenic

I am at least planning on making the baseboards detachable so when it does have to come apart I dont have to rip it all up. I will lay the track complete for now, and cut it as and when I need to break it down. This may not be for a couple of years, were not short of space unless another nipper comes along. My garage on the other hand is a good size, but is currently taken with my other project/hobby, but once I have built that car I'll have some free space if I need it. I have spent a few weeks now working out what I can and can't get away with for this. I know my plan is complicated for a first layout, but I want to try and get as much learning done with this layout. I plan to go DCC with it down the line, so I will wire it accordingly, although for now it will be run dc until I am ready for that step.

Thanks for your replies. As yet in not sure how interested my son will be, but I'm hoping seeing them running will spark his imagination. I am also under no illusions that it's just for him! My plan so far is to get the boards built in the room over the next few weeks. I have ordered track and points to build the outter track as drawn above plus a second inner line. I will get these wired up and able to play with. Once they are running I will draw out the rest of the track on the baseboard to make sure I'm happy before buying anymore track. I do have all our old Hornby track, but most of it is late 70s 80s track, so plain steel and currently unknown condition, so I decided to just go with new peco track, set-track curves with streamline ef points. I do have some later Hornby nickel plated track, but I'll probably just use this for setup and development

Hi Guys, Im new to the forum, although i have been lurking here reading threads and getting inspiration. I have decided its time to get back into things after no touching my railway for a long time. Now i've never really had a proper layout in the past, aside from as a kid, using my Dads Hornby railway, inspired by the infamous 1980 catalogue track layout. The closest we came was having some 8x4 chipboard to lay the track on instead of the carpet. I still have his old locos from back then and i am hoping with a bit of love they will run again. Anyway, moving forward to now, i have convinced the wife to let me take over the spare room as its only really used as an office. The room is just under 8'x9' (95"x107"). I have been messing around with SCARM and have created a couple of layouts. For me at this stage, i am happy to admit for now, that i want more of a train-set than a model railway. I say this, because i have a 4 year old son i want to get into the hobby, as well as watching trains go round. Also, i know i will eventually be kicked out of this room and will have to convert some of my garage space for future layouts, where i will have time and space to get more involved in the modelling and scenery side of things. So the designs This one is a rather optimistic multi level layout, with 2 roundy lines and a raised station area. I then moved onto another multi layer design, with and upper and lower terminus. this isn't the easiest to see in this picture The downside with this is it is tricky to get the gradient line to drop down below the upper terminus. At this point i decided to simplify things, keeping it on 1 level for this layout. I saw another layout design, i think a 12x8 layout, that i liked the look of, so i have tweaked it to fit my space. overall i am quite happy with how this has turned out. I know its very busy, but like i said, i want to see trains running around with some playability. Now i know in the space i have i am not going to be able to run long rakes of coaches, i am looking at 3-4 coach trains. so i have a double runaround, with a station that also has a 2 lane terminus. i also have an inner goods line, running from a yard that can access both runarounds. Can anyone with a bit more know how see any fundamental flaws with this layout or any suggestions of things i might tweak. I have started to purchase bits towards this, and i will start baseboard construction in the next couple of weeks Well that's enough of an introduction for now, i look forward to some feedback