bickybtrains

My wife was saying its a little to bright down there.

Just a couple more days and I can start moving in the new layout baseboards. The basement reno was a larger than expected renovation, it took a little longer than anticipated, but it will be worth it in the end.

More progress on the baseboards.

Thanks for the comment. I revised my plan numerous times, the new layout follows the foot print of my old layout, with about 10 feet added on one leg. I will post the revised track plan later this week. I'm not to worried about the trains going into the helix after leaving the station, the station is about 20 feet from the start of the helix.

Started the other module, I figured out the height of the helix, so I can continue building the other modules. The large 2 x 2 will be attached the wall, it will have the back scene attached to it. The lower back scene will be curved, literally following the curve of the support bracket. The material I'm using for the baseboard is 3/4" furniture grade plywood, all glued and screwed. All the legs have height adjustment pads so I can do the final leveling in the basement.

This is how the layout room looks right now. All the drywall is up, just a day or two of sanding. Then painting and electrical. After that flooring and hanging doors. Then I can get to work building my model railway empire. The whole layout will be modular so that it can be taken down with little damage. My wife hints on us buying a nice bungalow someday.

The first module I have started is the helix. A 5 track helix, what a monster it is going to be. I added another loop for the colliery so that full trains can come out of the colliery and empty ones go in. Staying with in my 2 percent grade I believe I will need 5 levels, possibly 6. I cannot do much more on this module until I have it installed in my basement. So I will start the next module. I have also painted the plywood white, makes things a little easier on the eyes when crawling under the layout to fix anything. The legs I painted black.

I'm glad I have a workshop to work in, I have started building the helix module for the layout. It a big one to say the least, over 6 foot wide. I going to keep the grade to less than 2 %. You could smell the brain cells burning figuring it all out. I'm glad I have an electronic level. But boy my floors in the shop are not level so it has been a bit of a challenge. Photos to follow.

So the whole railway room has been insulated and drywall is going up. I have all the baseboards ready to assemble once this project is finished.

So we have been busy down in the basement. The basement has been fully stripped down to the concrete, and new stud walls constructed, we are ready for the insulation to go in on Monday and will start to drywall as soon as the insulation has finished.

The two levels will be 34 and 52 inches.

So I am close to a finalized plan for the layout.

I read up on them, and I pretty confident that it will work. Figured out the rise and the gradient will be less than the current bickley central.

A much better drawing will be forthcoming, trying to get my head wrapped around how I am going to do a multilevel helix.

I started a new topic, aptly named The Bickley Central Mk2. Showing a rough idea on what I am trying to achieve.

As with all model railway layouts, the fun is building them. Over the last couple of years I have been renovating my house. I now only have the basement left to renovate. Although I have enjoyed my present layout, it does have some short comings. The opportunity is to build my ultimate layout. Our basement is in need for a refurbishment, the laundry room is dingy and dark. The basement was not fully insulated and has a cold floor. It also only has one window. Being in the renovation business allows me to rectify most of the problems, new windows in concrete and meeting fire code is a specialty that my company does. So with pencil in hand I have drawn up a rough sketch of the project at hand. So here comes The New and improved Bickley Central.

I have attained planning permission from the powers to be. A new and improved Bickley Central will be coming. The plan is to disassemble the layout in the new year, do a full renovation of my basement. The Bickley Central will be a two deck design, and a full commitment to DCC. The basement reno will be a full strip to the concrete walls, new electrical, new walls with better insulation, new ceiling with dimable LED lighting, a new laundry room for the wife, and a new egress window(FIRE ESCAPE), cut through the concrete. The last running of the Bickley Central will be New Years Day 2021. Then demolition will begin. I will start a new topic with the full story, with plans. For your info, and I still use the old imperial system the layout will be 21 feet wide and 15 feet deep.

One was running on the Buffers Model Railway club layout. Very impressive model.

Due to some photos on imageshack going for a walk somewhere I am slowly editing everything with new photos. Otherwise I have been puttering around on the layout fixing some electrical issues and installing more signals. William

I have not done much work on the layout lately, I have been tidying some signal issues, and doing a bit of wiring. Hopefully I get a bit of work done over the next couple of weeks. William

Sorry to hear about that. Cars sometimes have the tendency to cost you when your not expecting it. I once broke my clutch cable in Toronto once, it was a Sunday many moons ago, no stores open. My Dad came and drove it home by forcing the gears. He was good at it. I could sometime shift without using the clutch. Glad you got home OK. William

Hey Thom, It was great chatting with you at the Platelayers Symposium today. Looking forward to meet up with you at the Great British Train Show in 2016. William

Thanks William

I just bumped it. I have been busy on the layout lately and I am ready to change the era on it I am moving up to the early Blue Grey era. I havent run my Late 60's early 70's stock for a while. So the next batch of photos will show the change over. William