Rises And Elevations

The first part of the benchwork has begun.

I made some L girders out of 1x2 and fastened them to the wall at 30 and 51 inch heights. The 51 inch was necessary to clear the light switch of all things, but that's about where I wanted it anyway, and the 30 inch is perfect for a table-top height HO gauge layout.

Or so I thought.

The first real bit of benchwork I built was a 3x6 foot platform for the Scenic Ridge layout that I am going to build as Nn3. It, too, is built from 1x2 strip wood, and with the foam on it measures right at 2 3/4". At 51 inches from the bottom, the top of the platform with the Styrofoam sheets attached is just under 54". That should be fine as long as I don't have any problems at the back of the layout, assuming I will have the long edge against the wall. 

Which you know I am going to, for no other reason than it will be difficult to reach at that height.

 Added to that is the fact that the entire layout isn't built at foam level, oh no. There is a 2" riser that goes on the top of the base board that sets track height, and then a 4% incline that adds another 2" before it's done. Because I'm building this in Nn3 I may be able to get by with substituting the 4% incline with a 2.5 or 3%, which will only raise the track another inch and a half. Still, that would be a 3 1/2" maximum track height, added to the 51" bottom height, added to the 2 3/4" base height, which puts the highest track elevation at 57 1/4" from the floor and almost 3 feet from the front edge.

Yep, I'm going to need a ladder to get to the back of the Nn3 layout. But it will look spectacular at that height.

Due to this, I'm considering putting the HO layout on the adjacent and opposite walls, which will put it under the widest part of the standard gauge layout instead of under the narrow gauge, where it would impede access to the back of the Nn3. I'm also considering a 3" difference in height between the standard gauge and narrow gauge sections, which would be about a 2.5% grade along the 10 foot wall, which is completely possible and would add a little interest besides.

I'm also considering sticking the Nn3 out from the wall, which will extend it six feet from the wall. At a 10 foot 10 inch room width, that would leave 4 foot 10 inches for the main section of the standard gauge and an aisle. Figuring at least 24" for the aisle leaves a 2 foot 10 inch bench depth for the standard gauge. This does give me enough room for a 15" radius turnaround loop for the standard gauge, especially if I consider curving the front of that section towards the wall. 

That would also allow me to put the grade along the same wall as the Nn3 layout will stick out from, which will not interfere with the turnaround loop on that end, and would also give me a nice level spot for the interchange yard on the layout spur going to the narrow gauge (which will be standard gauge... maybe... or maybe it will be a coal washing plant with the narrow gauge climbing down the grade to get to it.).

So many possibilities... but that's why I built the base for the Scenic Ridge layout first.  

Let The Fun Begin

 I have finally completed renovations on the train room. Mostly. Except for some trim work that isn't really important right now.

At any rate, that meant that trains must run in the new train room!

I am kicking around several plans, but one of the things that I have decided will absolutely happen is dual scales. Maybe even triple scales. I will have an HO layout, an N scale with Nn3, and for the third, the Nn3 may get the option of removable buildings so that it can become Z as well.

The only question is where to put the HO. I have debated putting it above the N, but I think I have decided to put it below. The HO will be at 30 inches (basically tabletop height) and the N will be at 54 inches. The HO will be tucked under a portion of the N that has very little operational requirements, so reaching over the HO to get to the N won't be a huge problem.

I decided on these heights so that I can operate the HO from a chair and the N will have enough room under it for the 48" high racks I have built to put my equipment cases in. The N was only going to be a foot deep at this point, but it will now be two. The tracks will be at the front and more space for scenery will be towards the back. This also gives me more room for the interchange for the narrow gauge branch.

Anyway, I needed to plan the benchwork, so the first trains to run in the new train room was HO. I set the track up and wired up the Empire Builder Digitrax DCC system that Mrs Hades got for me. As you may recall, I attempted to go wireless with that one and failed miserably. It worked with wired throttles, though, so I built some buss cables to run to the track, plugged in the throttle... and nothing. Everything SEEMED to work, the throttle showed the locomotive was selected, there was power on the tracks, but the trains did not respond to the throttle. They all made their normal background sounds, but none of them moved, and none of the throttle commanded sounds or lights worked.

To say the least, I was extremely discombobulated. I knew it wasn't going to work with the wireless throttles, but I decided rather than mess with it I would just swap out the DB150 from the Empire Builder with the DSC210 from the Evolution Express system that I just bought. To save some time hooking more things up, I just used the plug in throttle again instead of plugging in the UR93 duplex transceiver and putting batteries in the DT602D... and this time it worked perfectly.

This makes me question the problems I had with my previous DT402D wireless throttle. Since it worked when plugged in, and occasionally when unplugged, perhaps the problems weren't with the throttle, but with a failing, but not quite gone yet, DB150? Maybe there was nothing wrong with it after all, and I didn't waste my money on it, and it will work with the DSC210? (Or with the Zephyr, which can be used as a command station with other throttles/wireless devices connected by LocoNet, which is another thing I should have tried.)

I haven't had the time to mess with it yet, but the next thing I will do is hook up the UR93 and see if the DT402D will work with it.