Welcomed addition to the train room.

We have had our photovoltaic solar system on our house for a year now.  And although we have been home every day except for 2 in that year, we made quite a bit more power than we used and have a credit with the utility company.

Feeling assured that it was not going to cost anything to run, I purchased a portable air conditioning unit for the train room.  The local big box hardware store had a sale on them.  I had already installed a discharge vent through the wall when I built the room so it was an easy install.   It sits under the Wesso area of the layout.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right away I noticed a difference in the comfort level.  This unit has a dehumidifier built into it and I was surprised at how much moisture was draining out.  I had to rig up a bottle to catch it so I didn't have puddles all over the floor.  This portable unit will also be a back up for one room in case our main unit in the house ever has a problem.

Completing the layout room storage

It's been awhile since I posted anything on this blog.  Most of my hobby time this summer has been spent working on my Japanese modules getting them ready for a layout at the 39th Narrow Gauge convention in Sacramento in early September.  Been doing a lot of posting about that on my Tokyo in N Scale blog.

With everything just about ready for that trip, I recently turned my attention back to the home layout and to completing the storage above the layout.  I needed to do this before I could further expand the layout past were it is now.  Up to now I have been using basic white cabinets from Ikea.  To finish off the area at the end of the layout room I am just building open shelves.
 

This view shows the shelves holding oversized but lighter weight items such as small modules.  The posts hanging down from the shelve will be for mounting LED light bulbs same as under the cabinets.  The bottom of the shelves will be painted white and tempered hard board lighting valance installed.

This photo shows how I used steel brackets on the top to keep the area where the layout will be open.  On the left by the door is where the Palisade tunnels will be with a lift out bridge crossing the doorway.

A computer for the layout room

A couple years ago I replaced my computer.  There was nothing wrong with the old one it just would not run some of the new software.   In the past at work I had on a number of occasions re-purposed older computers to use in situations where the program applications being run were limited so I thought why not do the same with this old computer.  The computer and monitor had been collecting dust in a corner of the train room while I was waiting to decide where to set it up.

The space under the DCC drawer was the perfect spot to set up the computer as it was right next to the work bench.

I made a shelf supported by a pair of steel brackets for the computer and monitor and added one of those pull out keyboard trays.



This train room computer will be primarily used for running JMRI Decoder Pro to program locomotive decoders and possibly experiment with some layout control in the future.   I will also use it to program Arduino micro controllers. Up to now I have been doing the Arduino programming in the house and then bringing the Arduino back to the train room to try it out.  This was rather inconvenient so this will be a big improvement.

Rearranging some train room furniture

As the layout grows I am learning more of what works and what does not with the layout sharing working space in the train room.   One thing that was not working for me was the paint booth sticking out as far as it did under the Golconda section.

The paint booth itself fits OK under the layout but the cabinet it sat on was 24 inches deep and that is what stuck out.  So a 30" wide by 24" tall wall depth cabinet was purchased at Ikea and wheels were installed to become the new paint booth cabinet.

The original 24 inch deep cabinet that the paint booth sat on now fits nicely under the turn around part of the staging yard.  For now it will hold boxes of items that I have for sale which up to now had been sitting on the floor.

Some time ago I had picked up a nice maple top for $15 at a garage with the idea of making a second work bench for the train room.  Recently I reconsidered the second work bench idea and installed the top on the existing work bench.  Lighting for this work area is done with the same type of LED panels used to light the Wesso section.

When the bench is not in use the lighted magnifier can be swung under the layout so it does not interfere with the layout.

There is a space in between the bench and the paint booth and I plan to purchase a 40 inch tall by 24 inch wide cabinet for there.

With the work bench under the layout the tool chest I had been using did not have enough room to open all the way so I installed a couple of drawers.  One is for electrical tools and the other for modeling tools.

I also installed a back board to the work bench and may hang some tools from there.  I am going to try to keep this new set up neat and clean and  hopefully will complete many projects here.

2017 year end wrap up

As I have mentioned in prior posts the train room can get a bit chilly in December.  This fall we purchased a new electric heater and it has been a big help.  I keep it pointed toward the area I am working in and it is surprising how far the heat is reflected so even it is not raising the temp in the room that much it keeps me comfortable.  It has been a big improvement over what I was using before.

I have not been posting as much as I was in the fall but I have been working on the layout, primarily on the Battle Mountain section that I started last summer.  Here is a round up of the work I have been doing.

The SP / West bound main, siding, and the spur tracks for the two industries at the back have now been painted and ballasted.  I made track bumpers for those spurs from scraps of brass and code 55 rail.  One of those is seen in this photo.  Paint on the warehouse started today with what will be a blue stripe running the length of the building.  This will be masked with tape and the whole building will get a spray of a light gray.

I have been working on rock castings and base scenery along the front edge where the WP / East bound track is.   This is a bit lower than most of this section to help visually separate the scenes as on the prototype they are actually a couple miles apart.

There will be a grade crossing on this track along the front edge.  I would like to add some flashing grade crossing signals with sound to this.  This should be a great rail fan spot.

Trainboard.com is having the winter layout party again and I'll be posting some of my layout progress there for the next couple of months as well as the regular updates here on the blog. 

This will be the last post of the year so I want to wish everyone who follows a cheerful holiday and good fortune in the new year.

Layout room storage cabinets

Most of us struggle to find enough space in our layout rooms to store all of our trains, kits, scenery supplies, etc. The best solution can be some sort of cabinets but good cabinets can be quite expensive.  When I remodeled our kitchen years ago almost half the budget went to new cabinets and those were no where near top of the line.

What I have been using for my train room are un-assembled cabinet kits that I buy at Ikea.  They are well designed and easy to assemble.  I mount them above the layout and mount layout lighting under them.

Here are the cabinets I just purchased a few days ago and got some photos before installing the doors.

The east end of the Wesso section can be seen at the right of this photo.  The layout will be continuing under these new cabinets.

These cabinets are fairly inexpensive.  I buy the most basic finish which is called Haggeby.  The 75 inches of 15 inch tall by 15 inch deep cabinets shown in this photo cost me $123.00 plus sales tax.  I've been adding the cabinets little by little and now have 25 linear feet installed.

Of course they look much better with the doors installed.  The future path for the layout will be under the cabinets at about the level where those two orange module sections are sitting now.

Led lighting for the layout and lighting valance will be mounted along the bottom of the cabinets.

Besides the shorter cabinets that are mounted above the layout, I have two 30 inch tall cabinets that were from the old train room.  These had been above part of the old layout.

Wheels have been installed under them and they are now used as base cabinets and working surfaces.  The one in this photo supports the paint booth.  Paints and scenery materials are stored in this cabinet.  The other one serves as a shipping table and holds shipping boxes and packaging material.   These cabinets are about 15 years old now and have held up well despite being at the low end of the price range for cabinets.

Installing a Showcase Express display case

It's been a few months since I posted anything on this layout blog.  Again, most of my model railroading time has been taken up with module projects and some DCC installs but that is also rewarding.  The train room has now been through a summer and has been very pleasant to work in.  On some days it is actually cooler than in the house.  Also, as long as I keep the door to the garage closed dust is minimal.

The LED lighting for the layout has advanced to the point that I am beginning to build some permanent bench work.  I hope to post more on both of those subjects soon.  Recently I installed a large display case along the wall between where the lower staging yard will and the highest point on the layout.

Several years ago my wife gave me as a Christmas present this Showcase Express display case for my n scale trains.  This is the set that has 10 two foot long sections.

This system uses specially made aluminum channels that interlock when stacked on top of each other.  It's a flexible system.

I really like this one so when I had the chance to buy the set of 10 four foot long sections I knew just where I could use it in the new train room.

The goal is to mount this set as 2 sets of 5 high placed end to end.  I had already installed some shelf brackets that will support the east end of the layout which will be Carlin.  In order to mount these display case channels, I needed to build a frame that would allow the case to clear those brackets and still be securely mounted to the wall.

The channels have a groove along the back that help guide where the mounting holes will go.  I aligned these with the vertical sections on the frame I built.  There is also black plastic links that can be fitted to the top of the inside of adjoining channels.

These display case channels are designed to fit a standard Micro-Trains box including the lid.  Locomotive boxes, or larger Micro-Trains boxes do not fit.

The way I prefer to use these display cases is to put the locomotives and rail cars directly into the case without their boxes.  There are a pair of grooves on the bottom of each channel that are a perfect match to N scale wheels.

Here is the display case with all 10 of the 4 foot sections mounted temporarily in place with a complete train placed in the bottom channel.  Hey ! that's just about how long a train is going to be on this layout.  With these being just above the staging yard and the layout being multiple eras, I plan to park the out of era items on these display case channels.  Before mounting these permanently I need to get the shelf that will support the Carlin section of the layout in place.