# progress on my basement empire



## domer94 (May 4, 2015)

I have officially taken over the basement. basic benchwork is done and im in the stage of finishing the backdrop Masonite and roll-roofing cover layer. ive been amassing track and turnouts and can smell the blood in the water now for trackwork! I have decided to make the center basement stairs into a massive locomotive facility with a pass through tunnel / service line. I will have capacity to house 4 steam locos , and maybe 4 diesels on the other side. I will eventually make the whole stair structure into a big building with bay doors etc etc. it may be hard to get a complete picture of the whole thing , but here it goes








here is the view from the "north "dog bone into the center stair loco facility








this is the "south" dogbone which will be a swooping 10' turn back across the isleway via a bridge that will be at a level of 12" above the decking. and head back in a sweeping curve back along the wall. that area with the black box will be the headhouse of my grand stub-end terminal. that is an aristocraft heavyweight for an idea of scale.









this is the steam side of the loco facility. those tracks will head through bay doors into the building "under the stairs". there is about 30" of space for loco housing









this is the right side of the stair structure which has the turnaround for the service branch and heads into the tunnel under the stairs. there is a small spur line which you can see along the wall that will be used to deliver parts and supplies for the facility at a loading dock.









another view of the service turnaround and where the spur line will come in along the wall and cross the other track with a 90" corossover.









this will be the diesel side. the spurs will be housed in a structure. you can see the outpass of the stair tunnel where the car is. there will be a turnout there serving the spur to the bays.









this is the view of the back wall run. 
I managed to come up with a plan that avoids reverse loops, but I have to make sure I don't inadvertently create one. I want to be able to run a mainline and another local freight independently to create more action. also some point to point switching situations to keep things active.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Looking great. Oh how I wish I had a basement.


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Domer

There are many ways to look for hidden return loops and wyes. 

1, check your track with a multi-meter set for resistance. Put the leads on each rail. If you get a low or no resistance you are you have a short. If there is a very high resistance you are OK.

2, put a truck with a coupler tongue on the track and push it in the direction of the tongue. If you get back to your starting point and it is pointing in the original direction everything is OK. If it is pointing in the opposite direction you have a problem. 

Back in the late 1960s, I was building an HOn3 layout. There were dog bone loops at each end. One night, probably about 2AM, I woke up in a panic. Somehow during my sleep it realized that I was creating a short circuit. I then isolated a long segment of track in each loop and then with a two toggle switches was able to change the polarity of the main line outside of the loop, while the train was in the isolated part of the loop and solved the problem.

Chuck


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## Trains (Jan 2, 2008)

Going to be very nice! I had a basement, then the wife took it over.


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## domer94 (May 4, 2015)

*plugging along*

i finished hanging the backdrop Masonite. boxed in the stairs with Masonite, and layed out more roll roofing material. at the end of the night I was able to rough out one of the far curves to get an idea of the grade and where the duckunder will be. it will rise 12" in 15 feet. that may be a little aggressive , but I don't have too much choice. that far curve handled a heavyweight ok enough for indoor work without looking too hung over.









this is the turn area with the roofing and masonite done








the outer side of the under stair loco facility with the Masonite hung and ground layed








this shows the 12" high point of the future trestle / viaduct which will head back over towards the back wall. 








this is the start of the grade. I will be running a short line behind it that will pass under and turn back by where the high part is.








here I placed a 1 x 3 across so as to get an idea of the general height and direction of the duckunder bridge. I kicked around some of the available bridges , but I think what will work best here is a concrete under arch with low railing that I can scratchbuild from wood parts available at lowes. I think any thing else would cast a shadow on the layout behind.


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## domer94 (May 4, 2015)

*more progress today*

finally got rod of the holiday house guests, so I can get on with business. started pasting the sky backdrop and layed down some more roll roofing material. I also roughed out the trackage for my planned stub end terminal. those are some o and ho building flats I had laying around. I took some to staples and had them blown up to g size. I have to mount those on hardboard tomorrow. I will use the other scale flats to create perspective behind the terminal building. I have 2 x 4's there just to get an idea of where I want my platforms.

































those are PIKO r5 manual turnouts. I was testing the approaches with an aristocraft heavyweight which is probably the longest equipment I will run on the mainline only. I noticed that when going through the turnout at a speed anything above a crawl , the leading wheel is hopping off the rail when it exits the points going into the turnout from the diverging track. there is a gap between where the point ends and the rail begins. I think if I file it down to create a smoother transition it will solve the problem.


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## Modeltrain (Jan 16, 2017)

I'm loving the layout of the track!! this is something that me and my brother want to build up 2!!


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## OldNoob (Apr 30, 2016)

WOW! it's going to be awesome!!


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## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

Nice work, looks like you have some good room to work with.

Chris


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## roadranger (Jan 6, 2008)

Thank you Photo Bucket of Crap for destroying yet another informational page…


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

There's a plugin for Chrome that will let you see the photobucket pictures still. The plugin for FireFox has quit working.

Greg


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## Richard Weatherby (Jan 3, 2008)

Anything for MS 8? This is not what it used to be ...


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Richard do you man MS Windows 8, or MS Internet Explorer 8?

Greg


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Guess this thread died. Later RJD


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

aceinspp said:


> Guess this thread died. Later RJD













http://forums.mylargescale.com/13-indoor-railways/88346-progress-attic.html


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