# My Garage Rairoad in the making



## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

In March of this year, our house was sold through a short sale as it had been in foreclosure. At the old house, the plan was to have a grand layout in the back yard which was to have a two track bridge along the back wall that would have spanned some 90 feet with piers along the span.

But the layout along with home ownership went out the window and left me with a rental house that is 800 sq ft smaller, no pool and no fenced back yard. The screened in porch at this house was too small for a train layout of any size and with no fenced back yard, an outside railroad was not a consideration with the animals and neighborhood kids running loose.

So the garage was the only choice, but it was full of stuff that no longer fit inside the rental house. So, I filled the closets in the extra bedrooms and the hall closet. Then the plan was to build a 16 foot long 44 inch wide table on the right side of the garage, a 16 foot long 48” table on the left side of the garage with a 10 foot long 36” table across the back of the garage. Now it would be an easy feat if it were not for the wife wanting her new car inside the garage. That means the span across the front of the garage door opening will need to be a bridge that can be lifted out and stored to the side. There will also need to be a lift out or hinged bridge next to the water heater so we can get in and out of the house as we never use the front door. We’re a family that goes in and out through the garage.

After building the 44 inch wide table on the right side of the garage and filling it full of boxes, I realized that I had a big problem with my layout plan. So I decided to build a table on top of the existing table. 

Currently I am working on the track layout and figuring out just how the track plan can fit within the limited room available. On the 44 inch wide table I have 38 inches of room front to back due to the double 2x4 legs. On the 48 inch wide table, I have only 32 inches of room after the shelves and boxes that are stored on the table. Then on the 36 inch wide table in the back I have 24 inch wide area to work with.

Progress has picked up after getting back from Marty’s, but is still slow due to the neuropathy in my feet. Thankfully my son Jason shown in some of the photos has been a great help. 

The following photos don’t’ show the building of the 44 inch wide table but shows the garage as it was packed after the move and the various stages of construction along the way.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)




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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Waiting to run


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## kormsen (Oct 27, 2009)

your pics made me smile. it reminds me of my own layout. every foot of extension to the layout means shifting around dozens of boxes.


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## ThinkerT (Jan 2, 2008)

Looks like MY train space - only neater. 

Kinda makes you wonder how much you can shove in there before the room explodes. 

So, going from your explanation and from the pics, are you planning on some sort of compact double decker layout with a direct connection? 

Or two separate layouts, one atop the other? 

Is this strictly a switching operation? 

I would also point out something I think you've realized already: the 'shadow effect' from having the one table atop the other. I have a second level as well...but mine is a 12 inch wide shelf atop 30 inch wide tables.


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## kormsen (Oct 27, 2009)

Posted By ThinkerT on 19 Oct 2012 05:12 PM 
I would also point out something I think you've realized already: the 'shadow effect' from having the one table atop the other. I have a second level as well...but mine is a 12 inch wide shelf atop 30 inch wide tables. 

my lower level is two feet high, but even so it is too shadowed. i am thinking to buy some warm-white LED chrismas chains and to hang them under the ceiling of the lower level.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

The upper table is full of boxes 
The lower level will be covered with styrofoam sheet to look like rock and have a tunnel portal on each end 
You won't even know there are side tracks inside


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## SD90WLMT (Feb 16, 2010)

Well, mmmm ...a ... what ever your doing... I hope you have room fer that NEW Hopper car..! 


And Randy, I have to say this OK,.. no puns here... 

You neeeed a Rio Grande loco man!!! 

Your making do, and having FUN !! Yep, that's it...he he 

Planning on buying another home someday? With a fenced yard or 2. 

Dirk - DMS Ry.


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Wow! I haven't seen a Mantua box in decades! 

Looking good. 
John


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## ThinkerT (Jan 2, 2008)

Hmmm...maybe you should pick up one of those cheapo easy to assemble storage sheds from Home Depot or somewhere?


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

The HOA won't allow any outdoor storage sheds


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Well, last Sat I ordered some of those black plastic rail insualators so I could section the layout for track power. But when Wed and Thursday came and went, it was obvious $21.00 worth of plastic was going to hold me up. USPS states they should be delivered tomorrow the 26th, but the only left MO today. So I don't expect them before Sat now.

Any way, I laid out the track to what I believe will work. The layout is primarily going to be a frt yard so there isn't going to be much scenery. Following are some photos I took today.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Well, the plastic track insulators showed up today, but with hurricane Sandy making her way up the coast, I've moved the train boxes back up on top of the track laying on the table and moved everything on the floor over to the side so I could pull the wife's Caddy inside. With nasty weather moving in this afternoon and staying around tomorrow, work on the layout is on weather hold till at least Sunday.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

I'm surprised the HOA has let you park you car in the drive way. Sure glade I don't have put of that. Later RJD


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

In Florida, very few people use their garage to park their cars in. Most are used for storage. 

I would preffer to have all my cars inside the garage, but too mch stuff and now outside storage sheds allowed. 

My brother lived in Cape Coral. No pickup trucks were allowed to be parked in drive ways over night.


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## norman (Jan 6, 2008)

Hi Rivette: 

1) I love your neighbour hood. With those large houses, could you not find a spare room in your house to use for trains? 

If really challenged, you could always devote the master bedroom for a train layout. Your wife will understand. Well, maybe not! 

2) Those Florida lawn views really remind my of DisneyWorld. Do you visit DisneyWorld often? I really enjoyed riding the steam train around the Magic Kingdom and watching the different steam locos roll into the station above the main entrance. 

3) The Lionel 0-6-0 loco. What is the kitbash plan? A HLW cab to replace the Lionel cab to look like the Delton 0-4-2T loco prototype? 

4) I really envy your perfect year round weather. I keep telling myself that I would miss the Canadian winters! 

Will termites eat into the legs of your layout and your furniture? At DisneyWorld one of the large paddle wheeler boats broke in half as it was removed from the water for maintenance as termites had eaten right into the beams. The steam engine was salvaged for a rebuild of a replacement paddle wheeler. I really enjoyed DisneyWorld. Clean and safe. Just like Ottawa, only warm year round! 


Norman


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi Norman 

Nice house, but the bedrooms are smaller than the old house and thus no chance of building a layout in one with 8 foot curves. No chance of using the master bedroom. 
The Disney days are over as the amount of walking is too much. The wife and I did love riding the trains at WDW. 
I have an old Bachmann Big Hauler that I was trying to use the cab of it on the 0-6-0 but it is really too big. So it's a project on the back burner. 
I spent 30 years in the WV cold winters. I don't miss it at all. 
Have not had any issues with termites although other people have. None in this neighborhood that I know of.


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## Dave F (Jan 2, 2008)

Well, at least you have all your RR stuff with you. We sold our house (finally) and I made the move east in August. All my trains things are still in our shipping container which is currently somewhere between Salt Lake City and Chicago. (It should arrive at their depot in Chicago this week). Once there we can make some decisions as to where we want it delivered for unloading. I'm in a bit of a pickle since we're currently living in my In-Laws house (just us, my Mother in law is in Florida) and I really can't set up any type of garden RR, outside or in. 

Since I'm pretty set on going battery/RC on my next RR anyway, I think I may invest in a few yards of Aluminum track and begin to retrofit all my locos to battery/RC. It'll give me sometihng to mess with to feed my garden train needs. 

Considering your space issues, I think your table top solution in the garage is a real winner. Nice job so far. I've really been enjoying your pics, keep 'em coming.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Well, first I was held up needing the plastic rail insulators, then came Sandy and I needed to get the Caddy inside and finally I decided I needed some 4 ft switches.


So while I got the insulators before Sandy got here, I had to make room for the Caddy. 


Then I had to wait for the switches which came yesterday without me knowing it.


So along with selling toy Corvettes and making a trip to the post office, I installed two of the 4 ft switches, cut two pcs of track to fit and connected some curve sections.


Progress is slow but coming along.
Nothing much to hold me up now but my feet and legs.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

ok, today I got the two mainline tracks connected up and all the side track switches connected up. I still have some work to do on some of the side tracks and then I need to pull out one of my USAT passenger cars to check clearances. With all the side by side tracks, the passenger cars may not clear frt cars parked on some side tracks.

As seen in the following pics, the left side and rear part of the layout is pretty much set as far as how the track will be.

I've sectioned off just about every part of the layout with plastic track insulators, so there will be a lot of wiring to do and a switch board will need to be created.

This is a lot of work to be doing in a house that I don't own. My fear is the owner will sell the house out from under me and I'll either never get the layout up and running.

Our lease on the house will come due in March. We've already told the management company that we plan to stay another year, but?


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Forgot to add that the bridges still need to be worked on. The Aluminum Tubing for the bridges will cost around $165.00. I'm still undecided as to how I will attach the bridges to the tables.


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## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

Randy 
Dont forget to use the overhead storage, above the car idea, several ideas on google 
Dennis


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Yea, Dennis I have the brackets sitting in the garage. Got to get my sone to help me put them up.


So, I unboxed all my coal hoppers except for one. I still have a grain hopper to unbox and several old wooden box cars and reefers.


I only have the little steam engine on the track, yet all my side tracks are full and most of the main line. 


Once the bridges are completed I want to take a video od the Dash 9 pulling all the coal hoppers, then I'll need to box several of them up so I have room to run.


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Got a couple questions: 

Did you attach the track down or is it just free floating? 

Are your trains DCC, R/C Battery or DC track powered? If track powered, do you plan to add block controls? 

Do you plan to scenic the layout, add any paint or just let it remain in bare Plywood Pacific mode? 

Just curious about how others approach layout building in the Great Indoors.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Did you attach the track down or is it just free floating? Currently it is all floating at least until I have the bridges installed. That way I can movethe track as needed to line up the bridges.


Are your trains DCC, R/C Battery or DC track powered? If track powered, do you plan to add block controls? I have one loco with battery. The rest will be DC. all the side tracks and the mainline will have block controls.


Do you plan to scenic the layout, add any paint or just let it remain in bare Plywood Pacific mode? Since the layout is basically a big frt yard, they isn't going to be much scenery. I plan to cover the double table with styro foam sheet scupted to look like a rock face with tunnel entrances on each end.I reall want a coal loading ramp where a dump truck backs up a ramp to dump coal into a shoot to be loaded into waiting coal cars. At this point, I'm not sure I have left my self room to do this. I would also like to build a loco repair ship where the tank cars are sitting. Also along the outer sides of the side tracks, I would like to build false building facia so it looks like the side tracs are up against the back of buildings. As for the track setting directly on the partical board, I originally planned to cover the table in Cork or even indoor outdoor carpet. The price to do that ended up rather expensive, so for now I'm going to run it as is and see how loud the noise is. If it's too noisey, I'll figure something out. Once I decide, only then will I start balasting the track.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Ok with my son Jason's help, we got the hanger brackets secured to the ceiling today. I've had these brackets for several years and had 4 in use in a house we owned 8-9 years ago. Not sure where we found them to begin with. I used 1/4 inch lag bolts to screw into the roof joist. We drilled the holes with my battery powered drill and then used a drill running off house current to run the bolts in as far as it could. Then Jason had to use a long handled ratchet to tighten the brackets to the ceiling. Ad a 2x4 to each side and then load the shelf. Being I'l be storing either empty boxes or boxes with the light wt coal hoppers the 2x4s probably will be the heaviest part of the load.


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks Randy, BTW those are slick shelves! I could use those!


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

While I don't remember where I found the ceiling brackets, I googled them and found these:

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&tb...mp;bih=818


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Well, it's been a while since much of anything has been done on the layout as I was waiting for funds to allow me to buy the aluminum tube I will use for the two lift out bridges.


I had decided to use 3" wide x 4" tall aluminum tubing. The wall thickness is .125 / 1/8th " wall thickness.


I had to buy a 24 ft pc of tubing. Cost was $187.32 plus tax.


The dealer cut the tube into 3 pcs, 13' and 4', leaving a 7' pc for a future bridge somewhere.


The long 13' bridge will be supported by two removable piers.


So now I have to build the supports for each end of both bridges along with building the piers


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Well, the temp outside this afternoon got up into the mid 60s and I felt like doing some bridge work.


So I worked on the bridge approaches for the long bridge.


The plan was to install a floor to the approaches with a 2x4 under it for support from the cement floor.


Once this was completed, the 3x4 tube was set in place, the track installed to determine exactly where the tube would sit on the approaches.


Then I installed 2x4s on each side of the tube to align and hold the tube in place each time it is in place to run trains.


With the tube in place and the 2x4s secured against the tube, I'm ready to trim the approach flooring.
The plan will be to use styro foam to cover the approaches to look like a mountain side and also the bridge supports at the approaches will be covered to look like cement.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Well, I found what I thought was a sheet metal screw and tried securing the track to the tube. I drilled a 1/16th hole and tried screwing the track in place. As screw broke off as soon as it got tight in the hole without touching the top of the tie. 

So, I'll need to make another trip to the hardware store to look for small sheet metal screws that have a flat head and are strong enough to cut threads in the aluminum. 

I may have to get a small tap or possibly thread cutting screws.


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## FlagstaffLGB (Jul 15, 2012)

So...this is really a cluttered train room? Ha. I guess it will never be used again for storing a car or lawn tractor......I just took over one of our garage bays (12' x 26') and called it good. Now I am moving outside into the back yard and slowly giving the wife back the "train room" as a storage for her arts and crafts and Christmas decorataions. Keep up the good work....


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## BigRedOne (Dec 13, 2012)

Try drilling the holes oversized relative to what you'd do in wood. For merely holding track to the beam, I'd measure the outside diameter of the threads, then take my next smallest drill bit. Small nails or unthreaded pins in pre-drilled interferance-fit holes should work, too.


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## Tnwhite (Jul 10, 2012)

Very neat project... I really enjoyed the pics, keep them coming


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

OK, I set the long bridge tube on supports in the front yard and sprayed it with Krylon flat back for the first coat. Then 30 minutes later I gabe the bridge tube a coat of Krylon Satin Black. The finish has turned out great.
I'll give the paint another hour to dry in the warm Florida sun and then I'll set it in place on the abutments. Then I can set the track in place and start drilling holes to secure the track to the bridge.


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Hey Randy 

Is this going to be a single track or double track bridge?

Is your new layout going to have only one main line ?

JJ


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## Dick Friedman (Aug 19, 2008)

About the noise issue. I don't know what it costs, but Pelle Søeborg (a frequent contributor to Model Railroader) found a rubberized underlayment material (looks like it goes under asphalt shingles to waterproof and weatherproof roofs) which he thought he'd put under the rail to deaden the noise. Big plywood sheets act as resonators! It must be even worse in Large Scale.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

It's going to be a single main line with a pass through siding so I can pull the passenger train in the siding and than pull it out the other end when ready. No backing the passenger train required. 

Thanks for the tip Dick. I'm close to finding out if the noise is going to be too much.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

OK, I really made head way on the long bridge today. The bridge girder tube is painted, and the track is secured to the girder.
Once the paint was dry, I set the bridge beam tube in place and assembled the track. I soon found out that I didn't have enough rail clamps to clamp the track sections together, so I removed some other rail clamps from other parts of the layout. I'll be ordering more clamps to complete the layout.
Anyway, once the rails were all clamped together, I centered the track with the bridge girder. I then used a 1/16th drill bit to drill primary holes about 12 inches apart in the aluminum tube. Once the holes were drilled, I removed half the track from the bridge and drilled out the holes to a size where the self drilling sheet metal screws would just fit the hole. Then I set the track section back in place and used my drill driver to run the sheet metal screws through the tie and into the tube. I know the screws are large, but being the bridge is 40 inches off the floor, I wanted to be on the safe side. I'll paint the hex heads black later.


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

I don't know. Looks like a problem to me. What are you doing so it doesn't escape out into the yard?


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

I went to out biggest trains show for the year here in Florida last week and brought home this $13.00 tunnel face.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Finally, a day without rain and my feet felt like doing something.

Si I drug the saws out and built the two bridge abutments, set the bridge in place, drilled the holes to secure the track to the bridge, painted the bridge girder and finally secured the track to the bridge girder.
With any luck I'll cut two track sections to mate up the bridge to the switches on each end. Then I'll be ready to check the main line out with my Dash 9 and 4 USAT passenger cars. If they make it around with no problems, then everything else I have should traverse the main line perfectly.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

I need to order Rock Island signage for the bridges.
I would like your thoughts on using "Rock Island Railroad" spelled out or should I use the Rock Island R/R LOGO?

[url="


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

I would use the RI logo as I've seen this years ago on bridges. Later RJD


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

The track crew finished installing the rail on both ends of the short bridge today. So I pulled the Dash 9 out, hooked to my 4 USAT passenger cars and went for a ride. Everything worked fine. The tunnel facing wouldn't work on the north end of the tunnel, but should be fine on the south end. Tomorrow I need to clean up the tools and supplys laying around the layout. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gDG-CG91YQ


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Well, no pics today, but I put in a good 4 hrs working on the layout. 

I rulled a coal train with the Dash 9 for a while, then went to work. 

I made a small shelf area by the bridge abutment near the fridge for the switch console and transformer. 

Then I finished the track work in the north frt yard. 

Tomorrow I hope to start running the wiring to power the mainline and the side tracks. 

I still need to put the Rock Island logos on the bridges. 

As much as I want to put in a coal loading ramp for my dump trucks to dump their loads of coal into the hoppers, I'm still not sure where I can locate ramp. 

I have this large card board box that my new office chair came in that I will cut down to fit in the back corner to imitate a 3 or 4 story brick building. 

It looks like I'm going to have to paint the box red or brown and then stripe it by hand to imitate bricks as I can't find any g scale sheets of paper that imitate a brick design.


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## SD90WLMT (Feb 16, 2010)

Randy, can you print out a brick pattern at home yourself? 8 x 11 sheets of bricks...


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

I tried printing a brick patern off a copy of an o scale sheet and it didn't come out good at all. 

I even tried to print it in gray scale and no luck


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

Randy, 
Go to a scrapbook store that carries scrapbooking paper . You may find a brick print there.. They have hundreds of different kinds of patterns...
Travis


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

I'll have to check that out. 
Thanks Travis


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Well, I got the mainline, the pass trough siding and three side tracks wired for power today. I would have gotten one more section wired for power but as usual, I can't find my roll of wire. Randy the Dash 9 pulling the track cleaning gondola for a while and then pulled out my Rock Island RS3. It ran flawlessly on the mainline. I then ran the LGB Mogul for the first time since getting it for Christmas back in 2011. It ran great and the factory sound was very nice. Now that I know it runs great, I'll be ready to tear the tender apart and modify the slopback tender to fit. 

Tomorrow I plan to run my ABAA USAT Rio Grande F3s. Should be quite a site pulling my 4 USAT passenger cars. 

One thing I found out today is the 100 ton hoppers and the Aristo Flat car won't traverse my side tracks as they all have 4 ft diameter curve sections. I had installed body mount couplers. Guess I should have left them as truck mounts. Everything else went very good. 

Now, were did I stick that roll of wire?


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

While running some more trains today I found a large gap in a rail and fixed it. 

I also found some issues with my running stock. 

Yesterday I found that my 100 ton coal hoppers and a Aristo Craft Flat car that I had installed body mount couplers on would not make it into any of my side tracks except the pass through siding. 

All my side tracks except for the pass though siding have either 4 ft dia switches or 4 ft dia curves as my layout doesn't have room for 8 ft dia curves and 10 ft dia switches in the frt yard. 

The wheels hit the 831 gearboxes on the kadee couplers causing the cars to derail. 

When I first started to pull a long coal train with my Dash 9, the overhang of the dash 9 was pulling the first MDC 2 bay coal hopper off the track. This was on the mainline where everything is 8 foot dia curves. Putting one of my 100 ton hoppers behind the Dash 9 fixed this problem. 

So today, I put my ABAA F3s on the track to pull my 4 USAT passenger cars. First thing I found was the power pickups / sliders on the engines were catching on the rails of one of my switches and causing the loco to jerk as it passed over the switch. I can remove the sliders later to fix this issue. 

But then Jason noticed the last loco in front of the first passenger car was tilting over as it came out of each curve. Turns out the long passenger car was binding the loco and trying to flip it on it's side. So, while I had planned to use my F3s to pull my passenger train, it doesn't look very feasable with the 8 foot diameter curves on the current layout. I'm now considering boxing the passenger cars up and saving them for the day I can build a layout outside or prefferably in a basement someday. I have a D&RGW Box car that I can put between the las F3 and the first passenger car. Maybe that will fix the binding issue. 

Something else I forgot about. After pulling the passenger cars for maybe 6 trips around the layout with the 4 F3s, the overload tripped on my MRC 10 amp Power G. 
After a few minutes, I reset the overload and they went to pulling again. I parked the passenger cars and the F3s and gave the Powr G a rest.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Randy, you might be able to cut the corners of the gearboxes and get more clearance on the hoppers. 

On the passenger train, USAT makes a baggage car that is significantly shorter and that may help your curve issue. 

Greg


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks for the suggestions Greg. 

I went out to the garage a few minutes ago to find a screw and a nut to finish putting the Kadee coupler height gauge together and while there took a look at my D&RGW box car. It's an LGB car. While the D&RG F3s look yellow, the box car is orange as orange can be. So, it's not going to go between the F3 and the passenger car. I'll have to look at getting a baggage car or a D&RG long box car.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Here are some videos of trains running on the layout. 

The Dash 9 is battery powered. The others are all DC track power. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG34K8SXpRo&list=UUwqzK-tNDExejIkqisT5JpQ&index=2


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6xylDJMln0&list=UUwqzK-tNDExejIkqisT5JpQ&index=1


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

Looking very nice Randy!! Keep the pics coming....Travis


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

NEAT Randy 
looks like a toy store in there.


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