# Raising my railway and changing scales



## Mike Toney (Feb 25, 2009)

I am in the process of raising my railway up from right at ground level to a couple feet above ground level. Will make it easier to access live steamers while sitting in a lawn chair and keep grass clippings from blowing in there as easily. Got most of the retaining wall done, ran out of blocks. Once we locate someone to haul in and dump a load of dirt into the inside of the wall, probably a couple loads, I will lift the track and remove the plants and pond. The layout has been done to LGB scale for awhile, and while I wont be getting rid of my LGB stuff, I plan to convert the line to 7/8ths scale, still using the LGB track for now as I dont have the means to cut my own ties to hand lay the line as much as I want to. We have an overhead layout in the house the LGB stuff will move to. I share ownership of an Emma and just recieved joint ownership of the Fairymead for my birthday a couple months ago. The existing layout was ok for LGB but with rough track work, out of level ect, the larger Emma and espicaly Fairymead balked at it. Here are a couple pics of todays progress and what the old layout looks like. Mike and Michele


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## Joe Johnson (Jan 2, 2008)

As you get older you will appreciate every inch of elevation


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

I am thinking of raising my layout to. .....Sorta......Actually I am thinking of lowering the ground around it..... Dig trenches along some of the Right of Way.


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## SD90WLMT (Feb 16, 2010)

JJ..ya should come see my viewing pits I'm building ..might be right up your back hoe alley!!

..nice way to change perspective looking at the layout...be part off ..and in it...not so much looking down from the heavens!!

....drop in anytime!! 
.....Dirk


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## Mike Toney (Feb 25, 2009)

We tossed out the idea above due to costs associated with getting good fill dirt localy and delivery costs. I showed my wife a pic I happen to have of a layout that was built in a planter box set up on a second floor balcony railing. It straddled the railing and allowed LGB R1 radius curves, which is what I use. But now I cant find where I got the pic from. All I have is one where he set the cam right down on the rails and took an engineers view pic. I would like to see the others to see how he built it. I am thinking of doing this around the front and south side deck railings in an "L" shape. Using 2x6 treated lumber, hardware cloth with a fabric weed barrier overlay that is clamped with a treated 2x2 on the bottom to retain a pea gravel base and dirt. Then I can retain the garden atomsphere but have it elevated for easy steaming. Layout would be set up for my LGB Euro stuff or Logging, depending on what mood I am in at the time. I tend to run both and just swap buildings out when needed. Mike


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## Mike Toney (Feb 25, 2009)

Here is the one pic I have of that balcony railing layout. You would never guess it from this vantage point. Mike


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## Mike Toney (Feb 25, 2009)

Found the rest of his pics, on a whim I googled the name of the pic I had and found his photobucket account and the rest of the pics. Now to deduce how its built! I do plan to make mine a bit wider to accomidate a folded dog bone loop with R1 curves. I will keep most of the loop outside my deck railing with only a little bit inboard. I will support the overhang with either legs or angled brackets back to the main deck structure. Wish I had a fellow large scaler near me that was better with carpentry than I am. Mike P.S. I could go single track with loops at each end if I go battery powered for the LGB and live steam, or just live steam outdoors and keep my LGB stuff on my overhead loop mostly. I do like the look of the single track line!


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Clever approach to a layout, Mike. Was the whole thing a planter, mounted on the railing?


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## Mike Toney (Feb 25, 2009)

we ended up keeping the width for R1 curves since she likes to see the LGB stuff run. I got part of the benchwork framed up and started on the supports for the hardware cloth/weed barrier bottom. I will get some pics up tonight. I also lifted the old line to clear the area for the new stuff. Mike


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## Mike Toney (Feb 25, 2009)

It wasnt my set up, but one I found online, just cant remember where. If memory serves me right, it straddled his railing and was designed to be removable since he was renting. The whole thing was a "slip fit" over the railing setup. He was using custom bent curves and only running LGB Field railway equipment. I thought about that, but not ready to sacrifice my ablity to run my other LGB stuff just yet. For my desires in live steam, which are the Regner easy line Willi, and Vincent, along with the Lumberjack I have, will handle much tighter radius than R1 if I wanted. I think Regner has some 30" diameter field railway track they sell that thier easy line engines can run on. But its of a narrower gauge than LGB. Mike


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## Mike Toney (Feb 25, 2009)

Here is a pic of todays progress, between other projects like the leaking water heater I had to replace, I managed to get this much done. Mike


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## catherine yronwode (Oct 9, 2013)

I think your raised "planter bed" idea is superior to your earlier plan for raising the bed. 

My hat is also off to the person whose photos you found with that "slip fit" planter box layout. That is sweet. 

In looking at your pictures, i had a few questions --

Will the area under your porch extension be waterproofed and/or used for storage for rolling stock? Will there be access panels for electrical and water under there? 

Keep us appraised of your plans as you continue to develop them. You are creating an unusual layout ,and seeing how it is built will help others who are making the same sort of layout decisions that you are. 

cat
ET&WNC
East Tennessee and Western Northern California RR
"Home of the Mixed Consist"


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## Mike Toney (Feb 25, 2009)

The underside will probably get enclosed in some fashion eventualy. We have storage under our upper deck for the pool. I dont have that much rolling stock and it stays indoors when not in use. If i had only the Lumberjack steamer, I would custom bend real tight radius curves and more closely clone that gentlemans layout. I wish he was a member here, so I could get some pics of it being built and how he did it. Looks like around 30" radius curves on his layout from the pics. His layout would be perfect for a Regner Willi and the small LGB field railway equipment. Mike


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