Back at it with a new 116"x20" HO shelf


Construction has been taken off "hold" (finally!)

After staring at the existing layout for a while I decided to add a section and reconfigure all the existing track and take the "less is more approach" by spacing things out with fewer turnouts/sidings. Just less track everywhere. I hope this makes operating more fun, and improves running reliability too

The new 10' x 10" wide shelf is to the right of the original section. It has a nice long "main line" straight with a siding that can hold 6 cars plus an engine. It also serves as the staging area.





I like the background buildings and by placing them I hope to create a busy feeling industrial area. If anyone has ever seen Sweet Home Chicago's train videos thats the vibe I am looking for.





SInce these buildings are on the other end of the industrial area they will require a reversing move of the locomotive at the long siding. I hope this will add some interesting operating moves.



Team track here for unloading tractors and heavy equipment



to add more operating interest on the "far end" of the layout these two are going here



I had a VO-1000 when they first came out and the sound was fantastic so I picked up this DS 4-4-1000. Loksound Baldwin sound is very different from the EMD, GE and Alco's. It has tons of character to it and its very pleasent sounding (IMO). I hope this one is a good runner.

 
A major sore point is the lighting - its not cutting it I know!

The pucs seemed like a good idea but as others have mentioned they are way too high, not very bright, and consume batteries too fast

So Im trying some LED strips lights. I like that they are compact and lightweight, and this particlular model has many different white light settings so Im betting there is one that works for the room.



the plan right now is to mount them to the underside of these V trim pieces about two feet above the layout. Biggest fear is that they are going to light up too much of the wall/.backgrounds though. Wish I had a way to set them like a foot off the wall (ideas are welcomed!)



And in between the light bar and the layout Im trying these digintally printed backgrounds. These particular ones are going above the industrial zone. I ordered forest and mountain backgrounds for the new section to the right.




So this is where things stand at this time.

At this stage now is the time for any and all feedback before track gets glued down, wired and painted!
 
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This is a layout after my own heart! I love shelf switching layouts and this is one of the best I have seen. My own switching layout (see the thread for it) is set in NJ/PA area so your M&E Alco would be just perfect for my layout - I love the sound of Alcos :)
 
tdipaul said:
kleiner: your layout build inspired me to start mine back up!
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I am glad that I was able to get you restarted. The lighting from the LED strip looks spectacular now - much better than the ceiling mounted lights. On my own layout, I recently realized that lighting is not as good as I want on some parts of the layout so I may also need to install some kind of an LED strip myself.
 
Two setbacks tonight. #1 isn't costly, just time consuming. But #2 is.

1. Ballasting track is my least favorite step so I rushed it - I didn't apply glue to the sides of the cork and didnt apply enough glue/water/dish soap solution to adhere the ballast to the layout. So when vacuuming up the excess a lot of it came up. So now I get to do it again.



Looks like a hot mess right now but it should clean up.



2. An even bigger hot mess here... Thought to try some pre-printed backgrounds ($100!) but these aren't cutting it. None of the colors match up and the scenes are too different from each other. One of these would work great on a 32" wide diorama but not when four are butted together. They are only held up with 2 tacks up behind the valence so they come down easy. But what to do next I dont know! A one-piece background would cost at least $500 (?) so that is out. Might just cut my losses here and paint some clouds, old school style.







 
Nice flowing curves! It was interesting to see your pics because as it happens, I just finished ballasting all of the track on my layout. This has to be one of the least favorite aspects of building a layout but I really like to get it right.

I agree that those backdrops are not really working for your layout - I would just go with a simple graded blue backdrop. I designed my layout to be operated from both sides so I did not use a backdrop
 
To clear my head I took the backdrops down tonight and then applied ground foam and trees saved from a previous layout. Next up is weathering the siding tracks and the areas around the structures but I dont go too crazy with this stage. Tony Koester (a writer at MR mag) authored a story about details titled "Good Enough" that stuck with me so completion is fast approaching!









 
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incredible progress... I just got back from 3 months on the road so I'm ready to speed up my layout which ironically, is L shape shelf like yours. You have done a nice job. I need to consider LED lights too. They look so good. Nice work my friend.
 
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