40' x 8' x 8' shipping container layout

[logandsawman]

We

Dave, how's the temperature inside during the cold weather? I know you've mentioned it before.

This winter is a good test, since we had minus 27f last week.

It is on the cool side, as the floor is not insulated and the crawl space is open to the weather.

I did not want to skirt it in, so it would be more portable. However, I have since decided to pour some footings and skirt it with 2" of pink foam, buried and running up the exterior about 3'.

At least that is my working plan, all things subject to change.

It is pretty comfortable if the outside temp is 20f or warmer.

Thanks for asking!

 

[logandsawman]

Here is the updated plan, what has been executed to date. I left Wyoming open as that has not been built yet. The track on this plan is all laid except #7 which is laid out on the benchwork but not executed.

Dave LASM

 

[logandsawman]

Over the last couple days was able to complete the terrain along the end of the layout up to the track, as well as rough in and lay track in the sawmill area:

I know how difficult it can be to visualize where we are on the layout, so I made the schematic above.

Here is the end of the layout, this is all hydrocal with screen and paper towels, the relief is the track is about 1.5" above the base and the high point of the hill is about 4" above the base:

I used the Peco rail joiners through out the layout for power. So far I have 20 isolated blocks, which will be operated with toggle switches. I like having lots of places to park my locomotives, my layout is DC

Here I am looking from the Kettle River bridge at the sawmill area. At the right is the mill where there will be a big log pile at the infeed end of the mill. On the left is the office bldg with room to store sawn products and load cars with higher value products which may have been processed in the building. The office is upstairs.

Above - this track has been mostly fastened down, the foam will be trimmed some, no foam on the siding with the office building, trains will stop on the mainline to offload logs. A little settlement will be along the wall. Roads and parking areas are also planned here.

Here is looking from the other direction, the quarry buildings go beyond the river next to the rock wall (I removed them to work on landscaping and track)

Thanks for looking!

Dave LASM

 

[blackz28]

your killing me i want to put one of these containers on my property since im fla & have no basement . im soooo following this
your doing a great job

 

[logandsawman]

Made some good progress over the last few days, got the lift out made also working on trackage for the final settlement:


Here is the diagram for the photos in this post:

The new sidings by the line at Photo 1 is not as drawn, I continually make adjustments as the track is laid and the buildings are staged. The photos explain it best:

The door bridge will be a lift out. It sits into a cradle and is pretty convenient, takes about 30 seconds to drop in. The town of Wyoming is at the top of the photo above. Bottom of the photo below.

The water tank is what needs to be in a certain place, as well as the depot and crex buildings, which are the lines drawn on the right side between the track and the yard stick. I have the radii marked out to make the big curve, 23" radius on the outside curve

a little different view shows more of the left side of the layout,

Thanks, Black Z. You will probably need air cond down there rather than heaters, I just have wiring for a ceiling fan and plan to get by without air.

I discovered a thermostat issue with a bank of my heaters, it seemed like some of the heaters were not throwing out much. I remembered when I wired them there was a little spark on the thermostat and that must have compromised it. Anyway, I replaced the thermostat ($23 item) and that made all the difference, I was out there working yesterday with outside temperatures at only plus 5 F. Live and learn...

THANKS for looking! Dave LASM

 

[logandsawman]

All the track has been laid out and the bridges installed! The small pile of rail pieces is all my leftover track, this constitutes the 75' of new flex track and all the salvaged track from the old layout:

A bunch of track has not been affixed yet, but this is the final plan

(above) the small pile by the tape measure is all that is left.

I like the way this track turned out.

THANKS for looking, Dave LASM

 

[Bruette]

You are a machine! If you keep it up management will cut off your overtime.

 

[RhB Michael]

That's a lot of work in a short time. Looks great.

 

[logandsawman]

Thanks, Guys; running the wires and associated hardware will no doubt eat up a nice chunk of the calendar. All the turnouts are manual, but with each one there is an associated on/off switch corresponding to the wired blocks.

And it is a DC setup with 3 jacks for the walk-around-throttle. That always takes a bunch of thinking to get everything straight with that.

Looking forward to running that first locomotive around the loop!

Dave LASM

Dave LASM

 

[santafewillie]

And it is a DC setup with 3 jacks for the walk-around-throttle. That always takes a bunch of thinking to get everything straight with that.

Tell me about that! Mine has 5 jacks and I have #6 on the project list

 

[logandsawman]

Tell me about that! Mine has 5 jacks and I have #6 on the project list

Tell me about that! Mine has 5 jacks and I have #6 on the project list

Where do you get extra jacks?

 

[bnsf971]

Thanks, Guys; running the wires and associated hardware will no doubt eat up a nice chunk of the calendar. All the turnouts are manual, but with each one there is an associated on/off switch corresponding to the wired blocks.

And it is a DC setup with 3 jacks for the walk-around-throttle. That always takes a bunch of thinking to get everything straight with that.

Looking forward to running that first locomotive around the loop!

Dave LASM

Dave LASM

Way back in the good old days, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, I created several sockets and plugs for the remote throttles using 1/4" stereo headphone male and female connectors for our club's throttles. The base station would continue providing power at the last selected power level and direction until the throttle was plugged back in. Only two wires soldered to the back of the female plug was a lot easier than the multi-wire connectors of the day.

 

[santafewillie]

Where do you get extra jacks?

My walk-around throttle uses standard telephone jacks, which are quickly becoming dinosaurs themselves. I actually bought a pack of 100 from Amazon about 15 years ago.

 

[logandsawman]

Mine is the GML

Way back in the good old days, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, I created several sockets and plugs for the remote throttles using 1/4" stereo headphone male and female connectors for our club's throttles. The base station would continue providing power at the last selected power level and direction until the throttle was plugged back in. Only two wires soldered to the back of the female plug was a lot easier than the multi-wire connectors of the day.

There are 3 wires.

It operates the same in that if I unplug it while the train is moving, it continues at the same speed.

It also has the momentum control, where the rate of acceleration can be controlled, a pretty cool feature.

The cord is 10' long, so I think I can effectively operate both sides of the isle,

It may be that I will have to stop the train at the turnouts to change the points. Since I am going prototypical and rural, probably be a more authentic game if I stick with my present setup.

When I stress out over authenticity, my wife likes to remind me it is a make believe world with an "element " of realism.

Dave LASM

 

[logandsawman]

All the track was connected today!!!! Next step is to run the wires. All the jumpers are in place, just a matter of first running the bus wires, then running all the block switches, and finally hooking up the walk-around jacks and unit. Possibly get those tasks done tomorrow?

The final section glued in to place! Go back to the beginning and you can see this is where I started and progressed in a clockwise progression around the layout.

Photo 7 below:

The spur track down by the feed mill is also glued in

photo 6 below:

And, I added this storage track, there was one leftover turnout and I thought it made sense to have a track to store the log cars and empty/vull merchandise box cars on.

THANKS for looking, Dave LASM

 

[BigGRacing]

Nice long runs! This is going to be great!

 

[logandsawman]

Nice long runs! This is going to be great!

Right on, Gary! I got the transformer hooked up today, energized one block, and everything worked .

I just used the multimeter cause the layout is a mess I didn't want to unwrap a locomotive yet.

It is my neatest wiring job yet, pics tomorrow

Dave LASM

 

[logandsawman]

Pics of the installed control center with first two block controls mounted and tested:

(above) first test on control unit. This is a GML walk around, the hand throttle has momentum feature, reverse, brake and throttle. Plugs into the base station, plus I have 4 other remote jacks will be spread around the layout.

Only one base station required, has reset, fuse, on/off, overload.

The throttle is set at about 2/3 full and the gauge reads strong current

In the upper right is the transformer with AC in. coming out is the fused power. The 14 gauge black and white coming out of the master control unit goes to the 14 gauge power bus. This is an 80' continuous wire that goes around the entire layout.

The 18 gauge 3 wire cluster coming out of the master control goes to the jacks for the walk-around control plug-ins. The cord for the walk-around unit is 10' long. This control has the feature that when unplugged, the train keeps going at the same speed while you select another jack.

I have the blocks wired with on/off switches to isolate the sections. They are simple single pole single throw switches that turn off one track. I have used this system on my last two layouts as well, and I find it very simple, straight forward, and trouble free.

Thanks for looking, Dave LASM

 

[PMW]

It is my neatest wiring job yet

Lookin' good! I won't be sharing too many pics of my wiring

 

[Bruette]

I find it very simple, straight forward, and trouble free.

Perfect!

I love the GE Analog multimeter, sweet! How long have you had that?