Interpreting the chart

Last time, a simple chart was posted showing how things scale on a 4x8 layout. Perhaps the most important part of that chart was how big 4'x8' actually is. It's only 350' by 700', or about 5.6 acres. That's really not much. A large "Big Box" store and its parking lot could easily take up that amount of space. A 4x8 layout feels small because it is small.

Now this post isn't about bashing the 4x8 or complaining about how small it is for a model railroad, but to provide perspective on what will fit. Let's say you have a road going down the center of the layout. The track allows for a building to be placed approximately 4" from the edge of the layout, and the road overlaps the center of the layout by 1 1/2". This means there's 18 1/2" of space between the building and the road. What will fit?

A 30x50' building will certainly fit, and a semi would seem to fit as well. With the building oriented so the long side is parallel to the track, they only need about 13" of the space, right? Now for the important question: Is there enough room for the semi to work? There's 4 1/2" of space left, that's 32'. It's really tight, but it might work if semis can drive directly onto the road.

However, most roads have ditches along them, so better subtract another 11' (1 1/2") or so for them, and even more roads have entryways and driveways to keep things separated. In the normal case, that space cannot support a building and semi parked perpendicular to the building.

Angling the semi would save space, and a semi angled at 90 degrees would take up quite a bit less space. By orienting the semi with the long side of the layout, it may be possible to find the space required.

Let's take a look at this again. The road is in the same spot, as is the building. There is a ditch along the road, and a driveway oriented so the semi can pull away from its parking place at the building and turn on to the road. Instead of 18 1/2" of space available, there's now 13". The semi should have the ability to approach the road in such a manner that turning either direction is possible, so figure on needing space for that. If it takes 3/4" of the length of the semi for that, figure on needing 6.75" of space for that. There's now 5.25" left, or about 38' for the semi to turn towards the road. Looks like it will fit.

One more complication may present itself. What about utility poles? They're not going to be run in the ditch, do we need to adjust for them?

A final thought: At 60 miles per hour, a car is traveling 88 ft/sec. That means that a car traveling at highway speeds will traverse the length of the 4x8 in only 8 seconds.

Looking at a 4x8 with a little math

Just how big is the once ubiquitous 4' by 8' layout? As many layout builders have found out, not very. Let's take a look at how things scale out.

(Caution: technical paragraph.) Assuming HO scale, with a scale factor of 87.1:1, where 87.1' in scale equals 1' full size. Going from full size to scale is a matter of multiplying by 87.1, while going from scale to full size requires division by the same factor. Calculating the final column was done using the values in the "Actual" column. Calculated numbers are shown to 2 decimal places.

Description	Actual	Scale feet	Scale inches	Number to fill 4'
Layout width	348.4'	4'	48	n/a
Layout length	696.8'	8'	96	n/a
4x8 sheet of plywood	4' x 8'	.046' x .092'	.55 x 1.10	87.1, 43.55
Semi Truck	65'	.75'	9	5.36
Average Boxcar	40'	.46'	5.5	8.71
Single Road Lane	12'	.14'	1.7	29
Two Lane Road	30'	.34'	4.13	29
30x50 Building	30' x 50'	.34' x .57'	4.13 x 6.9	11.61, 7
Golden Gate Bridge	6463.25'	75.29'	890.5	.054
1 Mile	5280'	60.7'	727.43	.065
Pitcher's mound to home plate See note	60.6'	.70'	8.35	5.75

Note: 1 mile just happens to scale out to approximately the distance from the pitcher's mound to home plate.

Looking at the world upside down

I've been working on building a 4x8 layout that was designed on a computer. Laying things out on the first half of the layout has been only as hard as it had to be, but laying things out on the second half is quite a bit more confusing.

The problem is a view divider that goes down the back. The two halves of the layout are completely separate, in an attempt to make the layout feel bigger. However, the track plan ignores this distinction, so tracks that are on the right-hand side of the plan go on the left-hand side of the layout.

The easy solution, of course, is to turn the diagram upside down. However, when revising the plan on the computer it's impractical to work on the plan upside down. My method of dealing with it is to think about what track connects where, and to make the revisions accordingly. That is working out much better.

Opposite Switch

If you're laying out track to see how it fits, and find you need a switch that's a right hand but don't have one handy, you can use a left-hand switch of the same size. Just flip it over so the rails are down.

Lights

My layout has been designed with the intent of looking good at night. I've added details like streetlights, signals, and white LED headlights. Even some buildings are lit.

After shutting off the lights, though, the building gets quite dark. While the layout looks quite good, there's very little ambient light to see with. Turning on lights in the next room kinda works, but it doesn't look good.

My solution is rope lights. Menards has 48' of rope light for about $20. One strand has taken care of most of my layout, and another will give me plenty of excess. The lights come with clips for installation onto a wood surface, or zip ties for something like a iron railing. They're incandescent, so they do get warm.

Initially, I installed the rope lights on blocks mounted so the lights would be slightly underneath the edge of the fascia. This would allow light to shine from both the front and the bottom of the light. However, this turned out to be too bright. The effect created was one more of twilight and less of night. By moving the lights up, so light shines only out of the bottom, the aisles are well lit but the effect is night.

One of the few remaining issues now is that of light leaks. The fascia is not sealed against the foam on some pieces of the layout, so light leaks through. An old panel location has two large holes that are easily ignored in the daytime, but with the rope lights it's obvious where it was. To paraphrase Dr. Malcom in Jurassic Park, "[Light] breaks free, expands to new territories, and crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously, but, ah, well, there it is." (Quote copied from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107290/quotes, except of course the word indicated with brackets.)

The rope lights install easily, look great, and provide a much needed improvement in safety. If (when?) I build another layout, I'll definitely install them again.

Puckdropper's Painting Rules

By now, I expect the basic rules of painting (don't paint yourself into a corner, clean your brush etc) are familiar to you. I've got a few to add based on either observation or experience.

1. Expect to get paint on you.

I always manage this somehow. It doesn't matter how careful I am, it still happens. All it takes is a little brush (pun unintended) with the paint.

2. When finished, leave the area.

I've painted things and tried to be careful as I kept working, but somehow rule #1 always finds a way. So, when finished, I always leave the area. Most paints need only a few hours to dry to the touch, so finding something else to do elsewhere isn't a big deal.

3. No drinks.

Observation or experience? You decide.

4. If the paint won't wash off your skin, don't panic.

It'll wear off in a few days. Until then, if anybody asks just tell them about your latest project. :-)

Life finds a way

As I was watching a train pass the other night, I noticed something odd about one of the cover hoppers: There was something fuzzy on the front end. It turned out to be a plant of some kind. While it looked like a tree, I suppose it could also have been a vine like Kudzu (the train was in Alabama).

A few more cars passed, and there were more plants. I guess those cars had been sitting for quite a while. If they were trees, it would appear they had been growing for about 6-12 months. This could be an interesting thing to model.

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture.

Flashlight

If you use a Digitrax DT-400-series throttle, did you know you've got a flashlight? Simply hold down the Power button in the lower left-hand corner and the white LED will turn on and stay on while the button is pressed.

One caution: This will switch the throttle to the power control screen. If you press "+" or "-" the system will cycle through power modes or turn off. To return to "normal", press the "Func" button on the top row.

Staging Yard

The club layout design called for an upper staging yard over a lower one. Building the upper staging yard posed a few problems, chief of which was figuring out how to support the track.

Since a good bit of the upper yard would be over the lower yard, it would be difficult to bring supports down to the lower roadbed without possibly impacting trains. One easy solution to that is to take a track out to get room for a support. It worked out that by cutting the upper yard roadbed larger than needed, the place where a track had to be removed was a shorter track. The shorter track was approximately the same length as a switch, and the switch to that track could be removed as well. So, it turns out that we don't lose any storage space at all and gain a switch that can be used elsewhere!

The upper yard is temporarily supported by threaded rod. This has the advantage of being easily adjustable and once the nuts and washers are properly tightened, reasonably permanent. Once the yard is properly leveled (or acceptably out of level--a downhill pitch won't bother a staging yard), it's possible to put in more traditional supports where possible.

The problem with threaded rod is that it has to stick up above the roadbed to secure to the roadbed. This makes running track in that area impossible. Solutions such as T-nuts or threaded inserts are available, but threaded rod only lends support to a small area. A wood riser type of support will support a much larger area.

Now for the difficult parts: There's limited access for a screwdriver, so how are the supports going to be changed over to wood? Can we add support and provide a solid barrier to prevent trains from going off the end and hitting the stairs?

Problems and solutions like this are part of what make model railroading fun.

Plaster Substrate

In one area, paper towel was glued to the foam and Masonite (hardboard) roadbed to bridge the gap between the two. The paper towel was then covered with plaster and painted. Everything was ok, until it came time to scenic the track near the area. Wetting the scenery put a lot of water on that part of the layout, and the paper towels buckled and warped, taking the plaster with them.

The area has been repaired with plaster mesh tape and a layer of plaster pushed in to the tape. Hopefully, this will hold up better, as the scenery on the track above is not finished.