Because things have been busier, I have not had a chance to do any work on the layout. However, before COVID-19 arrived here in New Zealand, I was fortunate to host about 10 members of the Southland Society of Model Engineers. Their club is based in Invercargill, about 45 minutes drive from where I live. They have a nice club layout at their clubrooms and many of the members have layouts as well. You can find them on Facebook here. They're a great bunch, so after the COVID-19 lockdown, look them up and say hello.
It was great that everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Some made themselves busy finding the figures and scenes listed on the layout "where's Wally" scavenger hunt list. Others took some time to railfan the various trains running. On the day the layout seemed to behave itself and I was pleased the only derailment was caused by me not paying attention and running the wrong way through a switch.
While the layout has hosted visitors before, I've never had more than a couple of people at a time. So this was the largest number I've fitted in the garage. Luckily, it was a reasonable day so I opened up the main garage door and also moved the car out. To help with capacity in the narrow aisle, I had bench set up on the other side of the room with a photo book featuring the layout construction and a slideshow with photos of my Dad's 28mm wargaming figures on his dioramas. So people had things to look at if they couldn't find a spot around the layout.
It's always good fun to share the layout, especially with such a great bunch of people.
Many thanks to Greg Fordyce for the photos.
Congratulations on a successful open house! Sounds like Mr. Murphy was not in the crowd that day - phew! More likely it is a testament to your hard work making a smooth-running railroad. Well done.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I am especially glad you shared photos of the railroad in the larger setting of the garage. What "extra" time I have (HA!) during this time of confinement has been directed toward the garage, my own railroad space. I have yet to figure out how to create a backdrop that hides all the paint cans, garden tools, water heater, etc. You are fortunate to have a corner space.
Question - do you cover the railroad to keep off the dust, or do you not find it to be an issue?
Galen
Hi Galen, great to hear from you. Thanks for the kind words.
ReplyDeleteI'm lucky our garage is the size of a two car garage, but with a single car garage size door. Which means I have all that other space for storage and of course the layout! I know what you mean about concealing the work area. My corner space is nice, but when you are in the middle of the layout operating the town area, you do look out over the car/work area. I had thought about building an internal wall, but this would drastically cut down the useable space. The result is there are not many photos take of some of those scene. Maybe I should get over that!
The layout does gather some dust, but perhaps no more than any other. We keep the main garage door shut to prevent wind blown dust and curious neighbourhood cats off the layout! I have toyed with adding a ceiling over the layout area to help with dust from above, but do date I have not pursued this as it has not been a problem.
What are your plans for dust control in your space?
Luke
Briefly, a set of removable wire hoops inserted into concealed holes in the railroad surface, over which a sheet is placed. In fact, I'm working on the step before that step, today (finishing the trim around the benchwork). Dust is an issue for us in California, especially now as the hot, dry summer approaches. I have a trim strip to install around the garage door but I've been reluctant to do so as it is an older door and I'm not sure it'll work with the added friction. Even then the bottom strip is aged and needs to be replaced...so the dust cover is the best choice for the short term.
DeleteLooking forward to future posts.
Galen
Luke, Glad your open house was a success. I would love to see a few more birds eye view shots of your railroad. Especially without visitors.
DeleteHave you considered a "drop down" backdrop? You could take a 4' x 8' sheet of 1/8" or 1/4" masonite (tempered hardboard), paint it the same blue as your sky, and drill some small holes along one of the 8' edges. You would probably need at least 4 holes equally spaced apart. Then you could install ceiling hooks with spacing the same as the hardboard. Then you connect the hooks on the ceiling with their respective holes in the hardboard. On the opposite 8' side of the hardboard you drill out another hole and put a heavy string/rope/chain through it. Then you install a ceiling hook so that you can raise this mobile backdrop out of the way when not in use. Then, when you want to shoot photographs or videos of the layout, just back the car out of the garage, unhook the rope from the single hook, and lower the backdrop into place. There is also a fancier way to install the backdrop to the ceiling involving 2 - 8' 1x2s and a piano hinge.