DocWayne, the only thing is... the ATG doesn't have any passenger cars or lounge cars! Maybe some chairs and tables and umbrellas on a flat car?

Made very good progress this evening and I'm pleased, to say the least.

Strengthened the second section of the layout by adding some 1x3s onto the bottom. I wanted to have more depth underneath for the new wiring, plus it will help keep everything together when we carry it across the backyard.

[attachment=19687]

[attachment=19686]

Then the crew helped me move it into its new home. That's Vicki, Krista, and her boyfriend Josh. It took alot of maneuvering to get it into the room because one leg of the L was 15 feet and the other leg was 8 feet. We had to corkscrew it into the room because the door is only 6 foot 8 inches. For a bit there, I didn't think it was going to fit, but Josh used his thinking cap and figured out the sequence of moves to get it into place.

[attachment=19685]

Put up the shelf brackets and we set'er in place.

[attachment=19684]

Here is a photo of the underneath. I am using 32" spacing on the brackets and feel very confident that it is enough.

[attachment=19683]

DocWayne's cove idea turned out very nice. I love the way it looks!

[attachment=19682]

And, here is the remaining big piece, 22 feet long. We did some measuring in the room, and there is simply no way to get it where it needs to go. I'll have to cut 18" or so off the end. No big deal, as I was planning on redoing the tracks there anyway.

[attachment=19681]

Looking good Gary---my compliments to you and your helpers

With you and the three helpers, it's the pre-fab (layout) four.

You better get that battery off the concrete floor, though, or it won't be good for anything but a doorstop.

Oh, yeah, and you did a great job on those corners.

Wayne

DocWayne, I was using that battery as a doorstop... well, as a layout stop. When I had the straight section on its side on the floor, I grabbed the battery to keep it from falling over just because it was handy.

And those coved corners did turn out darned good. I'm pleased as punch with them. Thanks for the suggestion and explanation of how to do it.

cn nutbar Wrote:Looking good Gary---my compliments to you and your helpers

Thank you Mister Nutbar. I'll be working on the big piece tomorrow afternoon. I'll also have some time Saturday evening so I hope we get it moved into the building. No work on sunday. My wife is doing a "half-ironman" triathlon in Galveston. 1.1 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, and 13 mile run. I'll be there for support... I'm real proud of her. She's been training really hard for this.

As long as I am bragging on my crew, I hope everyone will forgive me for bragging on my daughter too... she is the first student from her high school to ever be in the running to be a National Merit Scholar. This is from her score on the PSAT test... she scored higher than anyone ever had from her school! She's also on the swim team, and during practice today, the principal, several of her teachers, and the administrators of the gifted and talented program for the school district brought her a bunch of congratulation balloons and presented them to her. She was pretty thrilled about it, and I'm really proud of her.

Congratulations to you and your crew. You have a right to be very proud of them.
Charlie

Gary S Wrote:...Made very good progress...

That looks very good and gives a good impression of the space available. It was well worth the work!

Gary S Wrote:

cn nutbar Wrote:Looking good Gary---my compliments to you and your helpers

Thank you Mister Nutbar. I'll be working on the big piece tomorrow afternoon. I'll also have some time Saturday evening so I hope we get it moved into the building. No work on sunday. My wife is doing a "half-ironman" triathlon in Galveston. 1.1 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, and 13 mile run. I'll be there for support... I'm real proud of her. She's been training really hard for this.

As long as I am bragging on my crew, I hope everyone will forgive me for bragging on my daughter too... she is the first student from her high school to ever be in the running to be a National Merit Scholar. This is from her score on the PSAT test... she scored higher than anyone ever had from her school! She's also on the swim team, and during practice today, the principal, several of her teachers, and the administrators of the gifted and talented program for the school district brought her a bunch of congratulation balloons and presented them to her. She was pretty thrilled about it, and I'm really proud of her.

As well you should be, WOW! What a crew! You done good Gary!

WoW.....Instant layout...!! Betcha you feel like a million bucks!! Dedicated layout building..Half a layout done...A supporting & athletic wife...AND a National Scholar candidate to boot..!!! Some days are like that....No one more deserving, Im sure.....

Charlie, Gus, Tom, thanks for the very kind words. I am indeed a lucky man, and it reminds me just how thankful I should be.

Reinhard, I'm glad I made the building 20 feet wide. Dividing that in two sections, then subtracting a bit over 4 feet for the layout in each section leaves aisles almost 6 feet wide. Plenty of space to move around in.

I compiled a list of all the track, turnouts, cork, DCC panels and such that I will be needing, which was quite a hefty list indeed. I had previously discussed with the guys at the local LHS about needing a ton of stuff for the new layout, and they said to let them know and they'd work with me. So, instead of running to the cheapest online train outlet internet discout store, I stopped by the LHS today and they fixed me up! Some impressive bulk discounts! And I feel great that I am helping out the local brick and mortar store.

Ya know, those of us who do have a LHS, whenever you need alot of stuff, just tactifully discuss the need with the owner to let them know you prefer dealing with them instead of online, and see if they can give some discounts. Alot of the stuff the LHS discounted for me was as cheap as I could get it online, and some of it was just a little more than if I had searched for the best proce on the net. But no shipping charges! I feel great, I hope the LHS feels great, and I had a good time talking with the guys. One of the employee's had his first real ops session on his layout last night, and he was really happy and talked to me about how it went. Try doing that at an internet store!

Gary, congratulations on everything!! I've really enjoyed watching your progress!! And give your daughter a "congratulatory" hug from me! You have much to be thankful for, indeed!!

Also too, going on what Gary mentioned about supporting your local hobby shop, also consider supporting the rail museums that offer model railroad items as well. I know the WP museum I am a director of in Portola, CA offers models too, so I like to buy from museums, it supports preservation of the real thing. I know our gift shop manager is always eager to order me whatever I need, regardless of whether or not he usually stocks it.

Just a thought.

I have got a more general question.
How is the situation building a second small building on your property in a modern urban area like this one (west of Sugarlad/Houston, TX)?

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://maps.google.de/maps?q=houston&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hl=de&hq=&hnear=Houston,+Harris+County,+Texas,+Vereinigte+Staaten&ll=29.595264,-95.666282&spn=0.001756,0.003433&t=h&z=19">http://maps.google.de/maps?q=houston&oe ... 3&t=h&z=19</a><!-- m -->

Do you have legal restrictions other than the limited space? That area looks much like a similar area in Germany.

Reinhard, there are various regulations and restrictions, but it totally depends on exactly where you are living. I would imagine the area you are asking about would have Home Owner's Association deed restrictions and there may be city governement or county code regulations and permitting.... aside from the limited space as you mention.

I'm only speaking for Texas here. Other states are different, and may have statewide building departments that regulate and inspect anything in the entire state.

For the area you mention, I'm just guessing, but the HOA deed restrictions probably allow outbuildings but they would have to be constructed from materials which match the house to make the property more appealing and pleasant. There may also be property line restrictions - can't build within x feet of the street, within x feet of the back property line, etc. Of course, it is possible that the deed restrictions don't allow outbuildings. Understand that the Home Owners Association is not a government agency. It is a "voluntary" group that attempts to keep the neighborhood looking nice to keep the property values high and create a certain standard. For example, you wouldn't want your neighbor to have 15 broken down junker cars sitting in his driveway. The deed restrictions are essentially a contract that any buyer of a property in that neighborhood must agree to before they can purchase there.

The city regulations (if that location is in a city) would probably require permits and then inspections, with various code regulations which must be followed. In Sugarland, there would probably be wind storm regs which require metal tie-downs and strapping to connect the bottom plates to the studs, studs to the top plates, top plates to the rafters, etc. Any large city is going to have a fair number of regs and permitting. Plumbing permit, building permit, electrical permit, foundation, and all of that stuff has to be inspected. It can be quite involved.

Smaller cities and towns may require just a building permit, and maybe a couple of inspections. Depends on the city or town... some smaller towns would have a building process just as elaborate as a large city. Others would have hardly anything.

If not in a city or town, just in the county, again it all depends. Most counties don't have a whole lot of regs, if any at all, but some do. However, the county goverments are spread pretty thin so they don't have the manpower to enforce anything even if there were alot of restrictions and regs.

I live in a neighborhood with one acre lots well south of the major city of Houston. We are not in a city or town, we just have county regs which are just about nonexistent. We do have Home Owners Deed restrictions but they don't have anything preventing outbuildings. They mostly concern stuff like not allowing trailer houses and you can't have a bunch of cattle or livestock. You can have a horse for each acre you own though.