You guys are all nuts.

Is there a "ready-to-run" category in this Challenge?

Wayne

Paydirt! My dad brought me a handful of unused paint sticks. The small ones scale out to almost exactly 12 HO inches thick, while the large ones scale to about 21 inches. I should be able to whip out a whole pile of x*12 dimensional lumber in no time. They werent entirely free, though. The past two days I have been helping my dad move appliances and fix his car

I love it! Happy sawing! Man, i still haven't even decided what to do about this challenge and we have people making their own lumber.

I've started sawing some HO scale 12x12s out of the paint stirring sticks. I figure timbers of that size would look appropriate for framing of a small enginehouse. I can cut smaller sizes, but I haven't come up with a "framing blueprint" yet. I'm not an engineer, so I am not quite sure how something like this would have been built 100 years ago. I have decided a wood plank floor with an inspection pit in one stall will look cool.

Here is a photo of my lumber. I don't know what the paint sticks are made of, but when ripped down to this size they are very flexible - almost too flexible. The wood is plenty strong, but soft. Once it is glued together it should work fine.

Good work Kevin. Looking forward to seeing your framing plans. And... be careful cutting those small strips on the saw!

It's been a few weeks since I have worked on this enginehouse. Other projects, job interviews, and oppressive heat has simply sucked the energy from me. Cutting and gluing scale wood in my outside workshop is not very appealing when it is 115 in the afternoon, and still 100 outside at midnight. But, I did create this cardboard mockup to test my dimensions. I like the overall size, but I am thinking of adding on a workshop structure along the left side.

Kevin,

I like the mock up it is going to be a nice little house to tie up those engines of yours. I also would vote for a workshop either attached or nearby for fabricating all those speciality parts for your steam engines. It also makes for a good place for your shop crews to hide and play cards

I have done a little more work work on this challenge, but now have some decisions to make. First, I added the "workshop" to the side of the structure. I like the way it looks, and I like the overall shape and size of my building. I also began laying tracks from my turntable to my enginehouse. I am not sure I like the short curve immediately off of the turntable because it seems to be causing some operational headaches. The turntable needs to be firmly held in position so that the momentum from the locomotive does not cause a track misalignment and a derailment. I am not sure if I consider this a turntable mechanical problem that will be solved with some kind of locking mechanism, or that I should consider a standard roundhouse with tracks that radiate straight from the turntable center.

I did some rough measurements of how wide a standard roundhouse would need to be at the back end considering it can only be about 4 inches from the turntable pit to allow for 9.5-inch-long stalls. I could probably squeeze one in the space that I have, but it would be a much more dominating structure and I am not sure I want to sacrifice the real estate. My idea is that the enginehouse will be part of a very busy and much larger smelter complex. I want the "selectively compressed" smelter to completely overpower the size of the enginehouse, and I am afraid having a roundhouse that is 8-10 inches wide along the back wall will be too much. I will think about it some more and maybe do a rough mockup of a roundhouse, and then decide.

Couple of ideas spring to mind given your comments about size, place in the smelter complex, and the pictures above.

1) Since you have parallel tracks, not radial tracks from the turntable, I assume that you are aiming for an engine shed, not a full-blown roundhouse?

2) If sticking with the engine shed approach, reduce it to one stall with the workshop on the side. You can still have the second track - just make it a "garden" track - i.e. outside. Maybe an overhead crane or something else to assist with repairs, but this will minimize the size of the building.

Here's my one stall engine shed mock-up from a while back...

[attachment=5379]

3) Is there anyway to just suggest the engine shed? Could the front wall be built up against the backdrop or anywhere else that the entire building doesn't need to be there? Frees up real estate for the smelter.

Hope that helps.

Andrew

It's nice to see some progress, Kevin! And I like all the ties with rail yet to be laid ... it the sign of good things to come. The look of the mock-up indicates what will be a nice little home for two "slim gauge tea pots" ... and a small shop on the side it a great idea, especially if there is a door (or double doors) open so the clutter inside can be seen!

Keep on pluggin'! It's looking great!

I like the mock up with the workshop!
Ralph

After staring at my enginehouse this afternoon, it became obvious that a roundhouse is not physically be possible in the space that I have. A single stall enginehouse is a possibility, but I really need two tracks, and whether single or double stall I will wind up with the same curve on at least one of them. So, I decided to go with things the way I originally planned. I took a cardboard box and a hot glue gun and made some quick mockups of some other smelter structures to see how things fit. After seeing how things lay out, I still like the size and shape of the enginehouse, so I think I will start construction tomorrow.

Yeah! Three-dimensional thinking with corrugated cardboard and hot glue ... I'm lovin' it! Good Stuff! I like the crowded feeling! It works!

P5se Camelback Wrote:Yeah! Three-dimensional thinking with corrugated cardboard and hot glue ... I'm lovin' it! Good Stuff! I like the crowded feeling! It works!

I really want this whole scene to look crowded and busy... LIKE THIS:

Good job on the mock-ups and planning, Kevin. And I'm looking forward to the crowded and busy scene.