07-26-2009, 09:57 PM
Russ Bellinis Wrote:Josh, by light strips, are you talking about the lighting strips sold at the home centers like they use to mark aisles in air planes? Unless you need to hide them behind a valance, those strips would only add 1/4 inch or so to the distance between the upper and lower levels. A one inch valence would probably be all that is needed to hide the lighting. If one light strip directly behind the valance would provide adequate light, you could use a valance as small as 1/2 inch to hide the lights.
I was thinking light strips like these: http://www.goodmart.com/products/889502.htm There the long ones that are like 4' or somthing and take the long tube bulbs. I like the idea of the small lights you are talking about though, and if they would fit up there without being seen hardly, i like them even better. Got a link to what they look like? Hiding them behind the overhang from the top deck would be ideal and what i would want to do. But i want them to be good lights and provide good lights for pictures. White light is a must....
Russ Bellinis Wrote:On the elevator idea, train length would not need to be a consideration at all. The entire yard would be on the elevator with a yard lead on each level. You would raise the yard up to work the top level or lower it to work the lower level, and then make up the trains after you had decided which level to switch. Operationally, you could raise the elevator and work the upper level, then while your industries are loading/unloading cars, you go to the lower level and work those industries. The only restriction is that you would probably not be able to work both levels at the same time, but if you are operating the layout by yourself, you can't really focus on more than one train at a time anyway.
I like the idea of the Elevator, but i dont think it would be practical to have the entire yard on an elevator going between decks. It would certainly be the center of attention on the layout, but this yard is huge! lol Maybe if i had an elevator that had 2 tracks on it that went between the decks, say 2 tracks that were 8' long each... Might be something to consider. I do have a proposed location for the helix however that i think would work well. Im thinking on the right side of the plan where the 2 tracks come out of the yard and connect to the modules going down the right side of the plan. Instead of the tracks continuing down the side of the plan like they are, they would go into the helix.... Still have to work this into the plan, so we'll so how it works out