Page 8 - May June 2009

ATTIC ADVENTURES
Des Browne
When we downsized our home a few years ago, I was One end of the layout will represent the “Upper Narrows”
instructed to find something on one level, two bedrooms at as a scenic area and to allow tracks to disappear to the
least and Zimmer-frame distance from Holywood centre. This resulted in an apartment which had the added feature of access to the roof space. It may not be realised by many that one only owns the “air space” in an apartment. There are a lot of restrictions based on the premise that the con- struct is owned by the apartment company. This essentially means the frame of the roof space cannot be altered. In a private house, a loft conversion would have been ideal, giving a space of about 4 metres wide at waist level. As it stood, there was 1.5 metres at about waist level with good headroom to the apex and an extra 1.5 metres behind the roof struts under the eaves.
Soon a floor and lights were installed and my old modules hoisted up to the roof space and set up so that trains could be run, only to and fro but better than nothing, while the details of a new layout were planned.
I should at this point mention that flooring this type of modern roof space has to be done with due care to the size of the floor supports. Some extra strengthening may be desirable. I also screwed everything – NO hammering ­ but still managed to “pop” some ceiling nails below the work area!
The open space is 7.3 metres long, so a very useful layout area was available with no obstructions and of course 1.5 metres width available at the ends. The hatch is biased towards one end and the whole area is essentially “stoop free”. I added a hinged cover for the hatch to avoid putting a foot (or two) inadvertently into the open hatch.
Along with untold others, I have long admired the Cajon Pass area of California, and there have been several superb layouts of this, usually of the western grade from San Bernardino to the summit. Even with the reasonable space I have available, I could not see much of a possibility for that incline, but after further study of Chad Walker’s book “Cajon – Rail Passage to the Pacific”, I realised that if I looked at the eastern grade, Victorville would provide exactly what I wanted. Here was a helper station with several industries, two branch lines within modelling distance and as a station, potentially not so large as to overwhelm my limited space and skill. Gary Hoover’s layout, published in an article in Model Railroader, October 2005, has some very nice details of “Victorville” and was the first time I had seen this area modelled, but as part of a huge system it acts mainly as a passing siding. I still found some very helpful detailing.
I erected the baseboards to allow a 508 mm­wide area for the station and yard areas which allowed a 1 metre­wide operator space. If operators need to pass each other, one can lean between roof trusses and be friendly. We have had eight adults up watching trains, but this is stretching practicability when proper operations take place.
storage yard. The other end will represent a Cement Works to disguise the return tracks there. Storage tracks behind the trusses will allow long trains to be assembled and closing the oval of the overall design.
The main baseboards are made from 9 mm ply with 100 mm × 25 mm planed softwood screwed to the front and back edges. I also started to screw three cross­pieces under each board to increase rigidity, but later found they could be omitted. The widths are mostly 508 mm while the lengths are maximum of 2 metres to allow easy handling from the garage, where all cutting and most drilling took place, up to the fourth floor using the lift and then up a loft ladder and through the 600 mm × 650 mm hatch. The construction at the ends is different but hardly more complex. The 9 mm ply surfaces are constructed by screwing 3 metre long × 100 mm × 25 mm timbers the full width of the main area and into the area under one eave. The ply surfaces are cut using a hand jigsaw to match the 500 mm standard boards and to allow the end curves to flow to suit the proposed trackwork. Only the very back corners exceed 1 metre from the front edge, but no track will be more than that from a front edge. The end where the “Narrows” will be is at a lower level so that the Mojave River can be more easily modelled. I have used “Woodland Scenics Sub­terrain” items to make the embankment, which has been very successful.
I hope the photos will help illustrate the support techniques. Mainly I have used the roof trusses to support the back of the tables with a minimum of legs at the front. One particular change to my previous efforts is to use an overlapping sheet at the baseboard joints to try to avoid the unevenness that had previously plagued the joints between my modules. This does mean that the layout cannot be moved easily, and certainly not for exhibitions. It has been very successful in that with the current test trains, no uncoupling at these joints has occurred. I have started laying track in the storage yard using Code 100 and Code 75 Peco flextrack because I had lots of this from previous efforts, and am now getting main tracks laid with Peco Code 83 so I am now able to run trains.
I have used green felt underlay in the storage yard, partly to improve the appearance but mainly for sound deadening. The “visible” areas are laid on “Woodland Scenics” underlay which will be ballasted later. The different thickness between the felt and the underlay had to be taken into account. All track is fastened with diluted PVA white adhesive with a few pins to hold track in position while the glue sets. This also takes care of loose fibres from the felt, which would not be at all acceptable. There was a big cheer from the guys when the first loco circled the room! I have not been able to resist getting some trains out, so no doubt progress will now be even slower! I hope to offer the Editor a final track plan and operating ideas sometime in the future.
8 ROunDHOuSe