Home Page › Forums › Modeling the Missouri Pacific, Texas & Pacific, etc › Mopac or Texas & Pacific layouts › I’ve bit the bullet, Jan. 15, 2011 › Reply To: I’ve bit the bullet, Jan. 15, 2011
The original house construction has a mansard roof, in which there is a vertical stud wall upstairs, two feet inside the positions of the first floor stud walls. There are angled studs, attached at the bottom to the first floor stud walls and attached at the top to the upstairs stud walls, forming a dead space about two feet wide at the bottom and about shoulder-width at five feet above the second floor level. That means I can stoop slightly and walk along the joists, if I have enough hands to hold a light, drag an extension cord, manipulate pieces of plywood, as necessary to build out parts of the railroad and work on some of the house utilities.
The mansard was very useful in construction, because my old a/c ducts for the downstairs could be re-routed entirely through the two-foot space. I am aware that this could be a maintenance nightmare later, but I’m not planning to attach the railroad to the walls in this area. I’m planning on building Free-mo style modules, in terms of structure and geometry. This includes having the scenery visible from both sides.
The original train room was over a two-car garage, but it had those mansards on all sides, so it was possible for me to cut holes in the wall so that the main line could go in on a curve and re-emerge three feet farther over. I also was able to go through the wall into the annex next door, although that track currently ends in empty space on either end.
My plan is to extend the railroad on two fronts, along the corridor on either side, into the new area. Those will be attached to the wall, maybe 6″ wide. At a couple of points, these will go through walls, if for no other reason that I may need to gain some elevation. My exact track plans once I get into the new area are completely lacking in detail.
Here’s the interesting part: I really like the Free-mo concept, and I’m trying to start out right building to the standard. But, I have one big exception — I am DC and plan to remain so. Yes, I know I can’t be interchangeable with those display guys, but I’m not in that market. We’ll see how this works out.
Ron Merrick
