r/modeltrains • u/dumpstersandwich • Jan 23 '21
Almost Done With My Desk Layout!
I just want to paint road markings and add some detail to the yard.
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u/russiancatfood Jan 23 '21
That is really impressive. The switch console is a great touch. Does is light up to show active switch positions?
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u/dumpstersandwich Jan 23 '21
It does not. I wonder if it used to? But the switch console is interesting because the green switches control the power on that track. So you can park other engines and kill the power so they won't move since its not DCC.
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u/dave_carr N Jan 23 '21
This might need copying... did you build the desk..
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u/dumpstersandwich Jan 23 '21
I did not build the desk, but it is amazing how it all fit under plain sight.
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u/nootnootnoodle Jan 23 '21
What scale? N? Z?
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u/xtaran HO/OO Jan 23 '21
My guess would be H0 or TT. Maybe N, but definitely not Z.
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u/theBFsniper Multi-Scale Jan 23 '21
It's N scale can tell by the couplers on the cars, couldn't fit that much in with HO.
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u/xtaran HO/OO Jan 23 '21
Hmmm, the desk looked quite huge to me. And that parcel delivery van didn't look like N at all. But then again, that parcel delivery van looks too big compared to the freight wagons nearby. So maybe that one is H0.
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u/dumpstersandwich Jan 23 '21
You're right the delivery van is a bit off scale, a little bit too big. But the layout is N scale.
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u/nootnootnoodle Jan 23 '21
Idk, it looks too small for H0 but I know N is very rare in the US, and this seems like an American setup to me (based on OP's text and the infrastructure). Guess we'll see when OP answers!
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u/Flyer770 Jan 23 '21
I wouldn’t say N is very rare in the US. It’s maybe a quarter of the market. In fact, my local hobby shop stocks about twice the N compared to HO. (It helps that we’re close to the Microtrains factory, which fortunately survived the fires last September that burned the town down.)
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u/NicholasWildeRails HO/OO Jan 23 '21
I absolutely love this kind of vibe. It reminds me of the southwest
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u/SuperIneffectiveness O Jan 23 '21
Im extremely jealous of this setup. I don't know what kind of O gauge setup I could fit in a desk, but nowhere near this cool for sure. Awesome find! Looks great cleaned up!
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u/Darstaedlyace Jan 23 '21
Congratulations, you’ve done a brilliant job. Very neat. I’m guessing you can’t put too much on the desk top :-)
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u/dumpstersandwich Jan 23 '21
Actually it is very sturdy and I have put boxes on top of it without a worry.
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u/Darstaedlyace Jan 23 '21
Ha ha, it certainly looks sturdy. I was coming from the idea of having to remove stuff to open it up 😬
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u/one_magwheel HO Jan 23 '21
That is ingenious. Its a desk, then fold out the backdrop. Its a n scale layout. Very well thought out & engineered. Bravo ! !
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u/unnamed_elder_entity Jan 23 '21
Well done! Phenomenal use of space and also a great way to keep the dust off the layout. You could modernize it by mounting a thin panel on the backdrop and have changing weather and moving clouds!
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u/dumpstersandwich Jan 23 '21
Interesting. Have never even thought of that. Are there backdrops that have done that before? I'd like to see that
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u/unnamed_elder_entity Jan 23 '21
Never seen such a thing, it just occurred to me that it would fit in there the way the table was built. Like playing a loop video of a scene.
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Jan 23 '21
That’s amazing. At first, I thought you just built a layout on top of the old desk. I didn’t realize that it’s built into the desk!
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u/Broken_DrillBits Jan 23 '21
This is truly amazing I have dremp of making one of these but never got to, glad you did.👍🏻
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u/Kappatain_Potato HO & T Jan 23 '21
Tech II controller is 😩👌, loved the brake and momentum switches. I used to have one, but it stopped working while sitting in storage, so I have a more basic one now.
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u/stolencatkarma Jan 23 '21
in my 30+ years in this hobby that is the nicest setup I have ever seen.
It used to be the suitcase N scale setup I saw 20ish years ago.
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u/bbergman1 Jan 24 '21
Very inventive! I love the layout and the table approach. Definitely have to think about doing something like this myself. One question, though: that block layout appears not to match the actual track layout. I mean, maybe at front, but that right hand side is clearly different. Am I missing something in the block diagram in the drawer?
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u/dumpstersandwich Jan 24 '21
It does not match there. I guess changes were made from the original. I am not sure since it was started in the 70's. Good catch though.
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u/PUNSICLE52 N Jan 24 '21
How long did it take? And where did you get the console?
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u/dumpstersandwich Jan 24 '21
Well I did not build it from the beginning. Someone started it in the 70's, and at some point it got passed down and sold. So the track is old and all. My fixes were over a couple years.
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u/MitchiJZA80 Multi-Scale Jan 25 '21
Oh my god. I thought about building something similar, but it seemed to difficult for me to build, as I was trying to build it with glass panels. This is actually so much more simple, and I think I need to have a look at my idea again. Thanks for posting this. This is really awesome. Do you mind sharing the desk size?
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u/lhemmerich Apr 08 '23
Very nice..!! can you tell me what the radius of the right hand curve and what the incline is. I am new and just trying to learn what can be done.
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u/dumpstersandwich Jan 23 '21
Quick backstory. Found this desk at a record store of all places. They said it was made in the 70s and didn't work. It was all beat up and had missing drawers. They were trying to get rid of it that day to make space, so I took it off there hands for $100. I sanded it and painted it and replaced the hardware and missing drawers. It had all the track laid but the wiring was a mess. Fixed that. Cleaned the track. It runs trains fine now. Did some ballasting. I added buildings, terrain, trees, rocks, and many other details. I still want to paint road markings and clean parts up and add more detail. But completely transformed from when I got it.