Good to see you back David. I think your ideas are great. Extend the staging but I would try to increase the access & lighting of it whilst doing so if possible. Love the idea of going around the other wall for a longer run. Whatever you decide I will be looking in and I am sure it will work for you, which is all that matters in the end.
Hi Scott, I’m thinking even if I lift the top section by an inch when I put it back that will make a good difference. I use that staging purely for storing not marshalling. Access wasn’t a major pain until I put the fascia around it, as small as it is.
I hope you have a great Thanksgiving. We don’t celebrate that down here of course but we do get Black Friday sales so I may have to see if can expand the inventory.
I think the extension of the staging yard would be a great addition. With the length of trains you prefer to run the length would be a noticeable upgrade. Nice to see you back again, it’s been a while since the last update. Cheers from Canada 🇨🇦
Hi David, definitely extend the staging tracks, and raise up the upper part a little to make more reach in room. I also really like your idea the add the additional upper deck area connected to the coal side with the peninsula going up to the right. Hope you and yours have a good Holiday's and New Year!
Hi Roy, It seems like extending the staging and raising the upper part slightly when I put it back on seems a winning idea. I’m thinking the area above the main yard could be a few small businesses and set it up like a switching puzzle type area. As much a I love my long trains a small area just to do some switching could be good.
Hi David , glad you see you’re doing well. It’s good to see you again and to hear your new plans for the layout. I like the idea of extending the yard, but I understand you need more room to reach in. You could raise the peninsula up a little if that is possible. I do like the idea of going to the right and adding to the upper deck. I’m in the process of moving in the near future and building a new layout around my existing layout. Which my layout is a small 4 foot by 7 1/2 foot. So I got a lot of planning and work to do. Looking forward to seeing what you plan on doing and the process you make. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks for sharing. Have a good weekend. 😎😎 👍
Thank Tommy, always good to hear from you. I think the consensus is raise the upper part of the peninsula slightly and extend the staging. Good luck with your move.
You got me thinking, should I add another shelf and thus gain a good 50 feet, when is enough enough. Might use Kato since I have quite a bit of that. Next year!
I enjoy your railroad updates! May I suggest that you actually raise the peninsula to be between the two levels and use it to transition between them. Also you have unused space on either side of the loop. How about adding a turnout on the outside track and have a dead-end spur of several meters so that you could park a very long consist on the outside track. I takes guts to do a major rework but I think it will pay off in the end. Good luck!
Hi William, I was thinking of adding secondary staging from the outer loop to under the side. I think I talked about it at some stage in this video but you said a lot more clearly, thanks 😃 I do think as well as adding length to the staging that I will raise the upper section slightly when I put it back on to steal and inch or so.
It's good to hear from you. I would extend the staging for longer trains, Have the peninsula climb to the right like you said with the second deck like you described just before time point 8:09. Longer train runs.
Great to have an update. Suggest move the throats to make the tracks longer and add another track both inside and outside, the bench work is already there.
Hi John, I’ve thought about adding an extra loop on the outside as you suggested. My fear is that it will be pretty much on the edge so no safety gap if it gets knocked and could fall to the floor. Having stripped it back this far no idea is off the table I guess.
More staging is better staging provided your trains can handle the grade to and from, and provided you have the best possible access to all of it. Compromises in access create problems. I like the idea of more running and operating. Heck, if you can store longer trains you need to find new ways to run them! Happy Holidays to you and your family.
Another consideration for you: 1. Definitely extend the staging tracks. 2. Run the tipple track through the peninsular and then along the wall above the main yard. 3. Put in another helix similar to the one on the extension to bring the new line down to the main yard, you could probably fit this in where your reversing loop is currently.
Hi Eric, Great to hear from you. I’m glad I posted this video asking for feedback as I’m getting some great suggestions. I really like your ideas too. Ideally I want to use the original loop on the top of the peninsula again. Are you suggesting running the tipple track into that, or an extra level or just replacing the whole thing?
@@nessriverrailroad1299 David, if I remember correctly, the upper level of your peninsular has a track in on one side coming from the secondary yard, and out on the other side, originally linking to the main yard, with a turnout doing a loop up to the tipple. What I was thinking was to ignore the tipple loop, and make the connection to the secondary yard the new connection to the tipple, and the connection to the main yard, the connection to the new track above the main yard. The original tipple link could be made either a single siding or a abandoned line. This would also mean that both the main and secondary yards would only connect to the staging yard, and by raising the height of the upper level of the peninsular, would give you lots of room to get your hand into the staging tracks.
I think you should consider putting a grade on the peninsula siding and run it underneath the main layout for a time (personally under the yard) then dog bone it back on itself to exit staging. You could get some really big staging tracks going which would set you up for future success. It also would give you more hand space to access the staging tracks as needed.
If you are enlarging the visible layout, you'll need more staging regardless. So lengthing the loops and adding stub-ended tracks is a good idea... HOWEVER, pushing long N-scale trains can be a headache if one hasn't taken steps to avoid derailment causes. If your cars are properly weighed and all the couplers body mounted, you should be good. John Armstrong's "reverted loop" where you run the train through a reverse loop before backing tail-first into the stub staging tracks might be a good fit here. As for the upper deck extension... maybe it's the camera distorting things, but it seems that the end of it would be difficult to reach over the lower level blob. Perhaps, the original top deck section could turn back, come over the doorway and through the new area, then terminate as a 3rd (4th?) deck atop the peninsula, where switching would be easier to reach.
Wow, thanks for your feedback. I hadn’t thought about your final idea, that could be amazing if done properly. Yet more food for h thought. I have had pretty good success backing my long coal drag. I converted all the Kato cars to body mount. I’ll look up the reverted loop to. I could possibly do something like that already using the hidden curves from the staging. Ideas ideas ideas.
Dang! What a shocker to see the peninsula torn apart on what I considered a perfect layout already. You know I'm trying to copy you as best as I can, and you're making it difficult to keep up. In fact, your new second level is actually copying me a bit. Do it!. My "Ness River Spiral" is in the land-form shaping stage, all the track is done. YAY. Do the easy staging expansion now and see if it's enough. I would configure it now, though, to make the additional, under-layout staging expansion easier when you do get to it, and my bet is that you will. We never have enough staging. And it will give you opportunity for more construction later on when you "get the itch" to do more. (No birds in my attic, but I do have mice in my walls.)
Hi Ken, The top section will go back on once I’ve worked on the staging and joined the lower tracks back to the wall. I’d love to see how your layout is progressing.
@@nessriverrailroad1299 I haven't figured out how to do that, perhaps through my new smart phone (which I'm still learning). I'm sure it's easy once I learn how. I'd love to show you since your layout was inspirational in the design. I'll figure it out. It's HO in a similar sized room to yours, so, it's a bit cramped with 27" radius curves. It's all bare foam right now.
I think you should engineer more vertical room between the staging and the regular levels; this would make your life a lot easier and the added benefit of lighting- LED light strips; the kind that are on a roll. ---- In terms of the turnout arrangement of the staging trackage. If you flip the turnout group over - on one side of the peninsula - this would give you an additional capacity; not as much as extending the staging trackage as you pointed out though. Ask the NMRA Layout Design SIG. I am not a layout designer though; JMO!! ---- Keep in mind future maintenance! PROPER PREPARATION PREVENTS PISS-POOR PERFOMANCE.
Flipping the turnouts is an interesting idea. Im glad I took the top off to get a look at the yard as I’ve got a better idea now and have some experience to have the confidence to try it.
Extending the second stage along the wall will be rewarding, as will increased staging. As regards whether or not to start from scratch after a move, I would say always save/reuse what one can (we put our hearts and souls into this stuff) - unless one is sick of the old layout, in which case a move is the perfect excuse to start over!
Lengthen the staging area and keep the grade as it is. With the new 'planned' route over the peninsular and knowing in advance how much space you want to access the staging tracks would give a better idea as to the grade required and any adjustments needed would be far easier to do knowing that the lower level is still the same as it was. That last point about starting again is always going to be subjective - time, money and effort already spent on building a layout that has been relocated but wanting to use elements of it on a new layout - as against starting afresh but with the knowledge already gained from building the former. What may suit one person may not work for someone else, which could be determined by how much more or less room space there is based on the former layout design.
I guess relocating a layout to a room of similar size or shape would be different and easier. I use the peninsula staging as storage not marshalling so the access issue is only when I have an issue under there when it gets knocked.
Hey Brendan, I could probably squeeeze and extra track on the outside but it would be perilously close to the edge. I could definitely fit another on the inside and my long coal trains would easily handle the radius.
Given the length of trains, if you add the track to the outside, then just get some masonite packing strips from the hardware store and screw then to the sides of the ply base board and you then have yourself a fence. So if things do go bad then the rolling stock wont end up on the floor. You can never have too much staging!
Ah yes ok.. Thats a bit of a limiting factor. I appreciate that issue.. lol. I know where you can get some more MP5's though.. LOL. Then just extend the tracks you have to limit the need to break trains down to multiple tracks as you mentioned in the video.
When I started my layout I never had plans for running long coal drags but it just evolved that way. If I add that second level above the main yard it will be a very long run so do the whole layout 👍
@ Awesome mate, very brave considering what you had there… but if it ain’t right.. it ain’t right! I know that feeling 😁 600mm is quite a bit to gain, whatever you decide I have every confidence it will be amazing 😎
Sorry to read this. I may not have made it clear but the top of the peninsula will be going back on. My hope is that once I’ve altered the staging underneath the general appearance of the peninsula will be the same once it goes back on. The main difference will just be that it goes the opposite direction to get to the top deck. I hope this helps sway your mind.
Good to see you back David. I think your ideas are great. Extend the staging but I would try to increase the access & lighting of it whilst doing so if possible. Love the idea of going around the other wall for a longer run. Whatever you decide I will be looking in and I am sure it will work for you, which is all that matters in the end.
Hi Scott,
I’m thinking even if I lift the top section by an inch when I put it back that will make a good difference. I use that staging purely for storing not marshalling. Access wasn’t a major pain until I put the fascia around it, as small as it is.
Hi. Think the second deck over your yard would be a great addition. Stage i would try and get as much as possible.
Yep. That seems to be the popular opinion.
Hi, David. It’s Thanksgiving here in the US. it’s nice to hear from you. Glad you’re doing well!
I hope you have a great Thanksgiving. We don’t celebrate that down here of course but we do get Black Friday sales so I may have to see if can expand the inventory.
I think the extension of the staging yard would be a great addition. With the length of trains you prefer to run the length would be a noticeable upgrade. Nice to see you back again, it’s been a while since the last update. Cheers from Canada 🇨🇦
Thanks Richard,
The more I think about it it really does seem like a no brainer 👍
Hi David, definitely extend the staging tracks, and raise up the upper part a little to make more reach in room. I also really like your idea the add the additional upper deck area connected to the coal side with the peninsula going up to the right. Hope you and yours have a good Holiday's and New Year!
Hi Roy,
It seems like extending the staging and raising the upper part slightly when I put it back on seems a winning idea.
I’m thinking the area above the main yard could be a few small businesses and set it up like a switching puzzle type area. As much a I love my long trains a small area just to do some switching could be good.
@@nessriverrailroad1299 Sounds like an excellent plan for the area above the main yard.
Hi David , glad you see you’re doing well. It’s good to see you again and to hear your new plans for the layout. I like the idea of extending the yard, but I understand you need more room to reach in. You could raise the peninsula up a little if that is possible. I do like the idea of going to the right and adding to the upper deck. I’m in the process of moving in the near future and building a new layout around my existing layout. Which my layout is a small 4 foot by 7 1/2 foot. So I got a lot of planning and work to do. Looking forward to seeing what you plan on doing and the process you make. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks for sharing. Have a good weekend. 😎😎 👍
Thank Tommy, always good to hear from you. I think the consensus is raise the upper part of the peninsula slightly and extend the staging.
Good luck with your move.
You got me thinking, should I add another shelf and thus gain a good 50 feet, when is enough enough. Might use Kato since I have quite a bit of that. Next year!
I enjoy your railroad updates! May I suggest that you actually raise the peninsula to be between the two levels and use it to transition between them. Also you have unused space on either side of the loop. How about adding a turnout on the outside track and have a dead-end spur of several meters so that you could park a very long consist on the outside track. I takes guts to do a major rework but I think it will pay off in the end. Good luck!
Hi William,
I was thinking of adding secondary staging from the outer loop to under the side. I think I talked about it at some stage in this video but you said a lot more clearly, thanks 😃 I do think as well as adding length to the staging that I will raise the upper section slightly when I put it back on to steal and inch or so.
It's good to hear from you. I would extend the staging for longer trains, Have the peninsula climb to the right like you said with the second deck like you described just before time point 8:09. Longer train runs.
It seems to be a popular idea.
Great to have an update. Suggest move the throats to make the tracks longer and add another track both inside and outside, the bench work is already there.
Hi John,
I’ve thought about adding an extra loop on the outside as you suggested. My fear is that it will be pretty much on the edge so no safety gap if it gets knocked and could fall to the floor. Having stripped it back this far no idea is off the table I guess.
More staging is better staging provided your trains can handle the grade to and from, and provided you have the best possible access to all of it. Compromises in access create problems. I like the idea of more running and operating. Heck, if you can store longer trains you need to find new ways to run them! Happy Holidays to you and your family.
I did get some advice early on to make my staging as low as possible, I didn’t take it seriously enough it seems 🤕
Another consideration for you:
1. Definitely extend the staging tracks.
2. Run the tipple track through the peninsular and then along the wall above the main yard.
3. Put in another helix similar to the one on the extension to bring the new line down to the main yard, you could probably fit this in where your reversing loop is currently.
Hi Eric,
Great to hear from you. I’m glad I posted this video asking for feedback as I’m getting some great suggestions. I really like your ideas too. Ideally I want to use the original loop on the top of the peninsula again. Are you suggesting running the tipple track into that, or an extra level or just replacing the whole thing?
@@nessriverrailroad1299 David, if I remember correctly, the upper level of your peninsular has a track in on one side coming from the secondary yard, and out on the other side, originally linking to the main yard, with a turnout doing a loop up to the tipple. What I was thinking was to ignore the tipple loop, and make the connection to the secondary yard the new connection to the tipple, and the connection to the main yard, the connection to the new track above the main yard. The original tipple link could be made either a single siding or a abandoned line.
This would also mean that both the main and secondary yards would only connect to the staging yard, and by raising the height of the upper level of the peninsular, would give you lots of room to get your hand into the staging tracks.
Nice to see you back, I think your 2nd idea is the best one....More train running space. Bob
Thanks Bob,
It will be quite a long run once I add the second deck over the yard.
It's great to hear from you !
Cheers Stephen.
I think you should consider putting a grade on the peninsula siding and run it underneath the main layout for a time (personally under the yard) then dog bone it back on itself to exit staging. You could get some really big staging tracks going which would set you up for future success. It also would give you more hand space to access the staging tracks as needed.
I do like that idea.
Great idea. I would just extend the current staging tracks and lwave the grade as it is.
That’s seems to be the consensus
I like both of your thoughts on your rebuild.
Thanks. I’m surprised how much feedback I’ve gotten, it’s been great.
I like, (for myself)
* Running Trains
* Making interesting scenery
* How about a corner with Uluru Rock? Just for grins.
Somehow I don’t think Uluṟu would quite fit, both in terms of style but also space 😆
Great video! Keep em coming! Second deck is the way to go. What kind of track and switches are you using?
Hey,
I’m using Atlas code 55.
If you are enlarging the visible layout, you'll need more staging regardless. So lengthing the loops and adding stub-ended tracks is a good idea... HOWEVER, pushing long N-scale trains can be a headache if one hasn't taken steps to avoid derailment causes. If your cars are properly weighed and all the couplers body mounted, you should be good.
John Armstrong's "reverted loop" where you run the train through a reverse loop before backing tail-first into the stub staging tracks might be a good fit here.
As for the upper deck extension... maybe it's the camera distorting things, but it seems that the end of it would be difficult to reach over the lower level blob.
Perhaps, the original top deck section could turn back, come over the doorway and through the new area, then terminate as a 3rd (4th?) deck atop the peninsula, where switching would be easier to reach.
Wow, thanks for your feedback. I hadn’t thought about your final idea, that could be amazing if done properly. Yet more food for h thought.
I have had pretty good success backing my long coal drag. I converted all the Kato cars to body mount.
I’ll look up the reverted loop to. I could possibly do something like that already using the hidden curves from the staging. Ideas ideas ideas.
Dang! What a shocker to see the peninsula torn apart on what I considered a perfect layout already. You know I'm trying to copy you as best as I can, and you're making it difficult to keep up. In fact, your new second level is actually copying me a bit. Do it!. My "Ness River Spiral" is in the land-form shaping stage, all the track is done. YAY.
Do the easy staging expansion now and see if it's enough. I would configure it now, though, to make the additional, under-layout staging expansion easier when you do get to it, and my bet is that you will. We never have enough staging. And it will give you opportunity for more construction later on when you "get the itch" to do more.
(No birds in my attic, but I do have mice in my walls.)
Hi Ken,
The top section will go back on once I’ve worked on the staging and joined the lower tracks back to the wall.
I’d love to see how your layout is progressing.
@@nessriverrailroad1299 I haven't figured out how to do that, perhaps through my new smart phone (which I'm still learning). I'm sure it's easy once I learn how. I'd love to show you since your layout was inspirational in the design. I'll figure it out. It's HO in a similar sized room to yours, so, it's a bit cramped with 27" radius curves. It's all bare foam right now.
It sounds like a great idea! Makes sense and should add some cool extra options!
Thanks mate.
I think you should engineer more vertical room between the staging and the regular levels; this would make your life a lot easier and the added benefit of lighting- LED light strips; the kind that are on a roll. ---- In terms of the turnout arrangement of the staging trackage. If you flip the turnout group over - on one side of the peninsula - this would give you an additional capacity; not as much as extending the staging trackage as you pointed out though. Ask the NMRA Layout Design SIG. I am not a layout designer though; JMO!! ---- Keep in mind future maintenance! PROPER PREPARATION PREVENTS PISS-POOR PERFOMANCE.
Flipping the turnouts is an interesting idea. Im glad I took the top off to get a look at the yard as I’ve got a better idea now and have some experience to have the confidence to try it.
Extending the second stage along the wall will be rewarding, as will increased staging.
As regards whether or not to start from scratch after a move, I would say always save/reuse what one can (we put our hearts and souls into this stuff) - unless one is sick of the old layout, in which case a move is the perfect excuse to start over!
I totally agree with the heart and soul aspect, that’s why I tried to reuse so much of the original layout.
Yeah mate ,staging longer and second deck ,go for it ,you'll love it
Thanks for the encouragement 👍
Lengthen the staging area and keep the grade as it is. With the new 'planned' route over the peninsular and knowing in advance how much space you want to access the staging tracks would give a better idea as to the grade required and any adjustments needed would be far easier to do knowing that the lower level is still the same as it was.
That last point about starting again is always going to be subjective - time, money and effort already spent on building a layout that has been relocated but wanting to use elements of it on a new layout - as against starting afresh but with the knowledge already gained from building the former. What may suit one person may not work for someone else, which could be determined by how much more or less room space there is based on the former layout design.
I guess relocating a layout to a room of similar size or shape would be different and easier.
I use the peninsula staging as storage not marshalling so the access issue is only when I have an issue under there when it gets knocked.
I vote for extending the staging .. Is there space to add an extra staging track?
Hey Brendan,
I could probably squeeeze and extra track on the outside but it would be perilously close to the edge. I could definitely fit another on the inside and my long coal trains would easily handle the radius.
Given the length of trains, if you add the track to the outside, then just get some masonite packing strips from the hardware store and screw then to the sides of the ply base board and you then have yourself a fence. So if things do go bad then the rolling stock wont end up on the floor. You can never have too much staging!
@brendandennis9107 that could work. I went for four tracks as each end has a ds64.
Ah yes ok.. Thats a bit of a limiting factor. I appreciate that issue.. lol. I know where you can get some more MP5's though.. LOL. Then just extend the tracks you have to limit the need to break trains down to multiple tracks as you mentioned in the video.
Extend your yard, and add a new LONG run. You’ve got the space to expand so go for it
When I started my layout I never had plans for running long coal drags but it just evolved that way.
If I add that second level above the main yard it will be a very long run so do the whole layout 👍
Christmas holiday tinkering is sorted!
you like to watch your trains run so going to the right and making more run time makes seance.
What do I think? Blimey David! Springs to mind 😂
Yeah, I kind of feel like I’ve just upset a giant ants nest but I’m sure it will be fine in the end 🤣
@
Awesome mate, very brave considering what you had there… but if it ain’t right.. it ain’t right! I know that feeling 😁
600mm is quite a bit to gain, whatever you decide I have every confidence it will be amazing 😎
Certainly leaning to extended staging, and maintaining grade....
Hey Daryl, it does seems the logical way. I know my trains can handle the grade already so no need to alter them and the staging space will be useful.
Extend the stage and you got. Go four it.
Cheers 👍
Never enough track so go for it.
Luckily I’ve probably got enough spare to do what I want without having to order more.
🤠👋🚂🗯
Hi Larry 😃
there is no such thing as too much staging
So it would seem.
Not good news at all. The section you took off was super nice. Sorry , you lost a viewer.
Sorry to read this. I may not have made it clear but the top of the peninsula will be going back on. My hope is that once I’ve altered the staging underneath the general appearance of the peninsula will be the same once it goes back on. The main difference will just be that it goes the opposite direction to get to the top deck. I hope this helps sway your mind.
Just go crazy with it
I’ll try my best to.