Layout on bookshelves idea

Unless you are a very accomplished craftsman I wouldn't recommend a modular layout for your first attempt. That is what I did, and obtaining reliable running over the joins is difficult. The easiest method is to use removable sections of track to bridge the joins, but this has appearance disadvantages and takes time to assemble.

So that layout is now packed away and I have built a new one in the garden where space is more plentiful.

Mark Thornton

Join this group at the Yahoo Small Layout Design Group...you'll have to register(takes about 2 minutes,no cost) great bunch of guys, mostly UK, who are into small layouts and a bunch of them have built layouts on various types of IKEA shelf units

Cheers Gene

I wondered about doing something like this for my son (shelf running round the perimeter of the room). Eventually, we appropriated the loft, so I didn't persue it.

I reckon you would quickly tire of having to assemble the layout before use. If it is in-situ, you can just switch on and "play" for 10 minutes when the mood takes you, rather than having to plan in advance and book time on the dining table... Just pick your moment with SWMBO to broach the subject of cutting holes in the end-panels...Iimmediately before or after a clothes/shoe shopping spree is best...

The Ikea shelves will probably be laminated chipboard rather than MDF. As long as they won't sag too much, they should be fine. Perhaps suitably cutsheets of 3mm (or thicker) MDF could be used to cap the plastic so that scenic materials can be used properly (they won't stick to the plastic-covered shelves too well), and you could probably glue them to the shelves in a way which wouldn't be completely permanent.

just my 2p-worth

Adrian

wrote

Railway Modeller from days of yore (that is, largely 1960s) used regularly to feature layouts that fitted bookshelves/coffee tables/doors/other casual spaces. They're a great way of getting a run round a space that's not otherwise optimum for railway modelling except:

1) Stuff fixed to walls with gaps in between has a nasty way of developing other gaps as moisture and/or ambient temperature gets in the way. Track doesn't stretch proportionally to the movement of wood in particular, so bookshelves get to be a problem. I'd suggest that even IKEA laminated bookshelves aren't ideal, quite apart from getting track and underlay to stay adhered to the surface. 2) Scenics tend to be perfunctory owing to the limited depth. This matters very little to a lot of modellers, who want to see stock move rather than convincing 3D landscapes, but it's a limitation nevertheless. Also shelf layouts are never well-lit unless you rig up a lot of striplights nearby. (See said 1960s RMs for the diminished standards many modellers settled for, for the sake of getting 20' of track to run in the winter). 3) if it's in a shared living area, you'll run it less than you'd like as the noise will impinge on "proper" activities such as watching the telly, plus you'll be expected to hide the whole thing if non-modelling friends come round.

I would say 1) is your biggest problem, but 3) will soon assert itself. You may soon enough decide that a fixed layout in somewhere less social, built on a pair of interior doors or spaceframe boards with proper board joints (that is, pattermakers' dowels plus some compression clip or wingnut-and-bolt system), is much more satisfactory as at least it can be stowed flat against the wall and suits your mood more. If it gets chronic you'll join a club and go out for the evening, box clutched gratefully in hand...

Tony Clarke

Thanks for everyone's replies and for the suggestions. I think I'm going to build a Terminus station with an Inglenook shunting arrangement on a single shelf. I don't think I'll have any hassle in having it displayed on a shelf when not in use - I'll stick it on the table when operating. I'm looking at a cartridge system for a fiddle yard, so thanks for the link to the Yahoo group as they have lots of information.

Cheers Ian