I mentioned on someone else's thread that I'm taking apart my old 2-lane 4x16 layout in favor of a 4-lane. After checking the immensely cool layouts on hoslotcarracing.com, I decided I wanted to use the Route 66 layout with the overpass element from the Random Lake 48 layout. So the demolition/construction began. Here you can see some of the old 2-lane at the far end of the table. (Jeez, after 5 years with this layout, I feel like I'm tearing up old Route 66 and replacing it with Interstate...)

http://home.comcast.net/%7Erwurtz/images/4ln1029as.JPG

Using Atlas/Lionel track, you can really make just about anything work. The lack of 15" pieces is made up for by the inherent smoothness of the track joints with this connector system and the fact that you can choose from 3", 5", 6", and 7" straight pieces in addition to standard 9" ones.

http://home.comcast.net/%7Erwurtz/images/4ln1029bs.JPG

The reason for the space between these 2 9" curves is simple... I ran out of 12-inchers. (I'm also short a couple 15" curve sections, but there's an eBay search underway already)...

http://home.comcast.net/%7Erwurtz/images/4ln1029cs.JPG

I thought the overpass was a great design element, though I wondered if it might be tough to landscape considering that the upper level came right to the edge of the lower level. The white foamcore is just temporary to see if things will line up and work nice.

http://home.comcast.net/%7Erwurtz/images/4ln1029ds.JPG

Turns out there was another problem... this is the view from the driver's station at the far end of the layout. That whole chute leading to the underpass is obscured from view...

http://home.comcast.net/%7Erwurtz/images/4ln1029es.JPG

So a little creative diddling with the layout and I got this. Anybody know if a 2" rise over a 15" run of track is too steep? (2 inches is the lowest it can get and still fit a Tyco semi under it... i assume AFX semis are similar or maybe a little lower, since AFX is generally scaled a little smaller...)

http://home.comcast.net/%7Erwurtz/images/4ln1029fs.JPG

http://home.comcast.net/%7Erwurtz/images/4ln1029gs.JPG

FWIW, it's a downgrade, not an upgrade. I don't want to put a non-banked curve track on a grade, because then we're messing with off-camber corners and traction and all that stuff I don't understand, but I also don't want the joint where the downgrade starts to be too steep and get the cars high-centered or bottoming out...

Oh, and sorry about the size of all these images. I took them with a camera phone and I never thought they'd end up being this big, I didn't realize it till after I had uploaded them... (Edit: I shrunk and reposted the pictures because it was annoying me to have to scroll back and forth thru this thread...)

--rick

I always liked the Route 66 track plan. In the beginning, I was really disappointed by the fact that I couldn't realistically fit a 4x16 table into the space I have.....not without losing the use of a window, space for my workbench, oh and having to use about a half pound of grease to get it into the space. I soooo wanted to build this plan. Awesome to see it laid out in something other than a drawing. Good luck with it and please keep us posted. :thumbsup:

What if the overpass was an underpass? I.E. raise the other part and keep your current overpass on the tabletop . . .

Looks like a great design. Even relatively unasembled (pic 2)... shows what you pointed out, that the Atlas track is straight and smooth. Wish I could swing by and run some laps :( and see for myself. Good luck with the build. nd

I love seeing the old track making such a nice layout!

Jim Norton
Huntsville, Alabama

Very bitchin' Rick.

Looking forward to watching this one play out. Like Nuther said it looks sooooo smooth where you have it assembled.

It looks great, and from the pictures it looks like the joints on that track should be quite smooth. I hope you find the other pieces quickly. I looks like you had a boat load of track in the closet

thanks for the words of encouragement. :thumbsup:

'Doba, I considered that and am still kinda considering it... not crazy about it because the way the track runs, if I reversed the upper and lower, you come barreling down the long front straight, slow a little for the 12"/15" turn at the end, then that next short straight would be the beginning of the overpass and the next turn would be in the air. If you overcook that turn, you could launch over the table edge wall and end up on the concrete floor. (I know, build the edge wall a little higher... I was trying to avoid that...)

When I first got back into the hobby 7 or 8 years ago, it was with a yard sale box of Atlas track and a few Tjets. I've picked up all the Atlas/Lionel stuff I could find cheap since then--a couple of Fleabay auctions, a thrift store find here, a flea market find there, a trade off the Net... I do have a ton of the stuff, but this layout pretty much tapped me out for 9" straights and 1/8 curves in 9", 12", and 15". There's still loads of 6-inchers (I only used them on one turn here, not sure if they're staying), 9-inch 1/4 turns (obviously), and chicanes and crossovers and lap counters... I even have a couple of the immensely cool 3" square 90-degree intersections and a bunch of oddball Lionel stunt track. From what I've heard, Atlas/Lionel way easier to get smooth than L&J track, but I've never used L&J myself, though I have a bunch of that too...

Got halfway thru the overpass after work today, will try a little more after everyone here goes to bed. Maybe I'll also dig thru the box of old wire, find something suitable to run extra power taps. At the moment, I'm just running the one terminal track to make sure all my connections are good, but I'm gonna jumper them all around once we have a complete working layout...

--rick

Nice set up you are working on there...
You know. There is something that I have wanted to try with Atlas/Lionel track and just haven't.
I bet you could solder the jumper wires to the brass track connectors.
Then you wouldn't have to cut up track. :woohoo:

Scott

Nice set up you are working on there...
You know. There is something that I have wanted to try with Atlas/Lionel track and just haven't.
I bet you could solder the jumper wires to the brass track connectors.
Then you wouldn't have to cut up track. :woohoo:

Scott

solder? nah, i'm lazier than that. i have a zillion terminal tracks from all these random track lots i've bought, every lot seems to have at least 2 or 3 in it, some have more. i can easily have power taps at 5 different locations around the layout just by putting in another terminal track every 15 or 20 track sections...

i am in ny visiting family at the moment, but i think the next time i have a few free minutes at home, i can get the basic layout finished...

--rick

Rick- I am impressed. Back in the hobby with a vengeance. Looking forward to the new layout and future landscaping. Keep us posted!
Jim

well, it's done, and i ran laps on all 4 lanes. first I ran all 4 lanes with one joint disconnected just to be sure I had juice all the way around... then hooked her up and started running. here are pics in sections:

i had to change this a little to get things to line up and because I didn't have extra 9" and 12" 1/8th turn pieces to play with. works out okay... i have two 6-inchers, they both have a 9-inch that leads into them to slow you down. (remember, my 4-year-old is getting into this...)

http://home.comcast.net/%7Erwurtz/images/4ln1103a.JPG

yes, the section just above the DOH cop car has two 12" radius 1/8s side by side... that's till i can find a couple more 15" pieces...

http://home.comcast.net/%7Erwurtz/images/4ln1103b.JPG

same here by the rolls of masking tape...

http://home.comcast.net/%7Erwurtz/images/4ln1103c.JPG

and here's the temporary version of the elevation. any thoughts, comments, input appreciated.

http://home.comcast.net/%7Erwurtz/images/4ln1103d.JPG

and here is all 4 pics strung together to give you an idea of the whole thing. (click the link, i didn't want to hose the thread with a pic that's 1500 pixels wide...)

http://home.comcast.net/~rwurtz/images/4ln1103mix.JPG

and a view of the whole layout from the end.

http://home.comcast.net/%7Erwurtz/images/4ln1103e.JPG

this is FUN. i really like the elevated section. but there's LOTS of work to do yet... two more drivers' stations, attach the track to the table, install turn borders so you can hang the tail out on the outside lanes...

and especially make the elevation permanent. any of you guys have suggestions for what to use as a track bed? my first thought was just to use 2" thick insulation foam and carve it to the shape i need, but once I laid the track on the temporary foamcore, i noticed it doesn't all sit perfectly and needs to be nailed down to something solid. i was thinking Masonite... will that work? any other suggestions/comments/thoughts?

tanx...

--rick

ParkRNDL,
Your layout looks great with a good flow and lot's of speed. I would be concerned with the elevated area in your pic,
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c394/tycobro/4ln1103d.jpg

It seems to create a blind spot from which ever direction you run. An elevated curve on a curve seems to always lead to problems. Try shortening the elevated curve to go over the straight section instead, you’ll lose some track lenght but the payoff of de-slots under the curve will be the reward.

Keep the pic's coming, track builds for me are the best part of this hobby.
Tycoarm/Tycosaur

ParkRNDL,
Your layout looks great with a good flow and lot's of speed. I would be concerned with the elevated area in your pic,
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c394/tycobro/4ln1103d.jpg

It seems to create a blind spot from which ever direction you run. An elevated curve on a curve seems to always lead to problems. Try shortening the elevated curve to go over the straight section instead, you’ll lose some track lenght but the payoff of de-slots under the curve will be the reward.

Keep the pic's coming, track builds for me are the the best part of this hobby.
Tycoarm/Tycosaur

I agree with Tycoarm on the curve under the overpass. Any way to get a straight shot under a bridge is worth looking at. Not sure what you are calling track bed. If you are going to use masonite to support the elevated portion of the track, it works great. I traced my track outline pattern onto the masonite and cut it out with a sabre saw. Put a few dobs of silicone caulk down on the masonite and skwished the track into it. Don't worry a hacksaw file slid underneath will remove the dobs if you decide to change the track around. I also used the masonite for track borders. Same process tracing and scribing. I used a compass for the outside edge. Cant remember the width, took a long car and fishtailed it out to where there was no way it could recover and used that for the width of the turn aprons. The masonite is a bit thinner than the thickness of my Tomy track, so I layed a bead of paintable caulk right on the outside radius of the track and pushed the masonite down to the level of the track and let it dry that way. Paint to match and you are done. Great looking track..drool.. drool..

One way to give the opposite end of the track driver's station a better view of the curve is to reivse the underpass from the current 135 degree turn to a straight section. Please see and forgive my crude MS paint sketch made from one of your pictures. What I propose is to shorten the back straight and start it's elevation earlier than your current design. Instead of ending the back straight with a 135 deg turn, end it with a 45 deg. This shorter turn would lead to a straight across the lower track and complete the circuit with a 135 deg turn and a longer straight to the esses. This should yield the same over all lap length at the expense of a shorter back straight and the straight section would cut off less of the view of the lower turn complex than the current design. Just my thoughts. :drunk: :drunk: :freak: :dude:

Based on this R&D session, I think that this layout will work just fine the way it is. I was considering what you all were saying about the curve under the overpass, but deslots haven't been a problem there...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6OsKcE0naY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM7T7o0mlU8

This is my 4 kids running Tjets around the layout. My 4-year-old, with the orange Tuffy Bug, seems to be the best driver. The chassis is a stock Tjet with JLTO rims.

My 6-year-old is using an orange JL Camaro to chase him... chassis is also stock Tjet, but with brass fronts and wide Delrin rears. He's having a hard time keeping up with the Bug.

My 11-year-old daughter is driving a blue Eldon Camaro push car that's been converted to run a stock Tjet chassis with Tuffy rims, and she's having fun punting off my 10-year-old son, who is trying desperately to be competitive in a crash-and-burn kinda race (in the yellow resin Cyclone with Hooters livery, running a Tjet chassis with JLTO rears and brass fronts) with total mayhem happening all around him.

Let's face it, having 4 kids is mayhem BEFORE you hand them slot car controllers... this was a HOOT! I have 2 more vids to upload... will get to them this evening...

Edit: here's the other two vids

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4yMwKdwRyw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QUWM_wmRHo

--rick

any of you guys have suggestions for what to use as a track bed?

Cheap 1/4 inch plywood. And use bits of 1x4 cut to hold up the plywood...
That is really coming along...
BTW rick, exactly what turns are you looking for?
Scott

Cheap 1/4 inch plywood. And use bits of 1x4 cut to hold up the plywood...
That is really coming along...
BTW rick, exactly what turns are you looking for?
Scott

two 15" 1/8th curves for sure, maybe a couple more 9" and 12" 1/8th curves if I want to rework the far end, but i'm thinking i don't need to :D

i was looking at fleabay item 270295452635 for the 15s, but that was yesterday before a bunch of people started bidding on it...

i was thinking plywood or masonite. masonite cuts easier. and I was thinking 2x4, but I guess 1x4 is easier to work with...

I also dredged up some old threads on turn borders. i had been thinking about ordering more of the McMaster-Carr foam stuff, but the old threads have me thinking more along the lines of cork railroad bed. that McM-C stuff is a &$@(#* to pull up if you change your mind. makes a real nasty mess.

--rick

The videos are a total blast. That's a fine crew you have there. :drunk::hat::freak::dude:

Rick,
Layout loooks great and fun! makes me want to redo mine. :eek:

Keep the pix coming.

:thumbsup::thumbsup: Dave

You did a great job on the layout and the video's are way cool. reminds me of me and my two little ones We have a blast racing em