Track Storage

Christmas Train Track Storage

One of my goals for this year's Christmas train was ease of setting out and storing.
A friend of mine told me how he stored his Christmas train. After seeing pictures of how he stores his Christmas train, I wanted to do that same thing. He is actually able to store his train above his garage door.
I measured the distance from the garage door to the ceiling when the garage door is open, and I only have 3" clearance.
 Once my track is finished I estimate it will be 3" thick. I figure that I will need 6" so that it will be easy to hang up and pull off. So I knew I needed 67" X 48" X 6" area on the ceiling of the garage.
Since 2X4's are actually 1 1/2" thick, I know I need the risers to be 4 1/2" to make my 6"s. Where the actual brackets are it's 7 1/2" down from the ceiling taking in account of the supporting 2X4.

First I figured out where I would like to put it. Took in account where my wood tools are, and grinder.  Where my wood storage bins are, and distance from them to be able to get to my scrap wood.
Also the lights in my garage are just light bulb fixtures. Since I do not want to bust the lights when putting up the train set and up and down, I measured 6" from them.

I took a sharpie marker, and marked on the ceiling 67"X48". I located the ceiling joists. In my garage the ceiling joists are 2' apart.

Fig 1

The center hole in the train track base is roughly 6" from the sides around. I double checked by measuring the width of the hole. It is 36".
Why am I taking these measurements? I'm trying to figure out where to put the brackets to have enough space to slide the track on and off of the brackets. If the brackets are too wide, then I will not be able to easily put the track up there. Remember I'm trying to make it easier to get out the train set each year. Give us more time to do other stuff. I settled on the 2 vertical bracket would be 12" apart.

Fig 2

By drawing the rough outline of the track on the ceiling, I was able to see that the track would not be centered on the ceiling joists. The ceiling joists run parallel to the length of the track. I cut 2 - 2X4's 24" (To attach to the Ceiling Joists) and the 4 risers 4 1/2" (Since I was at the saw).  I figured out I wanted the risers 32" apart on center. I measured and placed the 2 foot boards up (Fig 1). Pre-drilled and screwed them up on the ceiling to see what it looked like. I could have tried to find the center, but I measured the end of the 2X4 to the line I drew on the ceiling. One side was 11" from the line, the other side was 13". I took the boards down from the ceiling to attach the risers.

Remember the track is not centered on the ceiling joists. The total width of the track is 48", and I want the risers to be 12" apart. Did some quick calculations:

• [(48-12)/2]-11 = 7
• [(48-12)/2]-13 = 5

I drew a line 7" from one end of the board and 5" from the other side of the board. These lines will be where the risers will line up. Drew another line 3/4 in from each of those 2 lines so I would know where to pre-drill my holes (1 1/2" / 2 = 3/4"). I attached the risers and then screwed them back up on the ceiling (Fig 2).

Fig 3

Fig 4

I knew that the actual board that would hold the track up needed to be the same as the width of the track 48". So I cut to 2 - 2X4s 48". I drew a line in the center, then measured out 6" on each side of that line to make that 12"s. Now I know where the edge of the risers would line up. Drew another line 3/4" in from each of those lines. Pre-drilled the holes. Held it up, and drilled into one of the risers. Put a screw in, then finished pre-drilling the other holes. Put the screws in (Fig 3 and Fig 4).

Slid the track base in place. It will sit there until sometime next year.

Whats next for this once the weather warms back up:

• Rail where the bracket support touches the baseboard. 
• So the support boards will not rest on the track.
• Put rails around the bottom of the baseboard, with gaps to run wires. 
• Found that we needed to run the Christmas Tree lights under the track.
• The controller power wires ran under the track
• Extra height should help to keep people from stepping on it
• Extra height should help to keep dog hair off the track (could already tell the 3/4" helped a lot already)
• Someday we may build village that may also need to run wires under.
• Paint a few coats. 
• Some kind of paint that will be easy to wipe clean.
• Solder track
• So the track has better connection for the circuit
• Keep track pieces together better
• Nail the track to baseboard