Track Soldered and Nailed

Christmas Train track all soldered and nailed to the base.

Hopefully I will just need to clean it and roll next year.

Christmas Train Base and Storage

The track hangs upside down to help keep dust and dirt off.
See how the track would be sandwiched if it was on the base?

Hindsight is 20/20 - Many things I could have done different as Im sure you can tell.

With the spacer, the track will not be sandwiched.

Who knows, I may make another one someday. This has been a tremendous learning experience.


Today I added some spacers on top of the base. I'm trying to use what I have on hand. These spacers are coming from the center hole I cut out of the 3/4 plywood sheet Im using for the base.
I have yet to permanently mount the track on the base. Last year I noticed that when you stow the base the track would have been sandwiched between the base and the bracket. Obviously that would not be good.


Here is the link start of the Track Storage idea. 

Measuring where the holes is

Adding all these spacers has made the track base on a whole thicker. The base still fits on the brackets, but it will not swing down anymore.  The base hits the ceiling when I swing it down. 
It is easier for me to stow the base on the brackets if it can swing down.


With the extra spacers it adds an inch and a half to the thickness. Figured I would add 2 inches to the bracket so it will hang a little lower, and plenty of space for to to swing down.
Cut 4 two inch spacers.

transferring the line where the
screws will hit

I needed to make sure the screws of the long 2X4 will not hit the new screws for the 2" spacers. I could have eyeballed it, but I did not want to fool around and put one in the wrong place.

With the bottom part of the bracket off, I measure the distance from the edge to the hole where the screw comes out. 
Then transfer a line to the spacers. 
That way I know where not to drill for the screws for the spacer.
Drill the countersunk holes for the screws. Put some glue on the end and attached it to the bracket legs.

Then its just a matter of putting it back together.

Now I think Im ready to do a little sanding and some more painting.

here is the base swung down

base mounted

Can't wait to get that track mounted and soldered.

I really like soldering. Not too long ago I repaired a Yamaha G100-112 guitar amp
That was a LOT of soldering.

I need to get back on that 202 engine.

Christmas Train Base

Last year we built a new Christmas Train track base. One that I can easily store and pull out.
Here is the idea

One of the problems when we set the Christmas Train out; is that it lays flat on the floor. You may ask, "what's the big deal about that?".  Well, when you started running the power wires from one side to the other, you had to run them under the flat plywood. So it was no longer flat on the floor.

I thought about running a wire around the edge and just stapling it in place. I did not like the idea of seeing wire, beside we do not always put the Christmas train in the same place every year. I need something a little more versatile. Something that we can put the transformer on either side or the set.

The Underside of the base.

My idea was to add some strips of wood all the way around the track, and some on the inside. This should leave a nice cavity to run wires.

If we build a Christmas Village, we will have plenty of space to add as many lights as we want.

I cut strips of plywood using the new Skillsaw Jig I built.

Tonight I glued and screwed the strips down around the bottom edges.

I should be able to add plugs anywhere needed.

I still need to add a few strips on the top to hold it up enough to stay off the track when stored. Sand, paint and attach the track more permanently to the base is pretty much all I have planed for the track this year.

Next year I may add some texture, and outlets. Who knows.

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

Christmas Track

The Christmas Train is out!

Got the plywood painted and in the house.

I dont think I will solder and nail the track down just yet. I want to get another coat of white paint on it. Maybe high gloss so that is easy to wipe clean.








I also want to paint that yellow flat car. I have some ideas.

Here is a link to the "Engine and coal car" I painted in 2014.

Here is a link to the "NOEL car" I painted n 2015 (my favorite car). It was just a plain maroon car. Still looks good.

Tree Track

That time of Year.
Trying to make it easier to set up and tear down the Christmas tree train. 4X8 piece of plywood. after cutting out the shape I wanted, I took it inside to verify. It was too big.






Cut it down to 67" long, left the width at 48".

Cut some brackets to hold the 2 pieces together. Sanded the brackets. Used some wood glue, and nailed the brackets in place with pneumatic air gun. Found some old screws I had, predrilled and put the screws to it.

Sanded some more, outside temp dropped some this evening. I should be able to get a few coats of white paint in it tomorrow.

Stay tuned.

Christmas Train - Engine 2014

So this Blog is new April 2017, but I wanted to blog about some past projects to get it going.

I took this train and painted it. I do not have any pictures of the process. I took the shell off, sprayed it with some hobby printer. You have to get special primer that is made to stick to these. Most paints will not stick to Lexan. Plus this primer goes on real thin. Primer that is not designed for this will be too thick.

The primer was white.

I painted everything else by hand

Christmas Car - 2015

I did this a few years ago...

Christmas time I wanted to build up a Christmas train to go around the tree. Had this old car and decided to paint it up. Took the trucks off and gave her a gold spray.

Next I took some black and painted some details:

Tried my hand at some other colors.

 

It looks good on the track. I had painted a steam engine the year before. I was going to do a car a year, but I did not do one last year. Maybe I will do another one 2017.

Tell me what you think, what kind of car should I do next to ad to my Christmas train? I got all year to think about it.