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

Union Pacific 202 - Orange Re-Paint 17

ARRRGGGG!
Its still wet, so I don't know the extent of the damage.

 Sprayed Matte Finish and the paint started to blister!
The right top edge, and on the left front hood. There is also a place on the back.

I really did not want to make it look distressed.
GEEZZZ

Union Pacific 202 - Orange Re-Paint 16

Union Pacific 202

Had some free time tonight, started painting the back. It may need another coat. Then I will go back with the orange.
I like the looks of that paint scheme. I think once I get the lines looking sharper, and the orange to match the side colors. It should be ready for a finish spray.



















Not a close enough image, but I put a little touch of paint for the door handles.

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Looking at this ad, I will need to paint the base of the engine gray/silver also. I like that look. Currently it is all black.

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.

Union Pacific 202 - Orange Re-Paint 15

Back at IT!
This has been a long but fun project.

I was having such a problem with the decals, had to take a break. First I had a hard time cutting them out, then they would stick better to my finger than the train.

Got them cut and stuck on the train. I had to redo a few of the letters and numbers, but finally got them where I like them. Put some clear nail polish on to hold them in place.

Here is what I got so far.

Union Pacific 202 - Orange Re-Paint 14

After a few more coats, the silver finally covered it. I may do another coat.











It took a very long time to get these decals correct. Getting the font size and spacing correct for one printer does not work for another. A lot of trial and error.

Putting on the decals -
I stuck on the "PACIFIC" first and tried trimming the letter out with a razor blade. That did not work well. The letters kept coming off while I was trimming. I printed out an entire sheet of the decals. I knew this would be trial and error as well.
I still need to clean them up, but I ended up cutting the letters out with scissors first, leaving a thin line between them to keep the spacing. The decals did not stick well. I sprayed it with clear mat paint. Once I'm done, I plan on spraying the entire train with the clear mat paint to help seal and protect it. Should be able to wash the train in the future without worrying about paint coming off or chipping.


I think it is coming along nicely. 

Union Pacific 202 - Orange Re-Paint 13

I know in these pictures there is very little difference, but I wanted to show the process I'm experiencing.  This silver paint goes on real thin. I've tried putting it on thick, but the paint strokes show. When I put the paint on thick it also filled in some of the detail of the plastic form. I had to sand it all off in those area and start over. This left side has 2 coats since the last picture shown. It still needs more to cover the bleed through.

Here is the right side. The paint is pretty much done. I need to look it over some more to see if I spot anything I want to add or change.



Next will be putting the "UNION PACIFIC" and "202" on the sides. Im a little nervous about messing it up. I also want to add an LED light for the headlight, but I will worry about that when I start in on the mechanics of the train.

Union Pacific 202 - Orange Re-Paint 12

I like the orange enough to move on to the silver. The silver is going on very light, it takes a lot more coats. So far Ive only done this side, the other side looks like last picture. Probably 2 more coats of silver and I will move around to the other side. It looks so much better without the black trim I tried.

Im taking my time, still trying to figure out what to put in the front for the lights.

Union Pacific 202 - Orange Re-Paint 11

Where Was I?
Its been crazy around here. Finally getting back to this Train Business.

Last time, I sanded and cut out some bumps I did not like around the doors. They really showed up in the paint. I also decided not to go with the black trim, that did not look right to me either.
Tonight I touched up the Orange.



Im thinking I will wait until this coat drys and take another look at. It will need another coat of orange.

Im thinking about weathering it as well. What do you think?

Union Pacific 202 - Orange Re-Paint 10

So after doing some painting, I found some more flaws. When I first painted the lines, they were to thick. I did not like the look. These pictures I have already used some steel wool around the edges. Its hard to explain, but look at the edges of the doors. They are not sharp. There is extra pieces of plastic that stick up.

I was not able to get a clean line on the door molding. It really looked terrible to me. I tried to take a few pictures so you can see the extra edges. It looks like when laminated plywood gets wet, the edges peal up. of course nothing here is pealing up, its just the way the plastic looks.

This is a door Ive cleaned up the edges. So there is only one hight point. Since it is not painted yet, it might be hard to see, but once I put the orange back down, it should mate all the way right to the molding line.

Union Pacific 202 - Orange Re-Paint 9

Touching it up and painting some trim. So far I've only done a little on this side. A long way to go, but wanted to post pictures as I go.

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How cool is this Train?

operated by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q, commonly known by the shorter name of "Burlington") between Chicago, Illinois, Omaha, Nebraska and Lincoln, Nebraska. It operated from 1947 to 1971.

Union Pacific 202 - Orange Re-Paint 8

I scored the edge of the tape and pulled it off. Still need to do some clean up, but this is what it looks like now. I like the colors.

After I get it cleaned up better, I will follow up with some more detail. Get the UNION PACIFIC decals on it. I need to think about how Im going to do the windows, and headlamp.

In 1957 Lionel redesigned their Alco Diesel trains. The Orange 202 was the result. It is lighter weight, and not as detailed as previous models.

"Prior to the 202, all Alcos were produced as an AA combination. The 202 Union Pacific Alco A was the first Alco released by Lionel as a single A unit. As production continued during the postwar era, the single A unit Alco locomotive became the norm as Lionel produced few Alcos as AA units." - "http://postwarlionel.com/"

Some more information on this diesel train can be found here "http://www.tandem-associates.com/"

I would not have altered mine if it was in better shape.