Stakeholders

 In any new project like this, there are always other stakeholders who need to be on board with what we do and can often help with great ideas. That's what's going on now!  Negotiations are well under way with my wife and she's really helped me along by stepping back and looking at the project as a whole as well as specific individual things.

First item is the environment.  My dream was to have a new "room" with finished walls and ceiling where you'd be sucked into the railroad environment as soon as you walked in.  That would have needed sheetrock, electrical changes, paint and a very tall backdrop that helped you feel you wee actually "in the layout".  I did realize that the dream was under threat when I couldn't get anyone to do the sheet-rocking.  What I didn't do was step all the way away from the dream and create a railroad room rather than something that could become habitable without a lot of change if I ever stopped railroading.  This will be way faster and way less expensive.

Well now I've done that with her help.  As a result, I've abandoned a new ceiling and boxing in the a/c ducts and some very expensive 36" high backdrops.  Instead, I'll install Masonite about 2' high for a backdrop that's more like 16" high with black above it.  I'll add the thin plywood above that and also paint it black.  This approach will help to focus visitors' gaze onto the layout and draw them in.

I declared my intention to move a sizeable five-draw chest away from the wall and into the center of the room behind me when I'm working at the workbench.  It's too tall for the height of the layout spur and moving it will help discourage non-family (like the cleaning crew) from dumping stuff in front of the railroad.  I have agreement so long as there's a wide enough aisle into the storage area beyond the railroad. (It'll be a little wider than it was with the old layout).

Second thing is the lighting.  I had planned to attach the track lighting on the left leg of the layout in the studs/plywood box I was planning to build around the a/c ducts.  With those now out of scope, I needed a different approach.  Answer?  Track lights that drop down below the ducts but are attached to the ceiling joists just like the ones already in place.  Problem solved.  I'll paint the ducts sky blue and may even turn them into a mock tornado or rainstorm clouds.  With some cool sound effects that might be a neat feature!

Once the lights and backdrop are installed, I'll be ready to install the base framework on at least one wall of the layout.  This will support the first four layout segments.  I've got a detailed design for that almost finished now.  

Believe it or not, that's resulted in some more minor track plan changes.  I added a third track to the spur which will enable me to store another seven freight cars on the layout. 

So now I think the family's happy and I'm very satisfied with my base framework design.  I've figured out how to wrangle the sub-panels into it's design in a way that'll work with the segment frames and still keep me from grubbing around on the floor to do wiring tasks.

I hope to order the backdrop in the next couple of weeks.  As soon as the Masonite and ply are up and painted that'll be the last thing before I start on the base framework and those first three modules - I can hardly wait.  

So here are some pictures of progress - three of the room itself, with the old layout completely dismantled and two of the power cart that's close to done, apart from testing (I'll do that once I have the base framework build and can temporarily lay down a decent-sized board on which I can put a test track).

The room still looks awful cluttered - here's what's going on.

1. On the left side is "stuff" that will eventually be moved out - it's toy drawers from the when the kids were toddlers.  Above them are the ducts I have to incorporate into the layout.   There'll be back drop up to a little above the tops of the taller drawers, then sky-blue up to the horizontal a/c duct then black.  Some fancy footwork footwork with the tubular ducts will make them all but disappear, I hope.
2. In the center are all the trains and train boxes.  These will live under the layout - at least 3/4 of them are Zach's.  I've already rearranged them several times - I need a couple more smaller dollies so I can reduce the height of the stacks down to about 30" so they won't be in the way.  you won't see them because there'll be black curtains in front of them , hung below the layout.  This is actually where the power cart will be.
3. To the right is a stack of rejected lumber I have to remove, the power cart and the leg assemblies from the old layout I'll be reusing.

This is the business end of the power cart.  TMCC Command Base on the left, Z250 in the center and DCS Explorer on the right.

And this is the end you're not supposed to see.  Hanging just below the top surface is a 6-way trailer connector that will join the power cart to the buses under the layout. All the 110v plugs (including the vacuum cleaner and an iPhone charger!) are inserted in the two switched power strips   

I have to add a 12v DC transformer that will power the Menards buildings (There'll be an adjustable step-down device for each building so I can set the lighting level compatible with the rest of the layout.  The Menards buildings can be very bright.  This may drive me to an 8-way connector instead of the 6-way one.  

In my next post, I'll share the current state of the plans.