Presenting....... Banarville

Welcome to my childhood neighborhood ...hopefully these pics post and bring a smile to you as you look on. It is not a large layout by any means, it fits over my Mates Single Bed. The irony of my childhood bed is comical....as I now sail Second Mate Deck Officer on the Great Lakes freighters. Anyways...This is not the original track plan from the1970s, but it is pretty close to the same. We updated the track pan and scenery in the 2001-02 era.

We are limited on engine and car size due to layout dimensions. 4 axle locos, switchers and any size steamer run well. 40-50 foot cars navigate the track curves and tight scenery the best.

Originally it was all brass track and DC, but I converted my Father......against his will to DCC. This layout is done the simple 10 minute- two wire conversion to DCC with the Bachmann EZ Command. Fast and easy $90 experiment- that Dad now loves. It is still the brass track from the 1970s, and it runs great.

We converted a few of our older locos with decoders, plus bought a few new units to help in playing. Also converted all plastic wheels to metal and all horn hooks went to Kadee #5. The last two conversions almost got me kicked out of the will, but yet again Dad loves the new and improved versions.

The first set of pictures are of my room and the back of the *train board* as we call it--and the set up to get it down so we can play.

Bear with me, as I am posting this from an IPhone 7+.

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Before letting the Train Board down, corner knobs. Must be changed to corner pads.

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Only the front two posts support the Train Board. Nothing but a copper pipe in a block of 2x4 with extra carpet from the room.

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I will work on the sideways thing as I go....hints or help greatly appreciated.

This is the hinge point and where the power cord plugs in. The entire layout itself is held in place by two lag bolts, one per side acting as hinges. The Train Board, when upright, leans about an inch and a half backwards towards the wall. Only after the invention of the grand children was a locking clasp installed. It never once came down on its own doing, but my parents like my sisters kids. It weighs maybe 30 pounds as it folds down, Mom can do it- so its really not that heavy or cumbersome. My parents are 70 and 72, but have the hearts, minds and the imagination that still gives me a run for the money.

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This is not even the best part of the layout yet.

Once the Train Board is down, all the trains are in a separate cabinet on the opposite wall. Two straight sections and a curved corner board connect the cabinet to the layout

- so yes-

We drive all the trains out onto the layout. The cabinet has five tracks on a sliding backdrop that will each align with the one in/out track on the left side. The five tracks move up and down on a hand cranked pulley system. The upper cabinet doors hold the locos, and the lower door holds the connecting track boards when not in use. Track alignment is done visually and is real easy to see and adjust if needed. There is no track power in the cabinet, just try to only get the front trucks of the loco inside to properly have the cars clear the case. I need to go take a few more pics of the layout, so more to come as we go. Have short videos on my phone, but no luck loading them up.....the joys of learning. Once again sorry for the sideways thing. My MacBook will not play nice- and my phone must be drunk???? Ideas?

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This is the first time that the layout has made an internet appearance. All of the usual suspects of friends and family have seen this- but never the rest of the world. We are not rivet counters, nor are we NMRA rule mongers. This is all fun that played a large role in growing up, learning respect for expensive items, and fostering countless hours playing trains. My thoughts are spinning with wonder and excitement from seeing all of the things around the world and just letting them soak in. More to come as the days go by.

 

Ok, been fighting with the sideways agenda my iPhone 7, iPhone 7+, MacBook and my HP have all adopted- and for the moment victory is not in my cards. So moving on to a few more sideways pics for a few more posts. Not giving up, going to try something new tomorrow while visiting the parents.

This is the cabinet with the top doors open. Engine storage and you can see the crank rod that makes the 5 shelves go up and down. It may be hard to see, but look for the white 1/8 inch clothesline wrapped neatly towards either end. Basically one line in a w configuration using three single whip blocks.

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Cabinet bottom door is the storage area for the two straight connecting tracks and the curved corner board that ties them all together. the five shelves and two straight sections are ordinary household baseboards. The natural shape and size holds a HO scale track perfectly on the back, and it holds up straight on an open span of 3-4 feet because of the shape. We carved/notched the Train Board, corner board and cabinet to accept and hold the baseboard sections with just a nice snug fit.

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This is the look going into the cabinet coming from the corner board.

You can see the magnet for uncoupling right next to the Conductor. He is our mark for stopping and starting the back in without a hassle. He has been with us for many years standing his post.

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This one should have been before the other post, hind sight is 20/20.

This is the view of the index for the straight section to slip into the cabinet. The block above the opening is a hinge mounted door held up by magnets. We keep the doors closed when not playing trains.

Honestly only ever remember cleaning the cars or engines very little in all these years. This is not an airtight cabinet with perfect carpentry, but it truly dos keep the dust off quite nicely. The tracks are spiked into place with the standard tie spikes, no glue either. The tracks inside the cabinet are not powered so they do not need cleaning.

Our cabinet is the best thing we came up with alongside the fold down layout. The trains are always on display- ready to run right out of the cabinet- ready to run right back into the cabinet- just dial up or down for the track you want to run. This design has made us happy for years. It may seem old fashioned to do it with a hand crank, but trying to rig up a clean small quiet motor never interested us.

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The is the view of the portal into the Train Board itself. Same notch, we still have yet to stain it......yes even after all these years.

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This is the cover for the portal onto the Train Board. We noticed after a few months of playing trains that the layout was getting dusty only on one side....hence the portal door cover. Take a look back at the open portal pic and you can see the sloppy housekeeping done before the pictures were taken. All the time spent in the upright position keeps the layout just about dust free. There may be dust in places, but not enough to do anything about it.

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This is the corner that hides all of the switch controllers. Our layout is a fun run layout. We have sidings to park trains on that are truly just part of another circle. One can shunt or shuffle cars to the one freight station, but this was not designed asa point to point layout.

DCC made the layout grow into something more fun than ever expected. My choice of the Bachman EZ Command gives us the ability to run 9 trains at once. This is quite the daunting task on this little set of tracks. Enter DCC year #2- a Companion EZ Controller Station was added to the mix so we could each run 2 or3 trains.

Dad was not happy at first to convert. He had title knowledge or familiarity with DCC, no DCC engines and was not a fan of the cost.
Luckily I am a genius and gave this to him for Fathers Day, Birthdays and Christmas presents......hard to take back gifts. The conversion to Kadees and metal wheels almost got me disinherited as already mentioned. When we play now it all comes down to performance and strength of engines and number of cars pulled.

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This is one of the first corners coming into the layout from the cabinet.

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