| This is one of those letters that tells a story. These stories probably aren't that entertaining, but they serve to capture (with photos) certian events that happen to us. This round of events was entirely self inflicted. And to this day I really don't know what drove us to this end, but somehow, we decided that it would be neat to put a train track around the boys room. We have had in our possession for some time a Lionel train (steam engine - of course) that was O-gauge (O27 actually) and we had a little 60' x 40" track for it to run around on. |
| Here is the small oval of the fast track: |  |
 |
 |
 |
I have always thought that it would be neat if we could give it a larger track, but that seems to requre lots of space that we don't have (and have never had), thus the small circle for it to run around on. The more track that you get the harder and harder it is to store. So for some unknown reason we decided to run a track around the boys room and give them the keys to it for Christmas. Construction started around the first of October. Since I have many diffrent items taxing my spare time, I figured a few months would be necessary to complete the installation. |
| The way that it started was getting a piece of plywood 5/8" thick and then we cut it down in to strips of 3" wide. These 3" wide strips were then painted the same color as the walls in the boys room on three sides leaving the top bare wood - that is for no other reason other than it was easier to paint, and it wouldn't be seen anyway. After the paint dried, I put up the boards on the wall leaving the corners empty. I also left the closet alone until I had everything else finished. The plan was to have the train enter the closet on one side, and come out on the other. Every train needs a tunnel to drive through, and this one was no exception. |  |
 |
After the straight tracks were up on the walls, then I measured the corner pieces and laid out the track on the wood and cut out the radius as to keep the track right next to the edge of the wood, and keep the train most visible from the ground. |
| After the corners were up, I cut the holes in the wall for the tunnels into the closet and then started to lay out the track on the wood. Lionel has gone away from the standard track seen here and replaced it with what they call a "fast track". They are plastic and aren't nearly as durable, but they do have a more realistic look about them. These old tracks are metal with three rails and then three connectors holding the rails at the proper distances apart. The new ones seem to crack and break easily (even though they do have metal rails (smaller) for the current to pass through. After pricing them, you could obtain the old track for roughly 1/3 the price of the new fast track, so the old stuff won out. |  |
 |
Here Kyle is helping me layout the tracks and determine if we needed to cut down the track to make it fit. As it turned out, I had to cut down the tracks on three of the four walls. I know, I know - that doesn't make sense, but that is what happened. On the north and south walls, I had to add a piece of track that was 1.5 inches long to get the track to lay correctly. On the west wall it fell perfectly and I needed no non-standard piece to complete the track, so I assumed the east wall would be the same, and put the track down. Each piece of 9" track is screwed down to the boards by two screws (this is to keep it secured with the kids around). I fought and fought the closet pieces, but figured that was just due to the limited space I had to work in the closet. |
| Then I installed another outlet in the wall for the transformer, and put a timer on it so that the outlet could only be powered for a maximum of 1 hour, and then built a shelf for the transformer to sit on. The wood for this transformer came from a book case that we had and it fell apart. I have been re-using the wood for a number of things, this being one of them. Then I ran wires inside the wall from the shelf to the track to power the rails. I waited until the kids were at school and tested out the train only to find that when it rounded the corner in the closet it hit the wall. The fighting that I did with the track in there was not to be in my favor. |
 |
 |
I then took up about half the track and shortened it down by 0.5" and re-screwed it down. After another test the train seemed to run free and clear of any obstructions. We painted the tunnels black (because that is the color of all tunnels) and got ready for Christmas. My final test of the train was about 1 week before Christmas, so the timing was pretty accurate. |
| We staged the entire train inside the closet and let the kids open up the transformer for Christmas. We also obtained a spot light car and gave that to the kids as well to open up. On Chrstmas moring once they opened up the transformer, we took it into their room, and plugged it in. Flipped the switch and out the engine came from the dark tunnel in the closet. They all seemed pleased with new train and like to watch it just drive round and round the room. The only downfall I see with it, is that even with a few extra cars and quite a bit of extra track (around 60 feet of track) the train will still run fast enough to de-rail itself on the corners. I am glad that has no outside corners, only inside corners so that if it does de-rail it will stay on the wood. The transformer goes from 0% up to 100% and the train will run safely up to about 65%. I have explained this, but Landen will still occaisionally try to push the limits. (Man where did all my hair go?) |  |
 |
With the bunk beds in the room, they can get a pretty good view of the train when it runs by. I didn't realize that the train would be so loud, but with the transformer set at 65%, you almost want ear plugs if you are going stand under the track (by the door). I need to get a dB meter and see how loud it actually is, or if I am just a whimp. Maybe next time I will add insulation to the bottom of the boards that support the track. If anyone feels like an artist, Terra would love it for some backgrounds to be painted in the 7.5" above the tracks aroud the room. For a short video of the train click here |