Hi,
As a new member I hope to soon start the building of the Utherington Light Railway in my loft.
It is noticeably colder in the loft than the remainder of the house, is this likely to affect the locs and or track. Will they suffer from condensation or is that only likely when they are brought down into a warmer environment.
Cheers
Tony
How well insulated is the loft? normaly lofts are insulated between the ceiling joists leaving a cold loft in winter and a hot loft in summer. Not a good idea. If your loft is insulated between the roof rafters then a lining to keep dust where it belongs is all you need.
If you know a local builder ask him to check.
Good Luck
Hi
I've been in the loft for years
I live in a 1970's house and have found it both clean and dry all the year round.
The only down side is the extremes of temperature but this does not seen to have affected track or stock
I have put in electrics that can be totally isolated when not in use. I put in THREE 5 foot strip lights to give brilliant lighting.
You MUST get advice before installing a floor.
The temperature probs are more than compensated for by the SPACE!
My layout was in the loft for a while and the problems were more about the heat than the cold
Eventually I bagged a bedroom when my duaghter moved out
Bob
My railway room is in the loft. The way the house was built in the 1960's is that I have a space about 15 foot by 30 foot that I can stand up in and a single window in the gable end.
Jack Carter built
Having to leave layouts in a car (or trailer) unattended for any length of time when going to winter exhibitions can be a severe test. It doesn't take long for a car to cool down once the heating is off.
Quote from: B.Meldon on January 18, 2013, 14:37
I get very few problems with rail joints, solder connections braking or track distortion. However all the layouts have been built with expansion joints in the track. But then you need to do this anyway as some exhibitions can be like a sauna and others freezing cold!
Brian Meldon
Maybe off topic for this thread but I had not thought about expansion joints on my layout - does this mean leaving a little gap between the rails when joining it up ?
Thanks
Bob
Yes. Just a small gap at rail joints of 1/2mm or less on a long run is usually enough. But it obviously depends on how hot it is when you are building the layout.
But it also all depends on the situation. Short lengths will not be a problem, but if you have several feet or rail then some form of expansion my be a good idea. Curves tend to absorb expansion better than straight track.
It is amazing how strong the expansion forces can be, a soldered baseboard joint can be repeatedly broken at the solder if no expansion joint is built in.
Brian Meldon
Brian,
Thank you for this information
The longest run of straight track will be about 5 feet but I think I will leave 1/2 mm gaps as you suggest
My experience from attending exhibitions is that they mainly end up being quite warm.
Bob
They're quite important in many cases! I remember a story which comes from the early days of the Model Railway Club's 'Longbridge, Brampton Sands & Calshot' layout (LBSC, get it?). As usual with these projects (we all know the syndrome, don't we folks?!) there had apparently been a rush to complete the track for one of the Easter shows in Central Hall; Longbridge was 30 feet long and in the rush expansion joints had not been allowed; also the track had been only lightly fixed in position. Central Hall always got a mite warm at our shows. By lunchtime on Easter Monday the main station displayed a unique 'floating track' system, completely unlike that used by the legendary Fleetwood Shaw! The tracks through the station were hovering at platform level!
Not entitely relevant perhaps but a fun anecdote nonetheless! ;D
Simularly the 009 layout next to me at a recent exhibition (late last year) had issues from being built in a cool / cold garage when the warmth in the venue (from heating and lots of visitors) caused the rails to expand and the gauge across an inspection pit was 9 mm at the ends but 5 mm in the middle! :o
Not sure if they had put expantion gaps in - quite possibly they had and even so they were not enough. The problem was rectified at the show, but it involved cutting a section out of the rail with a dremel so that it could be straightened - though I do wonder what happened when the layout got home and cooled back down to the temperature it was used too...