Construction

Here's how The Upstairs Train was built.  Unfortunately, most of these pictures were taken before I got a digital camera.  Sorry for the poor quality. Click a picture to see what it looks like now that it's finished.

This is the infrastructure for the upper loop.  I cut pieces of scrap lumber 4-1/2 inches high to support a masonite platform.  (That's why I euphemistically call this area "masonite mesa.")  That's the height needed for the lower loop to pass under it, and it is the correct height for the trestle set that forms the red upslope and downslope. I used the pieces with nicest surfaces  for the outside walls, simulating the wood construction used in many railroads of the Western United States.

Upper loop infrastructure from the south.

Detail of the first tunnel in the lower loop.

The second tunnel in the lower loop, from the inside, before I landscaped the northwest corner.  The green line switches off from the lower loop at the entrance to the tunnel; the two lines go through the tunnel under the upper loop and emerge through different portals.

This is the upper end of the yellow downslope.  I built it to match the slope of the Gilbert #26782 trestle set: 5/16 inch per 10 inch track length.

More of the yellow downslope, including the walls around the #773 Oil Derick.

Looking down on the walls around the #773 Oil Derick.  I plan to have a gully on that slope behind the Derrick, and a hill with a #768 Oil Depot  to the left.  The power lines will go up over the hill and ott the layout.

I built most of the table from some plywood-topped pallets I got from the place I worked in the 1970s.  I liked the idea of the pallets because it made a modular table that could be moved easily when our sons got old enough to want their own rooms. All I had to do was bolt them together and build legs to hold them up. I used three 2X4s braced by 1X2s rather than face the challenge of making a stable four-legged table. In the summer of 2003, I extended the table by two feet to accomodate Union Station, its siding, and the yellow downslope. I used the same construction method. This is the Northeast Corner, angled off to enable people to get around my desk and chair.

If you or your friends have some American Flyer trains and would like them to go to a nice home where they'll be loved and cared for, this is the place!  Email me: theupstairstrain@yahoo.com.  See my Wish List for the items I want most.

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