![]() As shown in the cross-section drawing, I use under-cabinet fluorescent fixtures with T8 or T12 tubes to illuminate my lower decks, and most fixtures are just under 2″ thick. ![]() It’s wise to plan backward from the lower-deck lighting system you plan to install. Build one deck at a time, however, and that cost can be spread out. You’ll need twice as much subroadbed, roadbed, track, wiring, lighting, scenery materials, and structures. The trend toward narrow shelf layouts – maybe as little as 8″ wide in the stretches between terminals and towns – supports such economy while simultaneously allowing for wider aisles.Ī second deck means that the money and time needed to build a railroad roughly double. Those with long main lines, such as Bill Darnaby’s 10-scale-mile-long Maumee Route main line, have found that applying seemingly endless acres of ground cover gets old and expensive rather quickly. More scenery also means more investment in materials and time to apply them. This becomes especially important for those who have discovered how interesting timetable and train-order operation is, since a multi-deck layout offers a lot of places for trains to meet and pass.īy adding one or more decks, you’ll obviously get more real estate for scenery, although that’s a mixed bag. Let’s take a careful look at the major considerations before charging into such a venture.Īn extra deck (or two) means you can achieve twice the mainline run and twice as many towns or industrial switching locations. Since many of us have a hard time designing, affording, building, and maintaining just one, it pays to make a realistic assessment of your time, funds, dedication, and goals before following in our footsteps. Despite the extra time, effort, and expense involved in building such a railroad, I found that the rewards expanded quickly.īuilding a multi-deck railroad is essentially the same as building two separate railroads. Although many friends weighed in, Bill Darnaby and his successful double-deck Maumee Route layout clearly demonstrated the validity of a multi-deck railroad. Why would anyone want, let alone need, a model railroad with more than one deck? It seems to me that many of us truly believe we “need” a larger railroad.īut rather than simply act on this basic impulse, it also took a bit of peer persuasion to help me see that a multi-deck layout was really what I wanted to design, build, operate, and, of course, maintain.
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