Structures

Structures and Buildings (Updated 1/4/14)

1/4/14: My three year old son loves bridges. I really wanted to make a bridge that you could raise and lower. This was an engineering challenge for me but I'm very pleased with the results. The bridge opens easily using the big yellow knob or just by lifting it by hand.

1/4/14: Unlike the draw bridge above, these bridges were easy to make. There are two things about bridge components I own that came with store-bought sets that I don't like. One problem is that they're not very stable and prone to tipping over when they are bumped or jostled by children. The other, bigger problem is that the "hill" track sections easily become misaligned or fall off completely when the track is bumped. This can be very frustrating for little kids. Solving the stability problem was easy. Obviously, I just made wide "feet". To solve the problem of the hill sections becoming misaligned or falling off I just positioned the support sections so that the hill track is also supported. It's easy to see how that works on the female end. The male end of the hill track section rests on the blue (or orange) supports. These pictures aren't great for showing how the male end of the bridge works. The blue (or orange) support section juts out just slightly beyond the end of the bridge track allowing the hill section of track to rest on the support. They end result is that they are rock solid when being played with.

1/4/14: Now for something completely different. That's right--a lake. The thing poking out of the water on the left is a fish. I used tiny screws coming up from the bottom to hold the duck and fish in place. I was worried they would be broken off when they lake gets dropped into the storage bin.

1/4/14: I've made a couple new, simple stations. My first stations (see bottom of this page) created more of an "enclosure" over the track. While that was more visually appealing it made it more challenging for small hands to maneuver trains through the station. For these new stations simplicity and easy access was my primary goal.

I recently discovered a series of excellent train-related creations posted on Instructables.com. In particular, someone named Crozier had created a simple tunnel made out of several layers of wood (click here to see the their full instructions). I liked the idea but I wanted to take it to the next level and make a full-blown mountain that could support different track configurations. This is the result. In order to create a substantial mountain without having to use too many "layers" I used some 2" x 10" cedar I had laying around (it was left over from some deck repairs a few summers ago). I cut five layers of wood and glued them together to create what you see here. I didn't anticipate how difficult the design challenges would be. In hindsight I should have built a miniature prototype first. Designing the three dimensional structure in my head was tough and I'm not in love with the result. But ultimately I did achieve my desired goal of making a cool tunnel (tunnels, actually) with variable configurations. After painting the whole thing gray I "flicked" white and black paint speckles onto the mountain using and old toothbrush to create a mottled, granite-like effect. I hadn't originally planned on making the mountain snow-capped but it seemed a bit plain without the snow. I did save a tracing of each wood section. Let me know if you want a copy--not that the design is that great but it might help get you started and give you a point of reference for making modifications.

These matching stations are the first structures I've created. I tried to give ample clearance for tall trains to fit under the roof. But what I hadn't noticed was that my kids sometimes carry rather tall loads in their trains which don't fit these stations. So in hindsight I wish I had made them even taller. Note that I've got the track laying on a 1/8" think "base". Playing with these on a hard surface would be problematic because the track wouldn't be flush. But at my house kids play with trains on carpet so this doesn't matter. In fact it helps make for better track segment transitions.