Problem Solving

Problem Solving, the Birthplace of Invention

As model railroaders, we run into problems all the time. What do you do if you want more mainline running room than you have space for? The answer might be a multi-level layout design, or even a "Mushroom". . . shades of John Armstrong and Jerry Bellina.

What do you do if you want to have independent engine control? DCC, radio control with battery power, or maybe Rail-Lynx like Lee Nicholas uses.

I had another kind of a problem- I had a long skinny section of my layout, only 32" wide, in which I wanted to put a backdrop, lengthwise, down the middle. This was so I could have two different scenes, one on each side of the backdrop.

OK, that has been done before. Everything I read shows a backdrop attached to the wall, or if it was free-standing type, it had a supporting frame down the middle with two backdrop surfaces, one on either side of the frame. All that is well and good, but this was a stand alone, island-type in the middle of the room, with no wall to anchor a backdrop to, and no room for a supporting frame down the middle. Now what? Things that make you go, "Hhmmmmm?".

So what I came up with was a hanging backdrop made out of 1/4" MDF, (medium density fiberboard). The MDF had enough weight and rigidity to hang straight down. I cut a 5/16" wide deep groove down the length of a 2X4, and attached the 2X4 to the bottom side of the floor joists above by way of some 2" X 2"s.

Next step was to slip the MDF into the groove and secure it with some bolts and wing-nuts. There it was, hanging straight as can be. All I had to do was to anchor it at the bottom to the cross-joists of my L-girder benchwork.

There you go, sometimes a problem is an opportunity waiting to happen.

Steve Moore, Northern Utah Division