Suspended G - Part 2

In the last post, the planning and roadbed cutting was completed. Now the work centers on supporting the track from the walls and ceiling. The primary supports are powder-coated steel angles I found on Amazon. These are very rigid and extend 5 inches from the wall.

A key concern was track alignment. I used a laser level to mark the elevation of brackets and spaced them at regular intervals from 16-24 inches to match stud locations where possible. I used high-capacity drywall anchors where brackets could not be aligned with studs.

Initial mounting of brackets and installation of roadbed

A couple of the Train Club guys who came to help

The roadbed sections were large, so there were few joints (4 total). The joints were connected with fishplates to make a solid connection, so the entire loop is a solidly linked. Given the size of the sections, I welcomed the assistance of some of the CB Train Club members who came by to help. After all of the roadbed sections were installed, straight track sections were added between the corner sections that had pre-mounted curved track. I had to loosen the fishplate screws to enable track joiners to meet and retighten them after the track was in place. The track was attached to the roadbed using Atlas Track Screws.

Initial track setup. The passenger car was used to check clearances to the wall in the corners, before the roadbed was anchored to the angle brackets

After the brackets and roadbed were set, it was time to provide additional support in the corners where the track was too far from the wall to use the brackets. I made the supports from a piece of aluminum channel I had laying around and some all-thread bars. I reinforced the center of the curve with a short strip of pre-cut roadbed to stiffen the section and lower the base so it would not interfere with the fender system I planned to install. I predrilled all of the channel sections and attached them to the bottom of the roadbed stiffener. I then aligned the all-thread with a level and marked the location on the ceiling. I drilled holes through the ceiling and inserted the all-thread through the holed supporting them on the aluminum channel. This made them easy to locate in the attic. I anchored the all-thread to a piece of 1x4 in the attic to provide solid support. I then adjusted the nuts below the channel to make the track level and locked them off with lock nuts.