Good day folks, I am getting ready to build my first perm layout, 5 x 9. (I know it s small, but its all the room I have). I am asking for some advice/recommendations on bench-work. So far someone suggested “Model Railroading Benchwork by Linn Westcott” If anyone has a book or video they could recommend or general advice, please pass them along. If I need to provide more info, please let me know and i will do so. Thank You
Greenberg’s Wiring Your Lionel Layout by Peter H. Riddle is a pretty good start. He doesn’t go into building the table, etc. but he walks you through a 4 x 8 three train layout pretty well.
Joe Stackler, of TM Books & Video has a video describing the table construction & working with fastrack. I catch that on RFD’s “I Love Toy Trains”. It’s probably available on line from TM books.
Good luck!
wyomingscout
I recently bought a copy of Dr. Riddle’s book. I found it to be “riddled” with errors, some more serious than others. I noted only the first instance of an error:
p. 7 “Amperage” is unnecessary slang for “current” (not listed in the IEEE dictionary). It is generally not used in electrical engineering nor in the physical sciences.
p. 8 The volume of water in a hose is not “the equivalent of amperage”. It is analogous to charge. The definition of “watt” as “reserve electrical capacity” rather than a unit of power is misleading. Also, the word “capacity” has a well-defined electrical meaning.
pp.8-9 The “water wheel analogy” is hopelessly muddled.
p. 10 The current reverses 120 times each second: Each cycle requires two reversals.
p. 12 The advice to use 18 AWG ignores the possibility that the transformer’s overcurrent protection may be much higher than the 7-ampere ampacity of 18 AWG wire.
p. 17 A barrier strip is not properly called a “bus strip”.
p. 18 A washer does not “increase the holding power” of a bolt but rather distributes the load and protects the surface from damage. A lock washer prevents a bolt or nut from loosening by keeping it from turning. All Lionel turnout controllers are momentary SPDT switches, not DPDT. The lights, when not covered by shutters as described, are lighted by current drawn by the turnout solenoids.
p. 24 A Lionel transformer does not contain a rheostat, which is an adjustable resistor.
p. 37 It is not necessary at all to isolate the outside rails where the loops connect. Simply having the transformers in phase does not insure against a fault current when crossing between loops.
p. 39 There is no n
Unfortunately, just because something is published doesn’t make it true or correct. The more that I see documented the more fault I find with so much. And what is really difficult is to try and convince some that just because it was printed somewhere doesn’t make valid. I see that frequently at work.
This month’s issues of OGR goes through some nice easy benchwork basics that can really help you out. Your first perminant layout should be one that goes up fast…don’t prolong train running just because you want to build the best benchwork design out there. Just get some good quality 3.5" wide pine boards and make a 5’x9’ box, and run a brace every 12" to 16" spanning the 5’ side (You can get pine in 10’ length to minimize waste)…Then cut some more boards down for the legs 2" less than you want your total height to be. Screw those in the corners, and a couple down the middle, and cut some triangle gussets out of plywood to give them some strength where you attached them to the table. Get some 1/2" B/C grade ply and put it down on top of the frame and screw it down. Next, get some 2" foam insulation and glue that to the plywood. You can paint the foam now, but get some track down, and you will be running trains in no time. As you have time, start carving away at the foam to make ponds, places for bridges, etc. Good luck and keep us in the loop of your progress.
Wes
5x9??? Plenty of space!!!
Don’t sell yourself short just because you don’t have a lot of room. I didn’t and fit it nicely into a 5x9 space.
I would recommend 2x4 legs, cut to a height you feel comfortable with. Build a frame around them, then put some plywood on top.
Here is a picture early in contruction.
I bought the Model Railroad Benchwork book long ago and finally started to set some plans in action. It is a good book in my opinion. It lets you know what all is possible for benchwork, although it could use another revision. LOL. I would just do what Wes suggested.
The “benchwork” for my 5x8 consists of 4 plastic saw-horses from Home Depot supporting a sturdy surface. Works for me…and when I move…no problem.
LOL, Wow, I remember our layout when we were kids. Wooden saw-horses with 3/4 inch plywood nailed to them. You could hold a dance contest on that thing.
“5x9??? Plenty of space!!!”
Well, I see a lot of layouts on the forums and in the magazines, and MAN they are huge!
Love your layout and saw your You Tube. Thanks for the encouragement Dave.
Thank you to everyone for sharing your experience and advice.
I almost didn’t proceed with the layout because my space is very limited. But then I saw Scott Smith’s layout in the July CTT. My office is about 10x10 so, if he could do it, so could I. I also remembered a small-ish layout a guy built with his two sons that folded “up” into the wall, (kinda like a murphy bed) to save space.
I showed the wife the pics and we were thinking we could try it. A 5 x 9 fold up layout. When closed/folded up against the wall, It would stand 5 feet high and be 9 ish wide and sit 30 inches off the wall so that it could pivot on a wooden or metal bar. When closed/folded up you would see the bottom of the layout ( need to figure out how to make that look nice) To open it you would grap a handle (of some kind) at top in the middle and pull it towards you. The layout would then open up and be about 30 in off the floor (because the wood or metal bar(s) would be at the 30 inch points of the 5 foot sides of the layout.
When the layout is closed, the 5 foot high 9 foot long 30 inch deep shelf would serve as a place to stack up my trains.
Crossing my fingers
What do you think?
Really like that layout above.
Q. The layout is going to be 30 inches off the wall when folded? How does it end up being 30" tall when open? and 5 feet tall shelf when closed? Is it 30" of stationary table then 30" of foldup for a total 5 foot depth when open?
I had a 4x8 foldup slot car track.
If you were looking at the layout folded up, the pivot point would be aprox about 30 inches from the floor at each end of the layout. The 30 in (aprox) dist from the wall would allow the bottom part of the layout to fold in towards the wall, using the 30 cavity, as the top part of the layout would pull down towards you. Since the pivot point is at the mid point (60 inches /2 = 30 inches) the layout would be 30 inches off the floor when fully opened.
I would frame it out, so the Layout is folding up into a box or frame. That is how I would get the 30 inch wide 9 foot long shelf along the top.
Another visua:l hold a credit card by the short sides between your thumb and finger with the front of the card facing you. Now the the spin it towards you so that the card is now flat like a table. Half of the card is in front of your thumb and finger and the other half is behind your thumb and finger.
Does this help?
A further idea, to make the folded up layout more compact:
Instead of fixed pivots 30 inches from the wall, pivot the middle of the layout on the upper ends of diagonal legs whose bottom ends pivot from a point near the floor at the wall. Restrain these diagonal legs at the top with chains between them and the wall. To store the layout, pivot it as before; but stop it when it comes parallel to the diagonal legs, then pivot the table and the legs the rest of the way to vertical. This way the layout can be as close to the wall as your scenery will permit.
If you have kids or kids over just make sure its open or closed up tight with no chance of them trying and succeeding at getting it down. I say this cause my layout was so heavy, I knew if it accidentally came down (unstrapped/unchained) it could kill somebody. It was hinged and way up the wall bout 7 -8 feet.
But your idea sounds safer to me.
Yes, great point! In the article in CTT with the guys who had the fold up layout, he had a 4 inch eye-bolt on each side of the layout holding it upright. Each of the holes for the eyebolt was drilled down at an angle, this way they could not just fall out and open the layout. I will plan on something similar, as i have young kids. Thanks!
I do like that video Joe Stachler put together at TM Books and Videos. I would say that the benchwork is a bit over-constructed, unless you weigh 250 pounds and plan on doing a tap routine on top while your trains are running.
2 X 4’s are nice and easy to come by, but in most cases 1X3 's should suffice. And if you’re using Homasote in 1/2" 4X8 sheets, then you can go easy on the thickness of your plywood too!
Jon [8D]
The October 2009 issue of Classic Toy Trains Magazine will have an in depth article on how to build the framework and legs for their 4 x 8 Retro Railroad. It’s a very attractive and lightweight table. That issue should be on bookstore shelves by the beginning of September.
Here’s another small Lionel layout, ideal for running O27 sized locomotives and rolling stock.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22371035@N03/3733967184/:
The discussion of portability and folding up is applied in this design. It has been mounted on two 36"x80" hollow core doors, end to end, and hinged. For storage, I folds to the inside like a clamshell.
It is light, portable and can run two trains with lots of directional options.
It really has only 1 drawback. The smaller circle loop and the cross-over w/ the switches operating in unison can limit your train to the circumferance of that section. I run a 2035 or 2328 or NW switcher w/ 3-4 cars (Lionel 6454 sized) or 3 of the plastic heavyweights.
Got the idea from an expanded layout from this site:
http://www.thortrains.net/marx/drlaydex.html
http://www.thortrains.net/oldlay.htm
You can do a whole lot in a small space!
Prairietype