Thought I would post a photo of my just completed, basic benchwork for my new layout. I used 4 x 4 decking posts for legs, framed with 2 x 6 studs and a 1/2" plywood top. Top is tacked down & cross braced underneath with 2 x 6 studs every 2 feet, so there won’t be any sagging or buckling. The long narrow bench on the right was built 30 years ago by the former owner of the house, so I just built on to it, bolting the new benches to the old one. Everything is solid as The Rock of Gibralter. The long narrow shelf above the bench will serve to brace & attach the background scenery on that portion. I’ve bored 1 1/2" diameter holes through the bench, just below the shelf and through the shelf itself, for access to the electrical outlets, so all cords, wiring, surge protectors & the shelf will be hidden behind the background. An 18" background will also be mounted all around the outside edge of the new benches. The layout will begin at the white end of the edging board visible on the right. There’s 6 more feet of bench just this side of that & it will serve as work space for building stuff. Overall outside dimensions of the layout area are 20’ x 8’ x 12’.
Going to be modeling the Bangor & Aroostook, and also incorporating the Aroostook Valley Line, circa 1950’s. I’ll post more photos as construction progresses.
Thank You, Ulrich. I will keep the photos coming as work progresses. Just had to run into town (we’re in the boondocks 15 miles from town), to do a couple errands. Ran into the Dollar Tree store for something & they had nice quarter-inch thick, 18 x 28" foam boards for a buck. “Had” is the key word here. There were 30 of them there & I took them all. They will be handy & can be cut as needed for making landscape sub-structure.
I thought that I would never see a “Earth Quake Proof Model Railroad”, but I think your’s will be the closest.
Even if you don’t lose weight and stay at that conservative 330 lbs, that benchwork should support you well even if you decide to take the landscaping right to the ceiling. Just joshing with you >>> but it would.
One point I would like to mention, is that you should build a seperate place to build your models as if you are like the rest of us, that space you are planning on will be eaten up very quickly with the never ending expansions as your Railroad grows and prospers. Lol. [(-D]
Great work!![tup] I don’t mind building benchwork but I hate wiring. That is to say, DCC is not hard, but wiring the tortoise switch machines to the control panel is not fun.[:S] Actually, it is mounting the tortoise switch machines under the layout that is difficult for me.
