I still have about 1/3 more benchwork to complete before the benchwork phase is essentially done. The legs in the photos are temporary. I will replacing them with more permanent brackets / legs (as appropriate). There will be two staging areas under the layout (not yet built). One under the large yard area in the main part of the room. The other under the long wall by the door, not yet fully completed (see the last several photos). There will also be one more staging area outside the layout room, in the foyer area, and I’m thinking about putting in one more staging area in a closet behind the mechanical room (the double folding doors in the photos). There will be a several-turn helix in the mechanical room, and a reverse loop on the other end of the layout in a closet with two branches. The first branch will continue back out onto the main layout-- a “turnback along the mountain route”, while the other will follow a hidden (or partially hidden) route to the staging area under the layout near the door.
John,
Great looking train room and bench work. However, when I click on photo it does not enlarge so it’s hard to make out much detail. Your bench height looks to be about 50" or so? What are you going to use on top to build up your scenery and for roadbed? I’m assuming your are modeling in HO. Looks like you have a full head of steam just don’t let the fireman get behind to slow you up. Have fun and keep us informed on how you’re doing. – Jim
OOops- forgot to answer your other questions-- Yes, the layout height (benchwork height) is 48 inches. My baseline height for the layout itself is 52 inches. That gives me some room to add features below the baseline and still be above the benchwork.
I am modeling in HO, that is correct.
I have been mulling over whether to use pink foam construction or more traditional wood risers & plywood. There are some areas where each method would be useful-- probably in the end it will be a combination of the two. I would like to try my hand at building spline roadbed. It seems like a lot of work and yet it also seems like it might really be worth it in the end. At least for the mainline runs. I may go for either plywood or foam in some areas.
I want to add a backdrop, so that’s still to do. I’m thinking of about 30 inches, but have up to 48 inches if I want to go to the ceiling. I briefly thought about going above the ceiling and coving it at the ceiling edge for a smooth transition at the top. I may still do that but it seems like a lot of work. I am going to cove the corners for sure. I will mock-up the lighting valance and see how much work it is to cove the top and whether or not it seems worthwhile to do.
My goal is to use 48 inch day-light florescent lights around the layout for lighting. This may cause a problem for dimming however. If so, I’ve been thinking that I might add some christmas bulbs or “rope” lights on a separate circuit that I can dim. I might do something similar to that anyway if I have daylight “color” problems. If you have any ideas about the lighting, I’m all ears. That’s an area I’m still researching and haven’t completely determined how to proceed yet.
For scenicking I plan to use traditional plaster hardshell techniques. To build up the terrain contrours with paper/cardboard and/or pink foam, and then use wire screen as the “mesh” to hold the plaster. After that I’m plan
Hi John: Your layout is looking good! You’ve made a lot of progress. I have just one little suggestion. I used to use drywall screws, but I had enough heads break off that I changed to deck screws. Keep up the good work, and keep up posted.
I don’t remember your having mentioned it in your previous posts on this subject but your photos–the SW-type switcher and the PC electric–indicates that your railroad’s orientation is circa the 1970s instead of in the late 19th or early 20th Centuries which was when this railroad would have been pushed to completion . . . . . had it been pushed to completion. I like that. Do you plan on freezing it in that era or might there be plans afoot to turn this into a 21st Century railroad?
I am always interested in the theory behind one’s freelanced railroad. Unlike your South Penn which at least had a (theoretical) prototype my Seaboard and Western Virginia is completely freelanced although with a strong dependence on Appalachian coal haulers. Although my preference is for the transition era the quality–and availability–of N-Scale steam does not lend itself readily to modeling. Instead I vacilate between the post-transition era–approximately 1975 which will allow me to run short nosed SD40-2s as well as F7s running out their last mileage–and designing a now railroad. Both have a strong appeal but both have some problems. I hate to bind myself to a particular date dictated by my motive power roster but on the other hand if one models now one is faced with the problem of continuously updating one’s fleet to reflect modern practices and “retiring” aging locomotives and rolling stock. I know you are just building your layout but what kind of operational designs might you have for the future?
Hmm, wasn’t aware of that issue. I haven’t had any break yet. The only oddity was finding a screw that didn’t have any threads on it for some reason. I’ll keep that in mind though. Thanks for the warning.
The SW-1200 was introduced in 1956. My planned era for the railroad is late 50’s/early 60’s. I haven’t pinned it down more than that yet. I want to run at the very tail-end of the steam era. I might stretch it a bit, if necessary. The electric in the photo is a bachman E33 (labelled for PC). I am going to relabel it for PRR (or SPRR). I haven’t decided if I’m going to attempt to convert it (and her sisters) into E44’s or not. I’ve studied them carefully and think that its possible to do a decent conversion-- the length will be slightly off, but otherwise it should be doable. Since its a what-if railroad, I could wave my modeler’s license to gloss over that issue anyway. I also have a number of GG1’s that would be fun to run. But I haven’t decided if I want to electrify all or some of the South Penn yet so its still up in the air. And there is the additional point that if I run too much stuff I take away from the specific, individual flavor of the road.
My plan for motive power, electrics notwithstanding, is GP7/9’s, SD7/9’s, E & F units, and some steam. Haven’t decided yet what steam power to use. I have a number of K4’s and Mountains, and several 0-6-0’s to use in the yards and locals.
The overall idea behind my version of the South Penn is a bridge railroad that is con
Oh, and by the way, what you see in the photos is just stuff I had in storage elsewhere, not in the main train closet. I pulled it out to play with on the temporary layout. I have somewhere around 120 locos and 800-1000 cars to seed the layout with. Not all of them will get to run on the layout-- some are too modern, not modern enough, have wrong road-names, don’t look right, etc. I have already culled a number of cars and locos that won’t ever be right. I’m going to swap them somewhere or put them back up on ebay at some point. Not in a hurry.
It does look great. [tup]I think using all the methods to get the layout assembled is a smart thing to do. Like you said, each has its good and bad points. I’ll be following your progress in the shadows to see how they all come together and any problems you encountered. I have 16’ of board together so I can “play”, but I need more. I built I-beams from 1/4" luan and 1x2s that are 4 1/2" tall and 8’ long. I put a solid board at the ends and bridging every 16". They are extremely light and strong.
Unfortunately I let my wife temporarily store some (alot) stuff where the train will run. After 6 yrs I’m getting nervous she won’t do anything with it. [banghead]
