rolling platform for benchwork

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Has anyone built a rolling platform for benchwork. My proposed layout is 14 long an average of 5wide but the layout has a dogleg of about 30 degrees at the 9 mark which would put 4 of it against a wall with 36" of the end of it against a right angle wall. The problem being that the room is only 8 wide and I want to be able to comfortably reach all parts of the layout and do NOT want any access hatches on it. I realize that I could simply not put casters on the legs of the L girder benchwork (I have too many tortoises to use open grid) because of the lateral stresses on the framework in moving something this big. What I thought id do is build a platform on rotating casters then put the L girder benchwork on top of that so that when I want to move the layout Im only putting stress on the platform which will be built out of 2x6 with a cross joists of 2x6 by 5` on 16 inch centers topped with 3/4 inch subfloor plywood for diagonal bracing.The platform would be 12" wider than the width and length of the L girder legs.I would mount 3 casters on each of the 2 header members and would roll on a flat smooth concrete surface.This would give me adequate reach over all parts of the layout.I thought about mounting it on 2 rails but this would not give me movement on all axises. Any suggestions are always appreciated.

Bob D

2

While the idea of putting casters on a separate platform might have merit, you’d get the same result by putting the casters on the solidly angle-braced legs.

Unless your benchwork is a lot more flexible than my L-girder/steel stud assembly, there shouldn’t be much racking as long as there are a few horizontal braces run diagonally across the bottom of the joists. Before I anchored it to the wall, I slid my 5x12 original table around on a concrete floor without benefit of casters - actually turned it end-for-end. No scenery, but the cookie-cut plywood wasn’t stressed and the track wasn’t put out of alignment.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

Edit. Don’t forget to use locking casters.

3

I haven’t built a rolling layout but I saw one recently in LA that worked fine. Its a great creative idea - move it if you need access to an area rarely. He also had sections that folded up against the walls. My one comment is that it sounds like you are going to overbuild it and make it heavier than it needs to be. Generally layouts that are built to move are built light and strong using lots of extruded foam and thin plywood. I would think that diagonal bracing of a lighter structure would be more successful than brute force with 2x6’s.