Exploring the World of Model Railroading
Despite having to shovel some wet and heavy snow midday, it was a very productive day on the layout. I’m pleased to announce that peninsula benchwork is done.
I might need to add some cross braces here and there, but I’ll revisit that later, if needed. For now, what’s left to do on the peninsula is to sand and prime the new backdrop surfaces, then install the uprights.
If I was thinking in 3D space, I would’ve realized that Lockport sits below the normal benchwork height, which is a deliberate action on my part since it’s on the coast. Thus my original height for the uprights in that area was wrong because I couldn’t go any lower with brackets than the rest of the layout. So, off I went to pull 9 uprights out, and re-attach them at their new height. Had to fix the walls in the process, meh.
Oh and for future layouts, and to anyone building theirs using these uprights – you need to put something between the upright and the wall. A piece of 1/8″ hardboard will do, otherwise once you screw these tightly they will damage whatever surface they touch. A piece of hardboard in-between would prevent that. Live and learn on my part…
It was a productive day on the layout. In the morning, we finally figured out what the minimum height should be for the middle level, which was a needed parameter to start installing uprights. Then I proceeded to cut couple of 70″ twin track standards I bought the day before into 3 equal parts, about 23-5/16″ long. I had to drill an additional hole in every two pieces, so they all have 3 holes for screws.
My current plan for building the middle and upper level is to use twin track shelving system that many modellers have used before to build their layouts. I opted for it since it offers some flexibility in adjusting the benchwork height (at ~1.25″ increments). I knew I had to figure out some way around the peninsula, so today I decided to build a custom stud that would hold the shelving standards and allow curving around.
OK, so it’s half of the peninsula – the part that’s built. I’m glad I did not build the whole thing because there would be no room to do any work with these big sheets of hardboard. Serendipity strikes again!
During the week I squeezed in some time to prime the hardboard (two coats) for the backdrops, looking towards the weekend for their installation. Well, the plan worked out and the backdrop surfaces have now been installed.
This winter is really getting under my skin with long stretches of very cold days, where all you can do is hide inside where it’s warm. It definitely does not help with building a layout when one needs materials from outside, or has to do cutting and what not.
Today ended up being somewhat warmer at -5 C, from our -15 C norm that we have been having past couple of weeks. It gave me an opportunity to run over to my local home despot and finally buy some hardboard for the backdrops. Hooray, the space is transforming, once again, although it does look even more closed up now.
