Benchwork is Going Up!

DISCLAIMER: I apologize for the quality of the photos in this post. They were shot in a hurry this morning, while carrying a two-year-old, with an iPhone. So they didn't really stand a chance. But I wanted to get this post in place today, so I figure I'll replace the photos with better versions within the next few days.

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The silence on this blog for the last few weeks has meant that I'm actually working, albeit slowly.

But for a few reasons, I've decided to put in a quick intermediate post here to show where I am in the process: I'm about half way done with the benchwork. It's been an interesting learning experience. I'm loving the use of pocket-hole joinery for this project: it's quick, easy, and I can do it at four o'clock in the morning without waking up everybody in the house.




(For those who don't know: my "train room time" is roughly 3:30 to 5:00am. Basically, the hour or so before I have to go to work. And with a light-sleeping toddler in the house, silence is truly golden.)

Hanging the benchwork off the walls has worked out really well: it's a rock-solid base to work from, and since that perimeter was setup with a laser level, I don't have to chase my tail keeping everything level. A quick check with a torpedo, and I'm confident that it's in the right place.




Most recently, I've been "arguing" with the extension (protrusion?) that crosses in front of the doorway. As this will support the swinging gate, it really needs to be solid. Unfortunately, the fact that it is a protrusion (!) means that it has a lot of leverage to go where it wants to go. So, as you can see below, it's anchored by a 4x4. There will also be another length of 1x4 that joins the 4x4 directly to a wall stud. (In the photo, you can just see the bottom of a switchplate. A 1x4 perpendicular to the stud on the far (right) side of that switchplate will tie solidly into the 4x4. I love it when a plan comes together!) The final support element for this monster will be the plywood top surface itself. That will be joined to the benchwork with more pocket holes, and will provide the rigidity that this protrusion currently lacks.



I think that's about it for now. In another week or two, I should be able to start laying plywood on top of this thing, and I'll post again at that point.

Groundbreaking!

...if you exclude all the prep work of the last week or so.

But the first splinters of benchwork have been installed! So it's close enough!

It's really not much to look at, but here's a couple of photos of where we stand today: a simple perimeter of "1x4" plywood screwed into the studs in the walls.

...And away we go!!!

The Plan

As promised, here's an idea of the eventual goal.

Briefly, the STRR lives in a 9x10 foot room, with a five foot wide closet (in the SW corner in the drawing) and a recessed window (in the NW corner). The plan is a basic twice-around, with a double-crossover between the two loops. (For those who are interested -- and if you're not, why are you reading this? -- the plan is adapted from an unnamed pike near the end of John Armstrong's Track Planning for Realistic Operation.) This allows me to operate two trains independently on the two loops, or to reverse the crossovers and run a single train on the twice-around. Sidings shown are representative -- the actual sidings will be laid out in 1:1 once the benchwork is in place. I expect to have fifteen to twenty industries to provide extensive switching operations.

I've left clearance for the entry door in the SE corner of the room with a curved swinging gate (shown in green in open and closed positions in the 3D view.) Reach is no more than 30 inches to any point on the layout, which is critical, as I've set the layout height to 52" from the floor.



Benchwork is 3/4" hardwood plywood ripped to 4" wide, using pocket-hole joinery. The outer edge of the benchwork is attached to the wall with 3" screws in each stud. The swinging gate will be masonite spline construction -- strips of thin masonite laminated together to form the precise curvature of the gate.

So that's the plan. Please feel free to make comments, suggestions, etc. Now would be a great time to discover a fatal flaw, rather than a few months from now.... Thanks for reading!

Blank Slate

After a few days of work, I have a blank slate of a room in which to begin construction. As you can see from the photos, this is a small bedroom (or, if you prefer, former bedroom!) At roughly 9x10 feet, it's tough to even get you photos to give you an ideas of the layout of the room, but within a couple of days, I'll have my other computer up and running and will be able to show you some CAD drawings.






So over the last four days, I've cleaned out this room of all the stuff that's accumulated in there since our move (as well as all the railroad related stuff that I've migrated into there, plus my primary computer -- I'm writing from my wife's laptop this morning...) With the room cleaned out, I grabbed a lightly used electrical circuit from the attic, and wired up three new ceiling boxes and hung a bunch of track lighting. With that done, I repainted the room.








A few notes:

Yes, in the photos, you do see compact fluorescent lamps in the track lights. With twelve heads currently installed, using CFL's gives me great lighting for only about 150 Watts total -- equivalent incandescent bulbs would have cost me better than 700 watts. That's pretty much a no-brainer. Eventually, (once the price becomes manageable) I'll switch out the CFLs for dimmable CFLs (or maybe even LED, if they're within financial reach.) Right now though, dimmable CFLs are about ten times the cost of non-dimmable, and LED units with sufficient light output are ridiculously expensive. In a few years, when these CFLs have lived out their lives, we'll see what's out there.

It may be tough to judge in the photos, but the room is sort of a light sky blue -- it lets me get away without a separate backdrop. Oddly, a quick experiment with the lights revealed that standard incandescent bulbs turn the color green (hmmm... blue plus yellow equals... oh yeah....)

Finally, I've added a layer of masonite to the floor. This floats on top of the existing carpeting. I figure that the masonite will protect the carpet from the ravages of the railroad (paint, glue, solder, coffee, beer -- all the essentials) which still allowing some "give" for easier standing.

Next time up, I'll have my computer back in place, so I'll be able to post some CADs of the plan of the railroad. With any luck, I'll also have some benchwork to show you.

Origins -- or -- What Came Before The STRR

The Springfield Terminal RR is my third model railroad.

The first was the Pacific Interlink, formerly the Aglett & Bickering RR, a 14x17 foot HO pike. As the name might imply, the PI/A&B suffered from a shoestring budget and too many compromises about conflicting "druthers." But the PI was a great learning tool: I handlaid all the trackwork, right down to the curved crossovers on the Aglett Loop; I learned that I enjoyed operations more than watching trains go round and round; and I learned that HO just needed more space than I could give it.

After I moved into a small apartment in Beverly Hills, I built my second railroad: the Goodhaven Terminal Railway. The GT was a 14 foot long, one foot deep shelf layout in N scale. It was thick with industrial switching and trackage. The GT served me well for several years and two apartments, and taught me that, as I suspected from my experience with the PI, N Scale was really the correct scale for me, and also that I could be quite happy with a roomful of switching puzzles. The GT was dismantled in 2001, when my wife and I bought our first house.

In mid-2007, we moved into a new home, with enough room for us, our two-year old daughter, and -- yes -- a new railroad. I've been granted a roughly 10x10 foot bedroom for the new layout, and this will become the Springfield Terminal RR.