Out With The Old, In With The New!

Tearing down the old layout was a difficult task, physically and mentally. Spending several years building ones pride and joy and then having to destroy almost half of the underlying structure was a difficult task, both mentally & physically.

Lessens learned on the construction techniques for easy removal was found out too late. What I thought would be an easy task to separate the L-girder portion of the model railroad turned out to be a demolition of nearly all of those sections above the frame work.

Luckily there were a few sections small enough to maneuver out of the house that were of the cookie cutter style. Most of the underlying lumber from the benchwork was salvageable except for a few pieces.

The modules that I built in the living room against the wall were easily removed and all the framing was saved. The entire disassemble of the modules took less than 4 hours. Fortunately, when building the modules, they were made for easy removal and maintenance. Making the modules tillable for easy work underneath made the disassemble a breeze!

New Layout Begins

Its been a year now since I moved into my new house and started the train room in the garage/laundry room. I now have an around the wall modular layout approximately 11 X 14 ft. Just a little shorter than my last layout. As of this writing in late March 2022, there are two loops for continuous running, with several locations for sidings with industrial areas. I plan on a second level only 12 inches wide along the walls and a peninsula in the center.

The second level will be ascended with a 2% grade track on the outside stretching the entire circumference to reach the 9.5 inch height. What will be on the second level will be determined at a later date.

It wasn’t until Mid January of 2021 that I started priming the walls of the garage in preparation for my new layout. I did this even before I got all my parts & supplies out of storage. Little did I know at that time that I was going to fill up the garage and part of the family room with boxes, totes, lumber and sections of my old layout. (first video to right)

I had to insulate the ceiling and walls, and vent the attic through a duct to the outside. (The attic was vented into the garage originally.) Many shelves were removed along with a  kitchen style sink and old cabinets above the washer & dryer. I installed a small utility sink and installed new cabinets across the back of the laundry room.

Tragedy struck when Debbie was attempting to fill the newly installed cabinets and lost her footing, breaking her hip and left wrist in early May 2021. She had an extended stay in the Hospital and Rehab center where her wound was infected. Then back in the hospital for a second surgery to clean up the wound. August, she was finally allowed to put pressure on her left leg for the first time. Needless to say, progress came to a halt while all this was happening and Debbie was recovering.

Continued with many projects not connected to the layout such as track lighting, exhaust duct for venting the attic heat, and several attempts to find the right fan for the area. I finally settled on an LED lit ceiling fan that can be controlled remotely. There were also projects outside the garage that required a lot of my attention such as the neglected irrigation system and a few drains that had to be replaced going to the septic system. There were also many overgrown bushes and trees that had to be removed from the property in order for it to look they way we had hoped. Alll this tookk me away from speedy progress on the train room.

About mid October of 2021 I was able to devote more time to the train room while Debbie was regaining her strength and able to start doing thing on her own again. This is when I made some progress with more bench work and finally laying some track.

I started laying track on the corner module closest to the living room door and continued from there wiring in the first set of turnouts and testing them out using an Arduino Uno and servos. Right after the crossover at the beginning of the second module is where I started to elevate the outer loop in preparation of a grade to the second level which will be switched near the center of the layout near the garage door. Thank goodness for train shows and hobby shops afterwards where I was able to purchase more track and roadbed since I used up some extra trackage on the sidings for the ice & coal siding and the elevated track.

The first loop was completed right After Christmas 2021 and I was able to run trains for the Live stream on December 27th. The second loop was completed and I was running both loops on the live stream on January 10 2022.

Progress was slow since storage space was lacking in the train room, so as I needed to unpack totes, I also had to build more shelves under the modules, over the modules, or wherever I can find room to accommodate all the supplies I had packed away. It was hard trying to accomplish tasks on the modules while still having nearly half my supplies still packed away. Little by little I was able to sort through mostly all the boixes and totes throughout the garage and family room to get the needed supplies to start on landscaping and placing buildings on the layout.

Finally I was able to place most of the buildings on the corner module and add lighting to most of them. Next task was working on the streets and 3 grade crossings along with laying ballast on the track where needed. Once that was satisfactory, I was ready for landscaping. It’s amazing how everything comes to life once the buildings are in place and the scenery is shaping up. It’s been nearly two years since I did any scenicing on my model railroad. It came back to me like I had never stopped. All the tricks I’ve learned throughout the years of trial & error finally paid off in the end result.

More Updates as I progress on the layout. At the moment I am concentrating on building more laser cut wood kits that have been piling up on the shelves and from purchases at a few train shows.

September 2023

Been doing a lot on the workbench for the past 9 months, got many old kits built that have been in box’s and some from recent train shows. Still have very many more to build, but it seems like a never ending task when I see something I don’t have when I visit a train show.

This year I will not be making the trip to Maryland to visit my family and the Timonium Train show. Maybe next year. That will give me some time to build more so I can visit the Craftsman Courtyard next year. I always spend all my money there. Tallahassee was my downfall this year since they were set up where I could not pass up buying one kit from each vendor at the Craftsman Courtyard.

I’ve done many Bar Mills Kits and will be doing some more in the future when they have a new kit in HO coming out. In addition to the bar Mills kits, I have also built kits from; Blair Lines, FOS Scale, JL Innovative Designs, Mine Mount Models, Motrak Models, Mudd Creek Models, White River Structure, JV Models and a few more. I strill have many on the shelf to build, so it’s going to be a productive Fall and Winter.